The survey also contained a number of stated preference experiments which were designed to ascertain what factors influence individuals' decisions when purchasing their new car. The results showed that respondents did not rate green house gas emissions or VRT as crucial attributes when purchasing a new vehicle. The vehicle attributes that respondents rated most highly were reliability, automobile safety, fuel costs, and the cost price. The majority of respondents agreed that HEVs and AFVs are better for the environment, cheaper to run than conventional vehicles and would be the vehicle of choice in ten years time.

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The relationship between high levels of car usage and the failure to charge car users the true costs of driving is well documented. One of these costs is the cost of parking; of particular concern is the failure of employers to charge employees this cost. This paper aims to investigate employees’ attitudes and potential travel behavior responses to measures selected to deal with parking in the workplace. A survey of university employees examined the employees’ responses to the removal of free car parking spaces, to parking cash-out policies, and to workplace parking charges. The results tend to support related research indicating that cash-out schemes are more popular if they are flexible. An analysis of the data examines the impact of a number of variables on the results; differences in responses by gender, age group, and income are observed. Altogether, 28% of respondents indicated that they would continue to drive to work if a € 5 daily charge was applied, and a similar number said that they would use public transport on some days. In response to a parking cash-out scheme, 66% of respondents indicated that they would continue to drive to work. Individuals’ preferred cash-out method was to give up their car parking space on a daily basis.

This paper examines the benefits of promoting and encouraging the use of soft modes of transport in a small town in Ireland. Currently, in the town in question, almost 70% drive to work alone each day. The Irish government recently adopted a policy of actively promoting and developing sustainable towns through the use of soft transport measures. This paper takes a typical town in Ireland and demonstrates how a modal shift toward sustainable transport measures could result in substantial savings in vehicle kilometers traveled and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Census data were used to estimate the benefits of a modal shift from driving alone to walking, cycling, and carpooling. The COPERT IV model was used to estimate the reductions in CO2 emissions if the estimated modal shifts were realized. Analysis of the commuting patterns of the individuals in the study area shows that the majority of car trips are less than 6 km. The results of the paper show that no one soft measure promoted in isolation is the silver bullet; rather, a mix of these options would be optimal for achieving a modal shift.