‘Peak Car Use’: Understanding the Demise of Automobile Dependence

Abstract

This article identifies and discusses the concept of “peak car use”. Car use is declining in the USA, UK, Australia and a range of other relatively wealthy counties. Data are presented and discussed, the decline in car use confirmed and six potential causes identified. The causes include growth in public transport use, hitting the Marchetti wall, reversal of urban sprawl, ageing of cities, growth in the culture of urbanism and a rise in fuel prices. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of a decline in car use for traffic engineers, planners, urban financiers and urban economists and confidently asserts “the demise of automobile dependence.”