Running a car costs much more than people think — stalling the uptake of green travel

Abstract

rivate cars are responsible for about 11% of the world's total carbon dioxide emissions. That's the greatest share in the transport sector, which accounts for 24% of emissions overall 1. Petrol and diesel cars are associated with many other harmful effects, such as air pollution, congestion and accidents. It is clear that these cars must be largely removed from the roads to achieve sustainable mobility. The good news is that some policies have Car owners underestimate total vehicle costs. Giving consumers this information could encourage the switch to cleaner transport and reduce emissions. A petrol station in Berlin. On average, drivers accurately judge fuel costs but severely underestimate all other expenditure.

COVID-19 presents opportunities and threats to transport and health

“…Price is a key driver of consumer behaviour and people underestimate how much it costs to run a car for a year, and giving them this information may play a role in changing decisions. 16 However, providing education and information will likely have limited impact, and bolder action is needed. One policy under active consideration in many local areas in the UK is the introduction of Road User Charging, which is typically considered among a basket of policies aimed at managing transport demand.…”

The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

“…It could help to cut back transportation energy use, CO 2 emissions and air pollution while improving population health (Nieuwenhuijsen, 2020;Shaw et al, 2014) as con nement is eased. Therefore, locking in, investing in and promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of sustainability strategies, policies and planning (Andor et al, 2020;Creutzig et al, 2016;Creutzig et al, 2020) to meet our very challenging sustainable development goals that are unlikely to be met without signi cant mode shift to sustainable transport (Creutzig et al, 2018). Distributions of mean life cycle CO2 emissions by travel emissions decile, subdivided by journey type (log-normal plot, error bars are 95% CIs).…”

The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities

“…It could help to cut back transportation energy use, CO 2 emissions and air pollution while improving population health (Nieuwenhuijsen, 2020;Shaw et al, 2014) as con nement is eased. Therefore, locking in, investing in and promoting active travel should be a cornerstone of sustainability strategies, policies and planning (Andor et al, 2020;Creutzig et al, 2016;Creutzig et al, 2020) to meet our very challenging sustainable development goals that are unlikely to be met without signi cant mode shift to sustainable transport (Creutzig et al, 2018…”