Why It's So Hard to Stop Driving - Slate
By David Zipper
Commuters are creatures of habit—until, suddenly, they aren’t.
That is the conclusion of researchers, working at a number of institutions and across a variety of studies, who have examined when and why people reconfigure their journeys to regular destinations like offices and schools. Typically, travelers stick with whatever mode and route they are used to. But once in a while, an unusual event like a new job or a closed highway upends the status quo. Such disruptions can become inflection points, compelling commuters to alter travel habits that are otherwise entrenched.
Ordinarily, few people even contemplate adjusting their daily trips, regardless of other options. A 2016 study of the United Kingdom, where alternatives to driving are more plentiful than in the United States, found that only 1 in 10 car commuters shifts to another mode annually. But under certain circumstances, such changes become far more likely. The behavioral science of commuting holds powerful lessons for policymakers, civic leaders, and environmentalists hoping to convince drivers to instead use modes like public transit and biking that can ease gridlock, improve air quality, and mitigate climate change.
