Gender and the Automobile: Analysis of Nonwork Service Trips

With a focus on individual motorists in car-owning households in Germany, this analysis econometrically investigates the determinants of automobile travel for nonwork service activities against the backdrop of two questions: (a) Does gender play a role in determining the probability of car use and the distance driven? and (b) If so, how is this role mitigated or exacerbated by other socioeconomic attributes of the individual and the household in which he or she resides? Drawing on a panel of data collected between 1996 and 2003, Heckman’s sample selection model is specified to control for biases that otherwise could arise from the existence of unobservable variables that determine both the discrete and the continuous choices pertaining to car use. The results indicate that although women, on average, undertake more nonwork travel than men, they undertake less such travel by car, implying a greater reliance on other modes. Moreover, employment status, age, the number of children, automobile availability, and the proximity to public transit are all found to have significantly different effects on the probability of nonwork car travel between men and women but—with the exception of automobile availability—not on the distance driven. Taken together, these results suggest that policies targeted at reducing automobile dependency and associated negative externalities, such as congestion, are unlikely to have uniform effects across the sexes. These findings have implications for both policy evaluation and travel demand forecasting.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3141/2013-08
• 
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Gender+and+the+Automobile%3a+Analysis+of+Nonwork+Service+Trips&author=C.+Vance&author=R.+Iovanna&publication_year=2007
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780309104395
• Authors:
  • Vance, Colin
  • Iovanna, Rich
• Publication Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 54-61
• Monograph Title: Environmental Justice, Social and Economic Factors, Women's Travel, and Accessibility and Mobility 2007
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2013
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automobile ownership; Automobile travel; Econometric models; Gender; Socioeconomic factors; Travel demand; Trip length; Trip purpose
• Uncontrolled Terms: Nonwork travel; Nonwork trips
• Geographic Terms: Germany
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01044328
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309104395
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 23 2007 10:21AM