Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations: Car-Free Living Trials, 2024

The Going Car Free project, coordinated by climate action charity Possible, follows individuals as they hang up the keys to their cars for three weeks. Possible are funded partners in the ESRC Centre for Climate and Social Transformation, and this project aims to understand the immediate and lasting impacts of the trial on everyday mobility. For the first week of the trial, participants were monitored using their vehicle as usual. The following three weeks they attempted to continue their typical everyday routines without the use of their private vehicle. Researchers from the University of Manchester, Cardiff University, and the University of Bristol interviewed participants with the aim of understanding the changes that individuals made to live a car-free lifestyle, what their experiences of car-free living were, and what barriers (both personal and structural) – if any – prevented them giving up their cars altogether. Qualitative interview data for two car-free living experiments are included within this data deposit.

Experiment 1 involved 12 people in four cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and London), though one individual did not complete the trial. The individuals were selected to ensure a range of experiences and backgrounds, sampling for age, gender, childcare and caring responsibilities, ethnicity, and disability. The challenge ran from 10th January to 6th February 2022, and the interviews were conducted immediately post-trial in February, and approximately 12 weeks after May/June 2022.

Experiment 2 was conducted in partnership with Low Carbon Oxford North (LCON) and was conducted in March 2024. 12 drivers from across the city, from a range of backgrounds and locations (again, sampled to reflect diverse backgrounds, identities, and personal circumstances, according to sample frame criteria that covered gender, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, long-term health conditions, childcare and caring responsibilities, types of employment, and location). Interviews were conducted in the first week of the challenge, and two weeks after the challenge had finished.

In both experiments, participants were paid to participate in the research, and their local travel expenses for their car-free weeks were reimbursed. They also received one-to-one support, and additional information about the options available to them, including a briefing pack with details and tips for walking, cycling, using public transport, and trying car clubs or car sharing. They had access to cycle hire, cycle repair, complementary cycle insurance, and car club membership.