In August and September 2005, Australian at-pump fuel prices jumped in line with a worldwide. This spike came on top of a steady increase in international oil prices, fuelled by strong underlying demand from newly industrialising economies, such as China and India. Australian household travel behaviour change projects generally did not react to the change in fuelprices. This paper suggests that rising prices present an opportunity for such projects to go beyond existing ways of working and reach fresh audiences. In 2005 Dawson and Sipe mapped oil vulnerability in three Australian cities through a composite index including variables of socio-economic status, household vehicle ownership and car dependence for work journeys. Unsurprisingly, outer metropolitan households with limited public transport services ranked as the most oil vulnerable locations. Most household travel behaviour change projects concentrate on audiences in inner to midsuburban locations with reasonable provision of alternative transport modes. This paper considers whether such projects might be tailored to meet the demands of the oil vulnerable in outer suburban locations as well as be more responsive to sudden shifts in fuel prices. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E214666.
Samenvatting