News Release

Home movers more likely to be green commuters, study finds

Individuals who have just moved house are significantly less likely to travel to work by car

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Cardiff University

A study of 18,000 UK residents has found that people who have just moved house are significantly less likely to travel to work by car, opting for a greener mode of transport instead.

By identifying this change in behaviour, the researchers, from Cardiff University, believe there is a "window of opportunity" for policy makers to promote pro-environmental behaviours among the general population.

The change in behaviour was observed during the first six months of a person living in a new house, after which residents were shown to lapse back into old habits and were more likely to start using a car to commute again.

Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, the team believe that this initial change in attitude is partly down to the large upheaval associated with moving house, forcing residents to re-consider their existing habits.

Dr Gregory Thomas, from the University's School of Architecture, said: "Moving home is often a large change in people's lives where habits and old routines are broken. We've shown that during this time, a large proportion of residents in the UK will re-consider the way in which they travel to work."

The researchers arrived at their findings by analysing the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) 'Understanding Society' dataset - a longitudinal study of 40,000 households in the UK measuring attitudes and behaviour over time. The survey is the largest of its kind in the world and provides a broad understanding of how 21st century life in the UK is changing.

The results showed that environmental attitudes also played a big part in an individual's decision to seek alternative methods to travel to work once they had moved house.

"People with greener attitudes who hadn't lived at their current home for long were far less likely to commute by car than those with weaker environmental attitudes," continued Dr Thomas. "But even though greener attitudes predicted lower car use immediately after moving, as time spent living in the same location increased we find that people's green attitudes became less and less predictive of their travel mode choice."

Professor Wouter Poortinga, also from the University's School of Architecture, added: "Natural breaks in behaviour, such as moving home, offer an excellent opportunity where people may be more receptive to new information or support, which could encourage them to maintain healthy and sustainable travel mode choices. Policy makers could use this break to deliver key information at a time when people are ready to engage with a new behaviour."

###

Notes to editors

1. For further information contact:
Michael Bishop
Communications & Marketing
Cardiff University
Tel: 02920 874499
Email: BishopM1@cardiff.ac.uk

2. Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain's leading teaching and research universities and is a member of the Russell Group of the UK's most research intensive universities. The 2014 Research Excellence Framework ranked the University 5th in the UK for research excellence. Among its academic staff are two Nobel Laureates, including the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Medicine, University Chancellor Professor Sir Martin Evans. Founded by Royal Charter in 1883, today the University combines impressive modern facilities and a dynamic approach to teaching and research. The University's breadth of expertise encompasses: the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences; and the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering, along with a longstanding commitment to lifelong learning. Cardiff's flagship Research Institutes are offering radical new approaches to pressing global problems. http://www.cardiff.ac.uk


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.