Tele-logistics refers to the ways in which telecommunications changes the movement patterns of freight and goods. Enormous and popular retail stores in suburban locations surrounded by huge parking lots, stores like Wal-Mart and Eagle, are another example of transportation impacts from expanding telecommunications. The low prices and stock availability in these stores are made possible by the satellite dishes on the roof and the telecommunicating computer systems that order and monitor the flow of goods from factories worldwide. Electronic shopping on the Internet is another example of telecommunications that will affect movement. Research by Global Telematics has not yet detected a significant overall trend of telecommunications substitution for transportation.
More research is needed.
One possible underlying reason for lack of substitution is that telecommunications usage causes economic growth and productivity improvement, that in turn yields more income, profits, and wealth, some of which goes into personal and business travel even as telecommunications expands still further. However, the balance between transportation and telecom may shift if transportation becomes noticeably more difficult or expensive. We know this happens if travel becomes impossible. Major disruptions of transportation during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the 1989 and 1994 California earthquakes, and assorted hurricanes and blizzards more recently illustrate that telecommunications can fill in for transportation and keep commerce partially operating at least on a temporary basis. Transportation planners need to work with telecommunications analysts to understand how the lessons of these experiences can be applied to a future environment where transportation degrades gradually because of travel volume growth and lack of public infrastructure funding.