Transport Policies, Automobile Use, and Sustainable Transport: A Comparison of Germany and the United States

The automobile contributes to costly trends like pollution, oil dependence, congestion, and obesity. This article investigates determinants of individual car travel through a comparison of Germany and the USA. Even controlling for socioeconomic variables and spatial development patterns, two comparable national travel surveys show that Germans are less car-dependent than Americans. Multivariate analysis reveals that car travel demand in the USA is more responsive to price than in Germany. Results suggest Americans may more easily reduce driving when faced with increasing gasoline prices. Low costs of driving in the USA may contribute to more discretionary driving, whereas higher costs of car travel in Germany may have already encouraged prudent car use.