Telecommunications substitution for transportation that works well typically evolves into a growth in telecommunications volume that explodes beyond what transportation is capable of providing. Faxing may begin as a substitute for use of couriers, postal mail, and overnight express, but then fax volumes build beyond what these physical delivery mechanisms could ever handle. As fax becomes less expensive per page, its usage diffuses throughout society and becomes universal. Substitution of fax for document transport is no longer an operative concept, and fax usage is largely uncoupled from physical document transportation. Fax communications by then has a momentum of its own. Similarly, the vast majority of voice telephone calls can no longer be construed as substitutes for travel, nor can ten million people watching a soccer game on television translate into a reduction of ten million person-trips to the stadium.
Furthermore, as telecommunications volumes build independently of direct substitution for transportation, there begins to be an opposite effect, namely, travel stimulation. The expanding millions watching soccer on TV provide a growing pool of people who begin to consider going to the stadium occasionally. Intensive telephone, video, and fax interchanges between people who barely know each other creates desire for follow-up face-to-face meetings. A number of distinct stimulation effects can be identified.
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