Also discussed here: Making sense of car & train travel trends in Britain(Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Foundation for Motoring Ltd, Dec. 3, 2012)
And here: Oops! What is happening to the American Dream? Are cars on the way out?(World Streets, Dec. 4, 2012)
And here: Peak car or bleak car? The future is up for grabs(Campaign for Better Transport, Dec. 3, 2012)
And here: Traffic forecasts and pensions(Campaign for Better Transport, Apr. 17, 2012)
Today we review a report assessing the state and causes of car use by car users in Britain, noting that there, as in many other countries, there seems to have been a peak in mileage driven per year. Some of the reasons suggested are the rise in fuel costs as oil becomes more expensive and harder to produce, greater use of trains for commuting (at least in and around London where this is a viable option) and less use of company cars again because of higher fuel costs – along with cultural trends such less desire for car ownership by the younger population and a preference for online shopping over driving to the mall. An important exception seems to be older men and women whose car use has increased, signaling a different motivation. These are important conclusions as they suggest ways to accentuate the shift away from polluting vehicles in other countries which have serious roadside pollution and health issues.
Key Quotes: “developed countries around the world are seeing car traffic level off rather than increase .. and that in dense urban areas traffic levels are declining”
- ” Average car driving mileage per head of population has changed little in Britain over the ten-year study period.. large differences in trends between men (whose driving mileage has decreased) and women (whose driving mileage has increased); the largest drop has been for men in their 20s, whose average car mileage fell by about 2,000 miles per year.
- Most of the reduction in mileage by men…can be accounted for by a sharp fall in company car use; this seems to be linked to the large increases in taxation on fuel provided for private use.
- Half of the increase in mileage by women can be accounted for by a rise in adult female licence holding (up from 56% in 1995/7 to 62% in 2005/7).
- London is different…car travel is lower and rail travel higher among both London residents and those from outside who work in the capital… has been a pattern of continuing growth in non-company car use outside London for those aged 30 and over
- 60% growth in GB rail travel is the result of more people starting to travel by train, rather than existing rail users travelling more.. Rail mileage has grown most rapidly for business purposes – it has nearly tripled – and there is some evidence of a partial shift of business travel from company car to rail for men.
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