Motorization and energy consumption in large cities in the OECD and Asia - tax incentives and public transportation for greater fuel efficiency

Panel: Panel 3. Land use, transportation and mobility

Authors:
Keiko Hirota, Japan Automobile Research Institute
Kiyoyuki Minato, Japan Automobile Research Institute

Abstract

With the advent of motorization, many national and local authorities have implemented measures to conserve energy. It is very important to achieve positive results through a positive incentive-based system that rewards higher environmental performance. This paper is an attempt to analyze impacts of vehicle-related taxes on passenger car and public transportation use in large cities in the OECD and Asia-Pacific region in order to save energy. We focus on expenditures for private vehicle maintenance, public transportation and vehicle-related taxes in order to evaluate energy consumption reduction from policy implementation. Our results show that the environmental objectives can be achieved more easily by a modal shift with the vehicle tax system.