Choice and disadvantage in low-car ownership households

Although car ownership in general has been much studied, less is known specifically about households that must share a car between multiple drivers. This paper reports on a survey of households in Melbourne and the Latrobe Valley of Australia that contain one car but more than one adult. One-third of the survey sample said they could afford another car if they wanted but chose not to (“voluntary” one-car households), and there were important differences between these households and those that could not afford another car (“involuntary” one-car households). Low-car households travelled half the daily vehicle kilometres of households with at least as many cars as adults and the majority said they had no travel problems. Voluntary one-car households lived in areas with more alternatives to car-based transport and did not experience restrictions on their mobility. However, involuntary households did not have as many transport options, relied heavily on car-based travel, faced greater restrictions on their activities, had fewer social support networks and had lower psychological well-being. This provides an important caution to policies that attempt to limit car ownership if households cannot adjust to the negative consequences.

► Households with fewer cars than adults drove half the vehicle kilometres of other households and most said they had no travel problems.
► There were important differences between households that could buy another car if they wanted and households that could not.
► Households that chose low-car ownership lived in areas with more alternatives to driving and faced few negative consequences.
► Households that were forced into low-car ownership were more car dependent, faced greater mobility restrictions, had lower social support and lower psychological wellbeing.