As the economy grows, the use of telecommunications expands the number and geographic scope of economic and social relationships in which people and organizations engage. Telecommunications permits geographic decentralization of residential settlement, and of organizational activity locations. Decentralization leads to higher travel consumption, because trip origins and destinations tend to be farther apart. Telecommunications enables rapid response systems that dispatch customized vehicle trips to meet personal and organizational needs. New telecommunications functionality resulting from digital switching and fiber optics supports population growth and a wider span of economic activity in rural communities, leading to growth in travel.
Telecommunications makes the transportation system work more effectively and efficiently.
The deployment of interactive, more functional, higher bandwidth communications into homes and rural areas will allow more telecommuting and other travel substitution practices. But at the same time a better telecommunications infrastructure will probably reinforce the dynamics that make telecommunications a travel stimulator as well. More powerful telecommunications will feed all of the ways listed above in which telecommunications expands the motivations to travel. Telecommuting, in particular, is a very useful practice for stronger reasons than travel savings. It provides a work environment where workers can be more productive and closer to their families at the same time.