“System thinking is badly needed in mobility policy”, considered Arie Bleijenberg, consultant and co-founder of the NGO network Transport & Environment (T&E), on Tuesday 3 September.
“System thinking is a powerful tool to look forward, to be aware of unexpected outcomes and to identify effective leverage points for change”, Mr Bleijenberg pointed out.
Mr Bleijenberg noted, for example, that with teleworking, travelling fewer days to work does not lead to less mobility, as this is offset by longer home-work distances.
The popular assertion in mobility policy that people want to travel from point A to point B actually runs counter to the working of the complex system of land use and mobility. The Covid-19 pandemic illustrated this untruth.
In reality, the total travel time per person is on average roughly constant. And faster travel results in longer travel distances, instead of in time savings. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)