Older people’s attitudes to road charging: are they distinctive and what are the implications for policy?

Nikitas, Alexandros; Avineri, Erel; Parkhurst, Graham

Abstract

In an ageing society older people have a growing influence on politics in general, and potentially on the acceptability of road charging in particular. They face specific types of risk of transport-related social exclusion which may influence their views on charging, although there is also evidence to suggest that older people favour, more than any other age group, what is positively valued by society – a process known as ‘pro-social value orientation’. Family and friends may also affect older people's considerations about their intentions and choices – thus the importance of studying the influence of ‘social norms’ on older people's attitudes to road charging. The paper develops our understanding of these issues, based on the findings of a quantitative survey conducted in Bristol, UK. Evidence indicates that the attitudes of older people to road charging do differ from those of younger people and that pro-social value orientations and social norms do contribute to the formation of these attitudes. It is concluded that the presence of pro-social attitude orientations assists in explaining why people assumed to be ‘natural supporters’ of charging schemes may hold negative attitudes, which underlines to scheme promoters the importance of understanding and overcoming strongly held, psychologically complex objections.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2011
• Journal: Transport Planning & Technology - Special Issue: Universities' Transport Studies Group UK Annual Conference 2010
• Print ISSN: 0308-1060
• Electronic ISSN: 1029-0354
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 87-108
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2011.530831
• Keywords: road charging, older people, attitudes, pro-social value orientations, social norms
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/965720
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2011.530831
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Author Posting. (c) Taylor & Francis, 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Taylor and Francis for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Transportation Planning and Technology, Volume 34 Issue 1, February 2011. doi:10.1080/03081060.2011.530831 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2011.530831)