Mission Control We’ve Got A Problem
Whenever a seismic change in transportation modes occurs it creates many other changes throughout the economy as the impacts become clear.
When the Department of Transportation developed the freeways, jobs moved to the suburbs, when Amazon developed, brick and mortar stores began to close. Both impacts were visible, both were denied until it could no longer be denied. So why is it different with the transition to the Information Age? Is it because:
- it is far more intrusive throughout the economy?
- it’s impacts are practically invisible?
- there are so many players?
- it changes the status quo?
In many ways it is not unlike buying a house. The former owners spend a lot of money trying to make their old style look new so that it will sell; the buyer spends even more to remake the home to fit their new style. Think how much more efficient it with be if the seller and the buyer collaborator to make the transaction more efficient. So too it is with the transportation system.
Those who currently control the transportation system have a strong interest in preserving the Status Quo and are threatened by a change to the Information Age solutions. They are painting the walls feverishly trying to prevent the inevitable. You cannot listen to the TV or radio without hearing about distance learning (it is projected that half of higher ed students will be getting their degrees on-line ‘in just a few years’. If you don’t have neighbors who are already working from home, I would be surprised. It is going on all over. If you read the paper you have seen the articles about telemedicine. And we all know about Amazon’s market share. Trips are reduced by all of these and a lot more.
Seventy-Five percent of the emissions that the Climate Change advocates worry about come from cars. What they don’t talk about is how transit and electric cars do not emit that much less per passenger. The answer is not more transit but rather more trip reductions through what I refer to as the Suite of Telecommuting Applications (SoTA). This is simply replacing physical trips with virtual ones. Not only can this greatly reduce urban congestion (emissions) but it also can create an opportunity to allow an equality of access and opportunity for rural communities. This is our goal.
In times of great change, we must understand these trends and prepare to use them to improve our quality of life. Ironically, just as the new home buyer has to get out the paint brush and repaint the walls, there are many polities and institutions that either must prove their worth in the new world or they must be removed. There are many good things the Industrial Age provided but the age old ‘turf’ battles, special interest alliances and the ‘old-boy network’ all must adapt to the new realities. These organizations must either: lead, follow or get out of the way. There is a an offer on the table; it is time to move.
