Trajectories and transitions: mobility after parenthood
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Trajectories and transitions: mobility after parenthood Laura McCarthy1 · Alexa Delbosc1 · Graham Currie1 · Andrew Molloy2
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Life events, such as childbirth or retirement, provide a crucial opportunity in which an individual’s habitual travel routines are disrupted and they may be especially susceptible to changing their travel behaviour. The transition to parenthood is one such period in which numerous life events occur but also in which car orientated travel practices tend to be adopted. While much is known about how travel behaviour changes during this period, there is little research explaining the processes in which car orientated travel practices are adopted. This paper addresses this gap using the results from twenty-five semi-structured interviews with parents of young children. The interviews illuminated that while a general pattern of increasing car orientation was apparent among most participants, five distinct mobility trajectories were evident. These ranged from those who had little change in their car dependent travel behaviour through to respondents from formerly carless households who experienced a dramatic rise in car use. Further, it became apparent that the first few years following the birth of a child is a period in which numerous changes can act to punctuate stable travel routines. Each change represents an opportunity to intervene and encourage the adoption of more sustainable travel behaviour. However, these findings suggest that in order to encourage families to adopt more sustainable travel practices, planners and policymakers would need to address the many transport and housing factors facilitating car orientated travel practices. Keywords Travel behaviour change · Life transitions · Mobility biographies · Car orientation · Children’s travel
Introduction In response to the growing awareness of the many problems associated with increasingly auto-orientated urban environments, programmes aimed at reducing private car use are urgently sought. Life events, such as childbirth or retirement, provide an opportunity in which an individual’s habitual travel routines are disrupted. During these periods, an * Laura McCarthy [email protected] 1
Institute of Transport Studies, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, 23 College Walk, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
2
Department of Transport, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Transportation
individual may be more likely to actively deliberate their travel options and be especially susceptible to changing their travel behaviour. The transition to parenthood is one such period in which numerous life events and changes in travel behaviour occur. Although changes to travel behaviour do occur, these changes tend to be in favour of new car orientated travel practices (Ryley 2006; Zwerts et al. 2007; Scheiner and Holz-Rau 2013). Understanding the travel behaviour of families with young children is particularly timely as many millennials,
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