Is car orientation among families with children on the wane? Evidence from Melbourne, Australia

While a wide body of research supports the notion that the travel behaviour of families with young children tends to be car orientated, recent literature suggests a more varied set of travel practices are emerging among this group. Using data from a large-scale Victorian household travel survey, we explored whether changes are evident in levels of car orientation among three household groups. The three groups were selected to broadly represent a sequential order of life stages: Young Couples, Young Families, and Families with School-Age Children. Chi-square tests and two-tailed t-tests were used to compare changes in transport and household characteristics between 2007 and 2013-14. Vehicle trips decreased for all groups between 2007 and 2013/14; the decline was greatest among households with children present, both young and school-age. Further, the results also show walking trips increased for all three groups. This demonstrates that a shift towards less car orientated travel behaviour is indeed apparent among families with young and school-age children in Melbourne. However, further research is required to understand the causes of the decline and to examine evidence of the decline in other localities.