Sustainable transport : bridging the gap between policy rhetoric and action

![CDATA[Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is the stated planning policy in many countries including Australia. The increasing concern for the climate change by the Commonwealth, numerous awareness campaigns on sustainability, and environmental impact assessment requirements point to the policy direction in Australia. Concern for sustainability is also widely shown to exist in many organisations in Australia. This is presented on their websites, disseminated through pamphlets, mail, and in the form of recycled products, joining environmentally friendly organisations, companies’ statements available over the internet, planting trees or cleaning up the coast lines and many more initiatives. Use of private car has been identified as a major contributor to air pollution, sprawl, traffic congestion, and greenhouse gas emissions. As such it is not surprising to find a plethora of schemes and initiatives that promote public transportation and discourage over-reliance on the private car. Despite the high level of environmental awareness and knowledge of the harm cars cause, the number of cars on Australian roads keeps on rapidly increasing. The per capita mileage also keeps on growing every year. This suggests that even when the problem and required measures to address it are clearly identified, there can remain significant gaps between the policy rhetoric and action. Australia (along with a few other countries) has a peculiar set of taxation mechanism in place which through direct subsidies encourage rapid rise in car use. Even environmentally conscious organizations such as universities and the local governments are actively facilitating use of these subsidies by their employees. This paper analyzes the mechanisms that encourage car use in Australia. With the help of a survey, it also looks closer into the gap between the intension and the real actions of the environmentally conscious public organizations and individuals when it comes to car use. It focuses on gaps between rhetoric and action and seeks to identify the reasons.]]