Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 16.1
Car reliance: percentage of drivers for whom it would not be practicable to use other
modes to undertake selected activities (source: adapted from Stradling 2003)
Activity
Bus
Train
Walk
Cycle
Any non-
car
Take children to/from school
84
> 99
41
97
28
Town centre shopping
57
87
77
98
31
Travel to work
72
91
85
90
55
Supermarket shopping
74
> 99
81
97
57
with the times in people's lives when for one reason or another they are contemplating
change (16.8).
High car use - whether the product of 'reliance' or not - contributes to the
development of a car habit. 'Habitual' behaviour does not mean merely that the same
(car driver) mode is used regularly and frequently but that its status as a 'choice' ceases
to be recognised (Verplanken et al. 1994).
Like the many activities with which it is linked, day-to-day travel is not a matter
of rational choice, constantly reappraised. Once an individual has found that car use
is convenient (or that in their experience it has always been used for certain types of
journey) they are unlikely to alter it, or even to contemplate doing so. In any case
car use often is the most advantageous mode at a personal level - especially once the
financial hurdle of car ownership has been overcome. Nevertheless it is important not
to overstate 'objective' explanations for travel behaviour - in practice every individual
will be operating according to a complex personal set of relationships between beliefs,
attitudes and intentions (Mann 2005).
Although the travel behaviour of car drivers is dominated by car use it is also the
case that almost nobody is wholly car dependent. The Scottish study referred to above
found that only 1 in 125 drivers did literally all their travel by car. Walking (for at least
10 minutes) and car passenger were used at least once a month by 88% and 67% of
drivers respectively. Less used but still significant were taxi (32%), bus (26%) and train
(15%).
These statistics highlight the fact that car dependency is not an absolute condition
but a matter of degree. As we saw in Chapter 1 car ownership and use varies
geographically and between socio-economic groups, but amongst people in each of
these categories car dependence will vary according to the nature of the trips being
made (by purpose, length and destination). The pattern of variation will also reflect
the attitudes of the individuals concerned to the alternatives on offer, even amongst
people travelling to the same place for the same purpose (see Box 16.1).
From this the general point emerges that in considering behavioural change there is
little value in talking about transport and travel in aggregate. To be effective one needs
to understand the characteristics of the market in which intervention is proposed and
target measures accordingly.
Nevertheless the cumulative weight of all the factors discussed - economic, social,
cultural, practical and psychological - in biasing the scales against the probability of
behavioural change is immense. Evidence of travel behaviour over the decade to 2004
seems to confirm this:
It is clear from this research that we are just as car dependent today as we were
in the early 1990s. Trying and experiencing new things is part and parcel of our
 
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