An empirical investigation to evaluate the impact of travel habits at community level for the formulation of sustainable transport strategies: a case study approach

Transportation is a central component to most political, economic, social and environmental issues throughout most inhabited societies. The concerns of transport have become widely acknowledged. It is broadly accepted that promoting alternative forms of transport such as walking, cycling and public transport use is one solution to tackle environmental concerns. Although, delivering, implementing and developing transport strategies to reduce car usage is still highly debated. Transport stakeholders (e.g. planners and policymakers) have long strived to reduce car usage. Many studies have attempted to develop strategies or understand triggers that might encourage and promote a reduction in car use. Despite this, the car usage has typically intensified and alternative forms of transport have become marginalised or discouraged when compared to the car. This research investigates travel attitudes and behaviours of individuals along a specific urban travel corridor within an area of Birmingham, UK. It explores socio-demographic factors using a mixed methods approach that incorporated questionnaires, travel diaries and interviews. This work identified a series of transport measures conceived upon different urban demographic characteristics in order to meet different individuals’ transport need. A significant finding from this work indicated there was an appetite amongst the sampled participants to be willing to reduce their car use if the right transport strategies were introduced. Initially the results from the questionnaire suggested age influenced car use the most, however, other demographic characteristics (e.g. gender and deprivation) were found to be an influential factor