Access Through Bits
A New Goal for ITS  and Transportation

Transportation planners have long grappled with the distinction between mobility and access.  At the beginning of the federal road policy era in the 1920’s, these concepts seemed inseparable—providing mobility by getting “farmers out of the mud” meant access to urban markets.1   Since then, the relationship has become more complicated.  For example, because of worsening congestion and longer trip lengths, expanding highway capacity (and in theory, mobility) doesn’t always improve one’s ability to obtain desired goods, services and information.

Moreover, it is now easier than ever to gain access without mobility, thanks to the recent rise in communications technologies.  Phone calls, faxes, emails, and the telecommunications network provide rapid access to people, goods, and information. And we’ve only just begun; today’s emerging fiber infrastructure has the theoretical capacity to transmit three million large books—more than the inventory of Amazon.com—on a single fiber-strand per second.2 

The relationship between concrete/asphalt and electronic access networks is complex.  For example, electronic demands (for goods and services) can both substitute and stimulate use of the transportation system. Calling a colleague on the phone can save a trip, while ordering an iMac can stimulate a trip.

Nonetheless, transportation policy makers and system designers have great opportunities to improve access through the digital network.  The appropriate framework for this is the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), the “official” program for organizing and deploying digital technologies.

Motor Mobility to Bit Access

For the past decade, ITS has enjoyed strong federal funding for planning, programming and deployment.  Major urban areas nationwide now have a basic technological infrastructure supporting their surface transportation system, a general architecture and planning process to integrating their information system into traffic management systems, and a range of technology services providing drivers with information about traffic and travel conditions. 

These reflect the original focus of ITS programs:  better mobility, i.e. improving traffic flows, vehicle crash avoidance, linking users with different transportation modes.  

Given the new popularity and power of Internet use, ensuring better access to goods and services is now a more appropriate focus.  Here are some actions that can help fulfill this objective:

An Infrastructure for Access.  ITS infrastructure should enhance the access needs of those who live and work near electronic networks.  ITS broadband networks can facilitate community digital access in places that currently lack good surface transportation options (such as the Compton Blue Line, Connecting Minnesota, the Great American Station Foundation’s “e-Stations” concept) or,  on the wireless side, access to mayday and other safety services (for example, e-911).

Traveler Information.  The next generation of traveler information services should deliver real-time conditions, alternative travel modes, and ideally, pricing information and value packages for a range of needs:  commuting, senior access, student specials, etc.  The Seattle Smart Trek system is a standard bearer on real-time information for multiple modes.

Environmentally-Friendly Trip Substitution.  Perhaps the greatest access gains can be achieved by providing people with more access choices, including environmentally-friendly options.  For example, people with telework options and flexible work schedules could tap into traffic information before they depart on their commute.  E-commerce delivery systems could include environmentally-friendly or energy-efficient shipping options.  Newly designed communities can use electronic connectivity to enhance the types of services that are provided in pedestrian environments.3  

To date, most transportation technology planning has focused on system-level mobility.  Our new challenge is to bring transportation services and options to a personal level so that people can have more access choices.  Such a system would enable better telework opportunities, would contain more useful information about various travel options, and would allow for environmentally-beneficial e-commerce delivery systems.  Since the U.S. Department of Transportation is just beginning a new ten-year planning effort for ITS, the time is right to move these technologies to favor access.

Notes

1.  Thomas Lewis, Divided Highways, New York: Viking, 1997.

2.  George Gilder, Telecom, New York: Viking, 2000.

3.        Thomas Horan and Kimberly, Telecommunications Design Studio Findings, Report prepared in collaboration with the Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, for the Department of Transportation, December, 2000.