Transport and economic development - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 20

100%

90%

80%

70%

2 or more cars

60%

1 car

50%

No car

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

<3k 3-10k 10-25k 25-250k >250k Met. London ALL

Settlement size/type

Figure 1.8 Household car ownership by area type (source: National Travel Survey 2006)

in London are having the reverse effect. Uniquely the proportion of households in the
capital with two or more cars actually fell in the decade to 2001.
Car ownership within households normally depends on at least one of its members
being able to drive. Amongst older people especially this is not necessarily the case.
In the 60-69 age group for example 14% of men and 42% of women do not have a
licence, mostly because they never learnt to drive. Over time the significance of this
factor is lessening as more people have learnt to drive when they were young and
these cohorts are working their way through the population. Inability to drive remains
higher amongst women in all age cohorts although amongst adults in their twenties
today there is now only a 12-point difference between men and women.
Over the last ten years however there has been a surprising reversal in the trend
towards greater licence-holding amongst young people. The proportion of 17-20 year
olds with a licence has fallen from 43% to 34%. Possible reasons for this include the
increasing costs of insurance and driving lessons, fewer people applying for a driving
test (there has been a sustained drop since a theory element was added in 1996) and
a larger proportion of young people entering higher education and taking on debts.
Even if these are unwelcome constraints amongst a group that would otherwise prefer
to drive, the fact that a greater proportion are learning to live as adults without driving
could have longer term effects on their travel behaviour and attitudes when they
(mostly) do eventually obtain a licence.
Household car ownership is an item included in the Census of Population. This
enables information to be generated at different spatial levels for all parts of the
country and it is common therefore for planners to use car ownership as a proxy
for car availability. However because of variations in household composition and
in licence holding by age and gender this can be misleading. For example because
non-car-ownership is more common amongst lone adult households the proportion
of people living in such households is lower than the household figures imply (19%
as compared with 25%). However the presence of one or more cars in a household
does not automatically convey 'availability' on its members. Children of course can
only enjoy availability as passengers at best. But even amongst adults availability will
depend on licence holding and on the relationship between the number of cars and the
number of drivers in their household.
Since 1975 the National Travel Survey has categorised adults in car-owning
households according to whether they are a 'main driver' (i.e. people who use one