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Car Journeys

Volume 449: debated on Monday 17 July 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Department’s working assumption is about the number of car journeys a year generated by each new house built. (84931)

[holding answer 13 July 2006]: The number of car trips generated by each new house built is considered to be the same as the number of car trips generated by existing houses and, in Great Britain, is approximately nine trips per week.

Underlying this average are trip rates for different categories of households using information from the National Travel Survey. A key determinant of trip rate is the number of cars owned and the location of the household. For existing households in Kettering and Great Britain, the averages for households by numbers of cars owned is tabled as follows:

Number of cars owned by household

Average car trips made in Kettering per week

Average car trips made in Great Britain per week

0

4

4

1

7

8

2 plus

14

15

It should be noted that households with no car can still have a car available to travel. For example, they can hire a car or have access to a company car.