This study examined empirical data on the effects of variations in density and land use mix on travel behaviour, as a contribution to the debate on the relationship between transport and urban form. While opinion and empirical evidence about this relationship is diverse, current urban policy is firmly based on a conviction that there is a direct causative relationship between population density and travel characteristics. In this study, 1994-6 travel data for Melbourne were analysed, with other data on a range of socioeconomic variables. There was superficial support for a density-trip making relationship. However, a multivariate analysis of an expanded data set suggested that accessibility to activities (employment, shopping opportunities, etc) and a measure of the financial and other resources available to the household (in the form of a weighted income-related variable) appear to be most strongly related to travel choices. Thus, in this data set, accessibility is a more powerful explanatory variable for travel choice than is density. However, the importance of a weighted income-related variable suggests that urban form characteristics as a whole played a relatively insignificant role in determining car travel in Melbourne, at least in this data set. Ultimately, aggregated data studies of the sort reported here need to be supplemented by behavioural studies into the nature of location and travel choices. (A)
Abstract