‘Peak Car Use’: Understanding the Demise of Automobile Dependence

This article identifies and discusses the concept of “peak car use”. Car use is declining in the USA, UK, Australia and a range of other relatively wealthy counties. Data are presented and discussed, the decline in car use confirmed and six potential causes identified. The causes include growth in public transport use, hitting the Marchetti wall, reversal of urban sprawl, ageing of cities, growth in the culture of urbanism and a rise in fuel prices. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of a decline in car use for traffic engineers, planners, urban financiers and urban economists and confidently asserts “the demise of automobile dependence.”

• Record URL:
  https://www.worldtransportjournal.org/journal
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13527614
• Authors:
  • Newman, Peter
  • Kenworthy, Jeff
• Publication Date: 2011-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 31-42
• Serial:
  • World Transport Policy & Practice
  • Volume: 17
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Eco-Logica Limited
  • ISSN: 1352-7614
  • Serial URL: https://www.worldtransportjournal.org/journal
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile travel; Economic and social factors; Planning; Population density; Prices; Public transit; Traffic engineers; Travel time; Urban areas; Urban sprawl
• Uncontrolled Terms: Automobile dependence; Fuel prices; Reversals; Travel trends; Urbanism; Vehicle distance traveled
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01345178
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 20 2011 7:27AM