Changing travel behaviour

Governments and researchers in Australia generally agree that the current growth in private car use is unsustainable and that the ultimate aim of transport and urban planning activities must be to create a sustainable transport system. An important objective towards this aim is to achieve a significant change in people's travel behaviour. This paper presents the position of the National Committee for Transport (NCTR) on the issue and offers a list of recommendations for public authorities. Change in travel behaviour (CTB) can be achieved by a combination of voluntary (soft) and mandatory (hard) measures. Recently, the importance of voluntary travel behaviour change (VTBC) have been recognised in Australia, and VTBC programs are now underway or about to start in all of the state capital cities in Australia. The National Committee for Transport welcomes the initiatives of voluntary programs and fully supports the VTBC projects. However, the available evidence suggests that it is highly unlikely that voluntary programs alone would result in the required overall reduction of car travel. If the implementation of soft initiatives fails to achieve our sustainability targets, implementation of hard CTB initiatives must be considered, especially in the most congested capitals, Sydney and Melbourne. The introduction of hard measures, such as road pricing, should be combined with significant investment into better public transport, pedestrian and cycling facilities.