Fast-Lane Environments : Why Give Up Our Cars? We’ve Got Car Phones and Places to Go
A tug of war seems to be shaping up over the Southern California commuter: As the ‘90s loom, massive clean-air plans call for more ride-sharing and use of public transportation, even as the personal (read individual) automobile is becoming increasingly functional and seductive.
According to one transportation planner nationally known for her expertise on travel patterns and their public policy implications, it appears the automobile may have the stronger pull.
Genevieve Giuliano of USC’s School of Urban and Regional Planning has been immersed in transportation studies for eight years, and fears that “our ideas of people switching to mass transit and car pools to avoid congestion may be wrong.”
Giuliano, who has written widely for academic, government and popular publications, has analyzed transportation patterns in cities throughout the country, concentrating on Southern California, “because we consider it to be the wave of the future, a contemporary city that has grown up totally around the automobile.”
She sees several social forces at work to keep the driver soloing.
The new in-car communications technology, along with work-force changes from a manufacturing to a service economy, are already transforming the old notion of commuting as being just an exercise in frustration, she said.
For example, she said, “if you are any sort of salesperson or consultant or independent operator, you can do business or schedule your meetings in the car. If you are a lawyer and talking to a client on the phone, you are charging $150 an hour, or whatever you charge. In any case, it is no longer wasted time.”
And eventually the driver will be able to plug into centralized traffic reports and guidance systems that will facilitate traffic flow, she said. “You’ll be able to check a computer before you leave work and get an update on the Pasadena Freeway, or whatever your route is. Eventually, we are looking to cars that will almost drive themselves.
“Getting away from the technology,” she continued, “what I’m beginning to see is the tremendous impact that changing one’s work schedule has on the household. The trend toward two-career households means responsibility for transporting kids and, sometimes, older parents, too. Using your car is the only way you can fulfill all these requirements.”
For all these reasons, Giuliano said, people will still want to drive their cars despite proposed incentives for ride sharing and public transit. (The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s sweeping plan to clean up regional air quality by 2007 includes the requirement that large-scale employers offer commuter incentives such as preferential parking places and reduced or free parking rates for van riders, and subsidized or free bus passes for RTD riders.)
Said Giuliano: “Yes, we will get some people to change modes. The HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes already help. And based on the research I’ve done, there will always be some market for car-pooling and van use.” But she doesn’t foresee massive changes in driving habits, even as congestion thickens.
“It’s more likely that we will be more selective about discretionary travel--running all the errands at once, putting off recreational travel.
“This is purely from my perspective, from watching the market working,” she added. “The bottom line is that people want to drive cars.”
