[sustran] Re: TDM and marketing

[Todd Litman]

Let me add a few thoughts to John Whitelegg's comments, who suggested that
advertising alone has a limited role in changing travel habits. I tend to
agree, coming at it from a slightly different perspective. 

Although the cost of owning an automobile is high, the cost of driving is
relatively low, since most costs are fixed and drivers receive numberous
subsidies including free parking and unpriced roads. Even in countries with
relatively high fuel prices,  consumers simply purchase more fuel efficient
vehicles, so driving still only costs a few cents per kilometer. And even
in cities with high parking charges in central areas, drivers are usually
able to use free parking the majority of the time, or they pay a fixed
monthly fee for parking, and so percieve parking as a fixed rather than a
variable costs.

As a result, once a family purchases a car they usually have every
incentive to use it as much as possible in order to "get their money's
worth." In many cases, it costs as much or more to ride a bus as it would
to purchase the fuel for a particular trip.

Effective reductions in vehicle use require a number of strategies that
increase the marginal cost of driving and automobile-dependent lifestyles,
and reduce the marginal cost of alternatives. Cost doesn't just mean just
financial expenses. It also refers to time, comfort, convenience and
prestige. 

Advertising campaigns can provide useful information about alternatives,
and perhaps make them somewhat more prestigious, but I don't think they do
much good alone. Perhaps 5% of trips can be shifted by persuasion. Our
analysis indicates that one-third to one-half of all automobile trips could
be eliminated by simply removing a number of current distortions in
transportation markets that inappropriatly favor automobile travel. 

I therefore favor implementing a combination of travel demand management
measures, including:

*  Converting fixed vehicle costs (insurance and registration fees) to
variable costs.
*  Charging drivers directly for parking, roads and pollution.
*  Providing better travel alternatives (transit, jitneys, car-sharing,
bicycling, walking & telecommuting).
*  Providing time and comfort advantages to alternative modes.
*  Encouraging more efficient land use (location efficient development).
*  Promotion campaigns to encourage more efficient travel choices.


If we simply start with the last step, promotion campaigns, when other
measures are not in place, we setting ourselves up for failure by asking
people to make changes that are simply not rational or fair. 


Sincerely,

Todd Litman, Director
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
"Efficiency - Equity - Clarity"
1250 Rudlin Street
Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, Canada
Phone & Fax: 250-360-1560
E-mail:      litman at islandnet.com
Website:     www.islandnet.com/~litman