Social factors in future travel: an assessment

Abstract

The interaction between social networks, activity spaces/markets and traffic growth is sketched here. It is argued that these linkages influence the adoption of intelligent transport systems, in particular with respect to management and control technologies. Qualitative models of personal activity spaces and commercial markets are developed. These suggest that any decoupling between economic and traffic growth will be difficult. They also suggest, that any change in trend will be difficult, as the current travel patterns reflect the social capital structures of society, which will be reluctant to change without good reason or external pressure.