Is car use and use stagnating? : fuel consumption models and their implications

With the second round of oil price rises in a decade, and a deeper recession in Western economies than for fifty-year s, renewed claims are being made that car ownership and use is stagnating- it is indeed declining in some North European countries- and that this heralds a change in the direction of transport planning. In order to set these claims in context, the range of simple models of car ownership and use is noted before some of the more complex features of the car market, and of household expenditure patterns, are discussed.