Understanding the Attitudes of Older People to Road Pricing

The research aims to improve the understanding of the socio-psychological links between older age and attitudes to road pricing, to enhance our understanding of the acceptability of road pricing as a solution for the management of road transport demand.
Older people’s attitudes are of particular interest because they face particular types of risk of social exclusion on transport grounds. In an ageing society, older people have a growing influence in democracy in general, and the acceptability of road pricing in particular. Moreover, it is hypothesised that older people may have particular attitudes to the acceptability of road pricing due to pro-social attributions. They may also have a particular influence on the evaluations of family and friends.
The paper reports on a questionnaire implemented to identify age-specific attitudinal differences with respect to road pricing. Further analysis and future data collection will examine in more detail the influence that social norms and pro-social value orientations have on people’s attitudes to road pricing, with a view to testing the hypothesis that this influence is greater amongst older people.