Coming To Terms With Traffic Congestion

摘要

Traffic congestion is a significant problem for modern society, but it is a necessary evil. Congestion is the principal mechanism to resolve the surplus demand for road space during peak traffic areas. There is universal agreement that traffic from privately owned vehicles (POVs) will greatly increase in most parts of the world in the next 5-15 years. Acknowledging that traffic congestion will continue to be society's main solution to the competition for scarce road space, this paper proposes additional teleworking facilities with a door-to-door shuttle services with mini-offices. Whether stuck in traffic or not, time spent driving in POVs is unproductive, whereas near office conditions provided in trains, ferries and, nowadays, also in planes make it possible for passengers to stay productive . Teleworking in a door-to-door shuttle service with mini-offices would increase the attractiveness of public transit services in some large cities and, possibly, in larger quasi-urban areas in heavily populated countries. Such condition might provide leverage to deal with heavy traffic, especially traffic congestion. We suggest niches for an experimental transition to door-to-door shuttle services with mini-offices. We propose further systemic studies to find out what kind of industrial synergies would arise and how large society's leverage to deal with heavy traffic could be.