HOW MUCH DISRUPTION TO ACTIVITIES COULD FUEL SHORTAGES CAUSE? THE BRITISH FUEL CRISIS OF SEPTEMBER 2000

Protests against rising gasoline prices in the U.K. resulted in the blockade of oil refineries in September 2000. These blockades severely disrupted fuel supplies to gasoline stations for about one week. Travel activity by car was curtailed during the peak of the crisis. This study analyzes survey data collected about two months after this crisis on how respondents would expect a future disruption of this sort to affect their participation in daily activities. Specifically, the study focuses on a variety of discretionary and non-discretionary activities and examined what factors are associated with respondents expecting disruption to those activities. Statistical models were developed to analyze how factors such as demographics, commute mode selection and vehicle characteristics can explain how individuals expect disruption to their activities. Results suggest that most individuals do not expect major disruptions, although disruption was expected to be substantial for more car-dependent individuals, especially for work-related trips. Although dependency on private vehicle usage suggests that it would be difficult to shift people to other modes of transportation, the ability of the respondents to avoid disruption to their activities suggest that there are feasible ways to do so.

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Kluwer Academic Publishers

    P.O. Box 17
    Dordrecht,   Netherlands 
  • Authors:
    • Noland, R B
    • Polak, J W
    • Bell, MGH
    • THORPE, N
  • Publication Date: 2003-11

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: p. 459-481
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00963304
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, ATRI
  • Created Date: Sep 7 2003 12:00AM