Reducing Car Travel Through an ‘Individual Action’ Programme

Abstract

This paper outlines a new approach to reducing car use in order to address environmental concerns. The individual action programme, known as travel blending, aims to encourage individuals to choose a mixture, or blend, of travel choices over time to satisfy their travel needs rather than being a captive of the private car. Participating households are sent a series of four kits, containing information booklets and travel diaries, over a nine week period. The travel diaries and vehicle log books are analysed and a summary of the household’s travel patterns, and the emissions produced by their vehicles, is sent back in a subsequent kit along with suggestions explaining how they could introduce travel blending into their travel patterns. Households complete another set of diaries and vehicle log books after four weeks and these are analysed so that a comparative summary can be returned to the household with the final kit. The paper describes results from a pilot study, involving about 50 individuals, undertaken in Sydney, Australia. The encouraging results from the pilot have resulted in preparations being made for a larger trial involving about 300 individuals.