To switch or not to switch - why and which mode?

Abstract

The aim of travel demand management is to entice car drivers out of their cars to use other transport modes. Research to date has tended to find out that the reasons given for not using the environmentally friendly modes are barriers (eg. buses are not frequent enough). When the removal of these barriers occurs it does not necessarily mean that car drivers will switch, to these alternative modes, An opportunity to examine the motivations of single occupant car drivers in relation to why they would or would not choose alternative modes was available through the 1996 Perth Travel Survey, This paper presents the results of analysis of that survey.Some interesting results are reported including that half the sample has actually contemplated using an alternative mode and that a key distinguishing factor of contemplators is experience of the alternative mode. Other factors are also reported. The majority of contemplators choose public transport and their primary motivation is easier or quicker access. There is a high awareness about the importance of health and the environment yet these factors are not reflected strongly in their travel decision making, except for potential cyclists. The paper gives some pointers for appropriate transport policy actions to create travel behaviour change.