Citation

Schimek P. Transp. Res. Rec. 1996; 1552: 120-125.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/1552-17

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The question of whether population density affects the amount of household automobile travel in the United States is revisited. Controls for income and demographics are included in a multivariate regression model of vehicle travel that includes vehicle ownership as an intermediate factor and that treats a household's pick of neighborhood density and the amount of travel as a simultaneous relationship. The data come from the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey. It is found that density matters, but not much. A 10 percent increase in density leads to only a 0.7 percent reduction in household automobile travel. By comparison, a 10 percent increase in household income leads to a 3 percent increase in automobile travel. The results are similar when vehicle trips are used as the dependent variable. The effect of density is so small that even a relatively large-scale shift to urban densities would have a negligible impact on total vehicle travel.

Language: en