MOBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY - COMPLEMENTARY OR CONTRADICTORY OBJECTIVES?

Abstract

The means of transportation, the automobile and public transit, must serve the city and its inhabitants. Motorized mobility is constantly increasing, yet travel times have not been shortened. In the developing countries, the distances covered every day by city dwellers have doubled over the past 20 years, and this lengthening of the journey has not been totally offset by the increase in speed; during the same time, travel times have remained constant or gone up. In addition, for people who do not have an automobile to get around (about 49% of the population of the cities in Western Europe, and between 50% and 95% in the cities of the developing countries), it is the very ability to travel which is at stake. Access to urban activities for this population presupposes the existence of a public transit service offering all city dwellers, regardless of their income level, age or handicaps, the possibility of getting to work or school, going shopping and enjoying themselves. This aspect is often obscured by transportation professionals who focus on what is measured in transportation surveys: recorded mobility and travel times, not the lack of mobility caused by the simple fact that no means of transportation is available.