Automobile Dependency

Automobile use is related to a variety of advantages, such as on-demand mobility, comfort, status, speed, and convenience. These advantages jointly illustrate why automobile ownership continues to grow worldwide, especially in urban areas and developing economies. When given a choice and the opportunity, most individuals will prefer using an automobile. Several factors influence the growth of the total vehicle fleet, such as sustained economic growth (increase in income and quality of life), complex individual urban movement patterns (many households have more than one automobile), more leisure time, and suburbanization (areas where mobility options are limited). Therefore, rising automobile mobility can be perceived as a positive consequence of economic development. The automotive sector, particularly car manufacturing, is a factor of economic growth and job creation, with several economies actively promoting it.

The growth in the total number of vehicles also gives rise to congestion at peak traffic hours on major thoroughfares, in business districts, and often throughout the metropolitan area. Cities are important generators and attractors of mobility, which is associated with a set of geographical paradoxes that are self-reinforcing. For instance, economic specialization leads to additional transport demands, while agglomeration leads to congestion. Over time, a state of automobile dependency has emerged, which results in a declining role of other modes, thereby limiting alternatives to urban mobility through path dependency. Future development options are locked-in because of past choices. A city can become locked-into planning decisions that reinforce the use of the automobile. In addition to the factors contributing to the growth of driving, two major factors contributing to automobile dependency are:

·         Underpricing and consumer choices. Most roads and highways are subsidized as they are considered a public good. Consequently, drivers do not bear the full cost of automobile use, such as parking. Like the “Tragedy of the Commons”, when a resource is free of access (road), it tends to be overused and abused (congestion). This is also reflected in consumer choice, where automobile ownership is a symbol of status, freedom, and prestige, especially in developing economies. Single homeownership also reinforces automobile dependency if this ownership is favored through various policies and subsidies.

·         Planning and investment practices. Planning and the ensuing allocation of public funds aim towards improving road and parking facilities in an ongoing attempt to avoid congestion. Other transportation alternatives tend to be disregarded. In many cases, zoning regulations impose minimum standards of road and parking services, such as the number of parking spaces per square meter of built surface, and de facto impose a regulated automobile dependency.

There are several levels of automobile dependency, ranging from low to acute, with their corresponding land use patterns and alternatives to mobility. Among the most relevant automobile dependency indicators is the level of vehicle ownership, per capita motor vehicle mileage, and the proportion of total commuting trips made using an automobile. A situation of high automobile dependency is reached when more than three-quarters of commuting trips are done using the automobile. For the United States, this proportion has remained around 88% over recent decades.

Automobile dependency is also served by a cultural and commercial system promoting the automobile as a symbol of status and personal freedom, namely through intense advertising and enticements to purchase new automobiles. Not surprisingly, many developing economies perceive motorization as a condition for development. Even if the term automobile dependency is often negatively perceived and favored by market distortions such as the provision of roads, its outcome reflects the choice of individuals who see the automobile more as an advantage than an inconvenience. This can lead to a paradoxical situation where planners try to counterbalance the preference of automobile ownership supported by the bulk of the population.