How Do Travellers Respond to Health and Environmental Policies to Reduce Air Pollution?

Despite the various measures taken to reduce air pollution in France, the French continue to use high-emission vehicles. We propose to evaluate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for four means of transport: two high-emission vehicles (diesel taxi and diesel personal vehicle) and two low-emission vehicles (rented electric vehicle and public transport). Successive messages revealing the effects of air pollution on health and the environment are provided to individuals in a different order. The information conveyed changes both of the WTP of individuals and of their choices. However, the use of high-emission vehicles has not diminished, personal vehicles remain the most popular. Using data collected from our survey, a multinomial logit model is used to determine individual choices. We find that improving individuals' confidence in air pollution recommendations would be a good way to lead them to choose low-emission rather than high-emission means of transport. Moreover, these estimates also indicate that individuals who attach great importance to comfort are less likely to choose low-emission vehicles than those who value price above other factors. Individual interest can therefore prevail over collective interest, thus verifying the theory of the tragedy of the commons. Different policies (taxes, subsidies, or standard) to encourage people to adopt low-emission vehicles are then tested.