A new study has been released that looks in depth at what academics are calling ‘Peak Car’, and how it is linked with growing rail travel in GB.

A new study has been released that looks in depth at what academics are calling ‘Peak Car’, and how it is linked with growing rail travel in GB. 

 BBC One’s ‘Inside Out’ is featuring the research in the 3 Dec 2012 episode, airing at 1930: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20526328

The study team -- Scott Le Vine and John Polak of CTS together with colleagues from the University of Leeds and University College London -- report that a number of trends have come together, including:

• young people’s changing lifestyles and living arrangements
• a collapse in company car driving, with at least some of this shifted onto trains
• rising costs of insurance (now £3,700/year for the average male teenage driver)
• shrinking gender gaps across a range of mobility indicators
• growing differences between how people travel in London and elsewhere in GB
• interaction between telecommunications and travel

The study report can be accessed at: http://www.racfoundation.org/research/mobility/on-the-move-main-research-page

The research was sponsored by a consortium of: the Independent Transport Commission, the Office for Rail Regulation, the RAC Foundation, and Transport Scotland.