01657974

Component

While a wide body of research supports the notion that the travel behaviour of families with young children tends to be car orientated, recent literature suggests a more varied set of travel practices are emerging among this group. Using data from a large-scale household travel survey, the authors explored whether changes are evident in levels of car orientation among three household groups in Melbourne, Australia. The three groups were selected to broadly represent a sequential order of life stages: Young Couples, Young Families, and Families with School-Age Children. Chi-square and two-tailed t-tests were used to examine changes in travel behaviour between 2007 and 2013/14. Regression analysis was then conducted to examine characteristics predicting vehicle, walking and public transit trips, among the three groups. Vehicle trips decreased for all groups between 2007 and 2013/14; the decline was greatest among households with children present, both young and School-Age. This suggests that a shift towards less car orientated travel behaviour is indeed apparent among families with young and School-Age children in Melbourne. However, further research is required to understand the causes of the decline and to examine evidence of the decline in other localities.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD00 Section - Social, Economic, and Cultural Issues. Changes are Afoot: Early Signs of Declining Car Orientation among Families with Children: This is an alternate title.

18-03613

English

7p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Automobile travel; Bicycling; Children; Families; Households; Modal shift; Mode choice; Public transit; Travel behavior; Walking

Melbourne (Australia)

Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-03613

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 10:54AM