Future expansion of the national economy is likely to create further growth in travel demand. Over the last fifty years personal travel has trebled. Car ownership and the number of car drivers have increased significantly. Changes to travel patterns include shorter trips on foot, by bike and by bus being replaced by longer trips by car and to some extent train, and air travel has increased. Corresponding changes to work, business and leisure travel patterns have ensued. Greater mobility has affected business and social behaviour, and has had a knock-on effect on the built environment.Although public transport plays an important part in meeting travel needs in cities and large towns, it plays a smaller part in suburbs, smaller towns and rural areas. Having moved away from manufacturing and agriculture to service industry, the structure of British industry and commerce has evolved in ways which require faster and more flexible logistics which are provided by road transportation of freight. Growth of the Internet is expected to impact on transportation, substituting electronic for physical communications on the one hand, yet increasing demand for delivery traffic in response to Internet shopping on the other hand. (Author/publisher)
Abstract