This is consistent with economic theory that any type of consumption experiences diminishing benefits, and that failures in the transportation market, such as underpriced driving will lead to inefficient levels of automobile use. This analysis implies that investment, pricing and land use policies that encourage the development of a diversified transportation system provide a number of potential economic, social and environmental benefits. Specific land use, transportation facility investment and pricing policy reforms are described to address these problems. Since many of these costs are borne by society as a whole, benefits of increased driving and sprawl do not necessarily exceed total costs. 97 Format HTML Format A sustainable economy is sensitive to economic, social and environmental constraints.
Sustainability requires more efficient, equitable, and environmentally sensitive transport.
This cannot be achieved simply by driving more fuel-efficient vehicles or smoothing traffic flow. This paper discusses these changes. Current transportation markets do not satisfy these criteria. This report identifies several distortions that result in excessive automobile use, less efficient land use, and automobile dependency. There is little rational justification for these distortions.