Modeling household car ownership in Belgium

Private vehicles have dominated personal transportation for the past 50 years. They provide positive externalities such as accessibility and independence. However, their widespread use in urban areas has resulted in negative externalities such as traffic congestion, air pollution, human health problems and damage to the ecosystem. Therefore, understanding the underlying factors affecting car ownership has become an important research theme. This study focuses on assessing the main socio-economic factors that affect household car ownership in Belgium. To this end, we developed a household car ownership model based on the 2016 Belgian household travel survey. Overall, our results confirm the literature review’s findings, highlighting the importance of socio-demographic and economic characteristics of households in explaining household car ownership. The results from the multinomial logit model show that: (i) income is positively associated with car ownership, (ii) living in Flanders and Wallonia increases the probability of having two or more cars compared to living in Brussels, (iii) having a driving license increases car ownership, (iv) a larger number of adults and children in a household is related to a higher likelihood of owning two or more cars per household, (v) higher level of education increases the probability of having more than one car per household and (vi) older people (65+) are less likely to have multiple cars. The results of this study can be used as a tool for researchers, policymakers and urban planners to define more effective sustainable mobility policies.