Skip to main content
Log in

The geographical distribution of car ownership in Great Britain—Some recent trends

  • Published:
The Annals of Regional Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Regional variations in car ownership have recently been subjected to a number of studies. This short paper extends this work by using much more recent data sources to see if previously observed trends in Great Brtain have continued into the 1970s. In addition, a number of simple econometric models of cross sectional variations in ownership are explored which test a wide variety of hypotheses concerning causal linkages between car ownership and several explanatory variables. The range of variables used is larger than that employed in most of the recent work in the field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J. J. Bates, H. Gunn and M. Roberts,A Disaggregate Model of Household Car Ownership. Depts. of the Environment and Transport, Research Report 20 (HMSO London) (1978).

    Google Scholar 

  2. British Institute of Management Foundation, “Business cars: a survey of current practice in 471 organisations,”Management Survey Report No. 44 (B.I.M., London), (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  3. L. D. Burns, T. F. Golob and G. C. Nicolaidis, “Theory of urban household automobile-ownership decisions,”Transportation Research Record No. 569 (1975), pp. 56–75.

    Google Scholar 

  4. K. J. Button and A. D. Pearman, “The theory and practice of car ownership forecasting,” in E. J. Visser (ed.);Transport Decisions in the Age of Uncertainty (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague) (1978), pp. 137–144.

    Google Scholar 

  5. K. J. Button, A. S. Fowkes and A. D. Pearman, “Some outstanding problems in the causal modelling of car ownership at the local level,”Transportation Planning and Technology (1979), pp. 205–213.

  6. M. J. Buxton and D. G. Rhys, “The demand for car ownership: a note,”Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 19 (1972).

  7. S. T. Divey,Regional and National Convergence to Common Car Ownership Levels, Transport and Road Research Laboratory Supplementary Report 463 (H.M.S.O., London) (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  8. F. Fishwick, “The influence of economic factors on car ownership in Great Britain,” inUrban Traffic Model Research (P.T.R.C. London) (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  9. A. S. Fowkes, A. D. Pearman and K. J. Button, “An appraisal of aggregate and disaggregate car ownership forecasting methods,”I.T.S. Working Paper 110 (University of Leeds, Leeds) (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  10. I. G. Heggie, “Economics and the road programme,” Journalof Transport Economics and Policy, Vol. 13 (1979), pp. 52–67.

    Google Scholar 

  11. C. McCarthy, “The determinants of regional variations in private car ownership: some evidence from Irish data,”Annals of Regional Science, Vol. 12 (1978), pp. 14–23.

    Google Scholar 

  12. M. J. H. Mogridge, “Predictions of car ownership,”Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, Vol. 1 (1967), pp. 52–73.

    Google Scholar 

  13. M. J. H. Mogridge, “A personal view on the future of the car,”Traffic Engineering & Control, Vol. 17 (1976), pp. 101–104, 115.

    Google Scholar 

  14. D. J. Parish, “Car ownership forecasting in category analysis--a pitfall,” inUrban Traffic Models (P.T.R.C., London) 1975, pp. 214–224.

    Google Scholar 

  15. A. D. Pearman & K. J. Button, “Regional variations in car ownership,”Applied Economics, Vol. 8 (1976), pp. 231–233.

    Google Scholar 

  16. D. G. Rhys & M. J. Buxton, “Car ownership and the rural transport problem,”Transport, Vol. 36 (1974), pp. 109–113.

    Google Scholar 

  17. A. K. Sanghi, “The relationship between population density, automobile ownership and automobile use: its role in transportation planning,”Annals of Regional Science, Vol. 9, 1975, pp. 118–127.

    Google Scholar 

  18. J. F. Sleeman, “The geographical distribution of road vehicles,”Accountants Magazine (1958), pp. 524–530.

  19. J. F. Sleeman, “The geographical distribution of motor cars in Britain,”Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 8, (1961), pp. 71–81.

    Google Scholar 

  20. J. F. Sleeman, “A new look at the distribution of private cars in Britain,”Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 16 (1969), pp. 306–318.

    Google Scholar 

  21. J. C. Tanner, “Cars and motorcycle ownership in the counties of Great Britain in 1960,”Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series A), Vol. 126 (1963), pp. 276–284.

    Google Scholar 

  22. J. C. Tanner, “Long-term forecasting of vehicle ownership road traffic,”Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, Vol. 141 (1978), pp. 14–63.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

The author would like to thank Alan Pearman for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, although he bears no responsibility for remaining errors. The work forms part of a much larger study of car ownership modelling at the local level financed by the Social Science Research Council.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Button, K.J. The geographical distribution of car ownership in Great Britain—Some recent trends. Ann Reg Sci 14, 23–38 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01284201

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01284201

Keywords

Navigation