Reconsidering Travel Behavior in an Era of Decarbonization

Professor David Metz's new book, Travel Behaviour Reconsidered in an Era of Decabonisation, available free from University College London Press, challenges fundamental assumptions concerning how and how much people want to travel.

It argues that as transport networks mature the benefits of further expanded roadways decline. Over the past half-century, large public expenditures on roads and railways were justified by economic evaluations that placed high values on time savings provided by faster travel. However, average travel time has not changed over this period. People have taken the benefit of faster travel to expand where they travel, resulting in more sprawl and less accessibility — people must travel farther to reach desired services and activities. 

The book critiques the methods used by transportation economists and governments to appraise investments and discusses better alternatives. It argues that the basis of orthodox transport economic analysis has been misconceived and a fresh perspective on economic analysis is now needed. It indicates that overall, most people would prefer transportation planning that increases accessibility with less mobility.