Local shops stripped of business if car use curbed, Monash University study shows

Karen Collier
March 29, 2013
Herald Sun

DETERRING car use to tackle climate change and traffic congestion risks destroying neighbourhood shopping strips, a retail researcher has warned.

A Monash University study suggests sales at some shopping strips are already being punctured because of a lack of car convenience.

Further discouraging driving could be like “wounding an injured animal”, researcher Dr Vaughan Reimers said.

Plentiful parking spaces and easy access to stores are a major reason “multi-purpose” shoppers choose bigger centres ahead of strips, according to the research.

Time-saving factors such as longer shopping hours, one-stop shopping and travel distance were most influential.

Dr Reimers said potential policies to reduce future car use – such as parking restrictions, higher parking fees and peak-hour congestion taxes – had to apply to both types of retail to avoid widening the competitive disadvantage.

Shopping strips were an easier target for discouraging cars because they lined public roads or had parking areas controlled by local councils.
“Urban planners must give careful consideration to the negative consequences that may stem from strategies designed to deter car-based shopping,” the study, to be published in the journal Transportation Research A, notes.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said cracking down on cars was pointless without proper public transport.
Shopping without a vehicle was unrealistic for people making heavier purchases or carrying multiple bags.

The 11 Victorian strips analysed averaged 831 parking spaces, compared with an average 2525 spaces at eight malls. They were disadvantaged because of traffic lights, single lanes and train level crossings.

However, strips had more parks closer to stores, despite consumers thinking the opposite.