Transports and Consumers’ Ecological Behaviour

Transports certainly have positive economic and social effects. However, transports in general, and motor transports in particular play a significant role in environmental pollution, with a negative impact on the quality of life. In this article, we make a diagnosis on the contribution of transports to environmental pollution, especially through CO2 and green house gases emissions, on international and national levels, highlighting trends in transports evolution. Based on an ample research the article presents policies (commandand- control and incentive-based policies, physical, soft or knowledge policies etc.) meant to diminish the negative impact of auto transports on the quality of life. The last part of the article investigates, based on the direct market research, the current and future behaviours of transport services consumers in Bucharest, the way transport services are perceived, as well as the way different modalities of protection against the pollution caused by transport are assessed. Market research has generally revealed a pro-environmental behaviour, most of the subjects investigated agreeing with the measures focused on reducing pollution caused by transports. However, the survey results have shown that factors related to the environment and its protection are not very important when deciding to purchase a car.