The key is to shift behavior away from a single-car model to a systems model
New York,NY,USA -The Infrastructurist, by Eric Jaffe -February 22, 2011: ... Technology is certain to change the way we move in the coming years. But the limiting factor facing the development of American transportation probably isn’t a technological one, but rather a psychological one. In the United States, more than anywhere else, people see their cars as extensions of their personality. The key to more efficient travel tomorrow, in the eyes of the panelists, is to shift behavior away from a single-car model to a systems model, whereby multiple modes of transportation carry a person from door to door... As Sue Zielinski of University of Michigan’s SMART project said, instead of owning five cars, the future traveler will own a “portfolio of transportation” ... ”With a simple psychological shift from affinity for a vehicle to affinity for a well-connected system, the transportation of tomorrow doesn’t seem so far off. Suppose. You leave the office at precisely whatever-o-clock, because your phone told you a subway train would arrive in a few minutes. You connect to commuter transit and, at your stop, walk to the car share lot and hop into the first available vehicle. It’s a small, autonomous car — the technology for which has already arrived — so you can make calls or text or read as you glide home. That’s the everyday commute, but long-distance travel merely extends the system"... The idea is not to eliminate big cars or major roads. They’re still around for weekend or pleasure trips, and because your old car isn’t driven everyday, gasoline and maintenance costs are lower. And rather than restrict personal freedom, such a system in many ways enhances it. After all, you leave the house with — nothing. Except of course your mobile device, which is replacing the car as an extension of our personalities anyway. What’s more free than that?...* DC - America’s crossroads: No modern interstates, no modern United States
Washington,DC,USA -The Hill, by USA's Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood -17 Feb 2011: ... Through 10 presidential administrations and 28 sessions of Congress, Americans planned and paved a state-of-the-art highway network. Our roadways connect people with school and jobs. They carry products of agriculture and industry to market. They remain the world’s envy... Yet, today, our transportation system has reached a crossroads. America’s highways will always be essential avenues for travel and transport... But we can no longer rely exclusively on a marvel of 20th century engineering and construction to guarantee 21st century economic growth, opportunity, and competitiveness... Now we have choices to make — not between policies on the left or right, but between an economic recovery that rolls forward or slips backward. We must decide whether to invest for the future or to continue relying on the infrastructure of the past. We must decide whether to do big things or to do nothing. If we choose wisely, our legacy, too, can be an economy on the move and a future that America is prepared to win...
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