Mobility management and climate change
Prof. dr. J.N. van Ommeren, VU University Amsterdam, in collaboration with Utrecht University
Mobility management and climate change
The way in which employers and employees deal with mobility issues is crucial for the accessibility of the Randstad. The researchers study the effect of mobility management by companies, partly in relation to the private behavior of employees and in relation to public policy in the field of public transport and urban planning.
Read an interview with Jos van Ommeren (April 2011)
General aim
This research proposal involves a study of the impact of firms’ mobility management on employees' travel behaviour (commuting, business and private travel) as well as the interaction effects within his/her household. Mobility management includes the chosen employment location as well as the supply of transport-related fringe benefits such as company cars, employer-paid parking, travel subsidies, teleworking etc. that are currently extremely common in the Randstad and have a strong effect on transport and climate outcomes. We will include the effect of public national and local transport policy, as well as the effect of public land use planning policy on firms’ mobility management and employees’ and its partner’s travel decisions. Although nobody disputes the relevance of mobility management for travel behaviour in general, studies ignore the importance of public policy for firms’ mobility management. How can policy induce the transition from adverse mobility management (e.g. company cars, employer-paid parking) to beneficial mobility management (e.g. teleworking, less commuting)?
Firm behaviour in general, and in mobility management in particular, is key to achieve sustainable transport in the Randstad. It is particularly relevant from a policy perspective. For example, it will provide useful insights for innovative agreements, such as induced by the Task Force Mobility Management, and be helpful to understand how one may improve the current tax system to induce beneficial mobility management practices. Such a perspective is seldomly used in the scientific as well as the policy related literature. The question is how to make mobility climate proof.
The aim of this program is twofold: (i) to identify the implications of different public policies for firms' mobility management and (ii) to investigate the relationships between firms’ mobility management strategies, employees' travel behaviour and climate outcomes. Economic incentives clearly play a role, which is important to the analysis of the use of fiscal policy. To understand human resource policies and practices, we need human resource management researchers. When it comes to the spatial aspects of travel behaviour, the conceptual and analytical tools of geography are indispensable. Our program wants to actively explore which public policies can be introduced to improve the functioning of the transport system in the Randstad (from adverse to beneficial mobility management practices), while improving climate outcomes. We will integrate and translate the findings for use in current real-world policy-making processes (e.g. advice on tax system, regulation).
Project 1: Public Policy and Firm Mobility Management: Implications for Climate Outcomes
Project leaders: dr. J. van Ommeren and prof. dr. P. Rietveld, VU University, Tinbergen Institute
The aim of this project is to understand how policy can induce a change from climate-adverse mobility management towards climate-beneficial mobility management. This project will focus on the following research questions:
- What is the impact of (time or spatial changes in) public policy (excluding land use planning) on mobility management outcomes (transport-related fringe benefits, employment conditions?
- What is the potential contribution of national or spatial public policy regarding parking on mobility management?
- How can we induce large employers (including the government) to induce climate-friendly mobility management policies and practices?
- What is the general role of mobility management and related policy on climate and economic outcomes?
Project 2: Mobility Management and Space-Time Patterns: Implications for Climate Outcomes
Project leader: prof. M. Dijst, Utrecht University, NETHUR
The aim of this project is twofold:
- To show for employees (and their partners) working in various occupations and at various locations in the Randstad the importance of non-work activities for space-time relationships to work and home and to argue that this provide a critical link to understand the use of fringe benefits (e.g. use of company car and teleworking).
- To show for employees (and their partners) working in various occupations the importance of fringe benefits for climate outcomes in terms of their mobility patterns.
A better understanding of the use of fringe benefits by the employee and the climate outcomes needs a conceptual framework which takes into account attributes of:
- Activity level: duration, temporal and spatial fragmentation of activities and temporal and spatial fixity of activities for work as well as non-work activities, transport mode and electronic mode use
- Individual level: occupation and other socio-demographics and coping strategies
- Household level: size, labour participation of partner, presence of young children, ownership of transport and communication modes, dwelling attributes
- Spatial context: accessibility of activity places by transport mode
This project will focus on the following research questions:
- What is the impact of occupation and other socio-demographics, residential and work locations, availability of transport and communication modes on work and non-work activities on working days?
- What is the role of fringe benefits offered by employers for employees (and his partner) work and non-work activity and travel patterns?
- What is the impact of fringe benefits on climate outcomes of employee’s work and non-work travel patterns and in which manner fringe benefits can be adjusted to mitigate climate outcomes of mobility patterns?
