How2 Remove the Car in Commute

Car use is hugely subsidized. Because user fees are set too low, we are paying people to drive more, we have excess demand for the road system. If we priced the use of our roads to recover even the cost of maintenance, driving would be noticeably more expensive, and people would have much stronger incentives to drive less, and to use other forms of transportation, like transit and cycling. -HBS

Problem:

Researchers for Harvard Business School investigated what incentives or "nudges" would change commuter behavior to choose alternatives to driving, and how business organizations can encourage their employees to commute using alternatives to driving. The researchers found these incentives did not reduce single occupancy vehicle (SOV) use.

Nudges:

• Matchmaking carpoolers with priority parking
• 24/7 emergency ride-home service
• Free transit tickets to encourage discounted commuter transit passes
• Commuter pamphlets to save commuters time and money

Researchers found reasons why the incentives do not work:

1. When commuters do not pay the full cost of driving ie employee free parking, free road maintenance, driving subsidies.
2. When transit or carpooling is less convenient for an individual commuter.
3. When approaches required change a habitual behavior: one-off events like flu shots ok, but not daily routines like exercise.

Solutions:

The researchers found our infrastructure, financial incentives, and social norms strongly favor driving alone to work. They found the nudges although easy for employers to implement are not are not enough to make a difference. To shift habitual commuting behavior the researchers recommend these improvements:

 Make the full cost of driving salient for employees: avoid subsidizing driving to work alone including free parking and infrastructure. Pay employees the monetary equivalent of driving as a bonus to pay for parking or keep as cash for alternative modes of travel.

 Make driving harder, and make other forms of commuting easier: provide remote parking lots for those who drive alone, local parking to those who share rides), you can enhance the convenience, safety, comfort, and cost-savings of other modes like carpooling.

 Stark implications for Laguna Beach Of course, drivers do not like institutions restricting choices convenience or parking. But the long-term health vitality in the Laguna village fundamentally depend on it.

 -LS