Skip to main content

ASU Global menu

Skip to Content Report an accessibility problem ASU Home My ASU Colleges and Schools Sign In
Arizona State University Arizona State University
ASU Library KEEP

Main navigation

Home Browse Collections Share Your Work
Copyright Describe Your Materials File Formats Open Access Repository Practices Share Your Materials Terms of Deposit API Documentation
Skip to Content Report an accessibility problem ASU Home My ASU Colleges and Schools Sign In
  1. KEEP
  2. Programs and Communities
  3. Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management
  4. Decling Car Use in a Megacity: Exploring the Drivers of Peak Car Including Infrastructure Saturation
  5. Full metadata

Decling Car Use in a Megacity: Exploring the Drivers of Peak Car Including Infrastructure Saturation

Full metadata

Description

There is increasing evidence that vehicle travel in developed countries may have peaked, contradicting many historical travel demand forecasts. The underlying causes of this peaking are still under debate and there has been a mobilization of research, largely focused at national scales, to study the explanatory drivers. There is, however, a dearth of research focused at the metropolitan scale where transportation policy and planning are frequently decided.

Using Los Angeles County, California, as a case study, we investigate the Peak Car theory and whether social, economic, and technical factors, including roadways that have become saturated at times, may be contributing to changes in travel behavior. After peaking in 2002, vehicle travel in Los Angeles County declined by 3.4 billion (or 4.1%) by 2010. The effects of changing fuel prices, fuel economy, population growth, increased utilization of alternate transportation modes, changes in driver demographics, income, and freight are first assessed. It is possible, and likely, that these factors alone explain the reduction in travel. However, the growth in congestion raises questions of how a constricting supply of roadway network capacity may contribute to travel behavior changes.

There have been no studies that have directly assessed how the maturing supply of infrastructure coupled with increasing demand affect travel behavior. We explore regional and urban factors in Los Angeles to provide insight into the drivers of Peak Car at city scales where the majority of travel occurs. The results show that a majority of the decline in VMT in Los Angeles can be attributed the rising fuel prices during the 2000s. While overall roadway network capacity is not yet a limiting factor for vehicle travel there is some evidence that suggests that congestion along certain corridors may be shifting some automobile travel to alternatives. The results also suggest that the relative impact of any factor on travel demand is likely to vary from one locale to another and Peak Car analysis across large geographic areas obscures the nuisances of travel behavior at a local scale.

Contributors
  • Fraser, Andrew (Author)
  • Chester, Mikhail Vin (Author)
  • Arizona State University. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (Contributor)
  • Arizona State University. Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management (Contributor)
Topical Subject
  • Urban transportation
  • Automobile travel
  • Choice of transportation
  • Environmental impact analysis
Geographic Subject
  • Los Angeles County (Ariz.)
Resource Type
Text
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management
Identifier
Identifier Value
ASU-SSEBE-CESEM-2016-RPR-002
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.36773
Collaborating institutions
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SSEBE) / Center for Earth Systems Engineering and Management
System Created
  • 2016-03-12 04:48:26
System Modified
  • 2021-06-10 12:29:36
  •     
  • 1 year 9 months ago
Additional Formats
  • OAI Dublin Core
  • MODS XML

Quick actions

About this item

Overview
 Copy permalink

Explore this item

Explore Document

Share this content

Feedback

ASU University Technology Office Arizona State University.
KEEP

Contact Us

Repository Services
Home KEEP PRISM ASU Research Data Repository
Resources
Terms of Deposit Sharing Materials: ASU Digital Repository Guide Open Access at ASU

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.

Number one in the U.S. for innovation. ASU ahead of MIT and Stanford. - U.S. News and World Report, 8 years, 2016-2023
Maps and Locations Jobs Directory Contact ASU My ASU
Copyright and Trademark Accessibility Privacy Terms of Use Emergency COVID-19 Information