Our research has brought out the following list of travel stimulation
mechanisms of telecommunications:
- The NII causes economic growth, productivity improvement, and income
growth at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. Extensive
databases and powerful computer-based econometric techniques have recently
allowed this causation to begin to be empirically demonstrated. More money
means more travel.
- As the economy grows, the NII expands the number and geographic scope of
economic and social relationships in which people and organizations engage.
Electronic mail and toll-free telephone numbers are examples of
relationship-expanding communications technologies that generate travel in
addition to telecommunications volume.
- Telecommunications makes people aware of additional general audience
events and opportunities that are reached through travel, such as political
rallies, professional conferences, entertainment events, and shopping
opportunities.
- Telecommunications permits geographic decentralization of residential
settlement and of organizational activity locations. Decentralization leads to
higher travel consumption, because trip origins and destinations tend to be
farther apart.
- The NII speeds up the pace of economic activity, as futurist Alvin Toffler
writes in his book Powershift. He describes how wealthier nations simply
operate at higher speeds than less developed countries. The same idea is
expressed by business consultants in the phrase "time-based competition." The
acceleration of commerce tends to generate customized, single-purpose trips
that leave immediately and go by single-occupancy vehicles and small trucks.
- Telecommunications enables rapid response systems that dispatch customized
vehicles to meet personal and organizational needs. Several examples of this
are just-in-time logistics, home delivery of fast food, overnight package
delivery, and temporary employment services.
- Telecommunications enables a wide variety of new last-minute information
flows that generate personal travel through attractive invitations and
compulsory orders to attend.
- New telecommunications functionality resulting from digital switching and
fiber optics supports the urbanization of rural communities together with
associated growth in economic activity. This pattern typically causes more
local automobile traffic and a flow of visitors using transportation from
distant locations.
- Telecommunications makes travel time more productive and more feasible for
travelers; use of wireless mobile phones while traveling is the leading example.
- The NII makes the transportation system work more effectively and
efficiently. Examples of this are air traffic control, computerized airline
reservation systems, and Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS, also called
smart highways).
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