Think out of the car, think out of the bus

'80% of Flemish households own at least 1 car that is only used for as little as 1% of capacity'

Almost daily we experience mobility pains during our journeys; injuries – even fatalities – as a result of accidents or road rage and frustration due to traffic jams, delays or the road conduct of others. People and companies easily point the finger at government. Is this justified and can one expect the government to “solve” it all?

I am convinced that mobility is a shared responsibility: besides organising or arranging to organise the transport system, government has an important task to make users and companies aware of good “mobility hygiene”. We can draw an analogy between mobility hygiene and the use of our back: both are about making well-considered choices of movement. Crucial in this regard is the choice in locating one’s business, residence and work. Next, one needs to consider whether one needs to travel and, if so, when, how and, finally, how one behaves during this journey?

Just by posing these questions the shoe begins to pinch: we hardly do it. In our busy lives where we have to make choices from morning till night, using the car is a moment of peace in this ‘race of choices’. We apparently accept the mobility pains of this convenience solution as a necessary evil. Providing answers to these questions is the essence of a modern mobility system.

What should it look like?

First, one should be careful about comparing traffic flows with data traffic in, for example, the telecommunication sector. Concepts for giving precedence to priority data traffic, evolving from a hierarchical to a parallel network, seem to be readily applicable in relation to our mobility. However, there is a crucial difference here: mobility is about people, not about anonymous and voiceless bits and bytes. I am therefore in favour of moving from an anthropogenic to a more natural mobility system. Inspiration for this can be found in ‘permaculture’. This is a design principle for living environments that seek to achieve the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. Essential in this regard is the use of technical knowledge. For a mobility system this translates into the following elements:

1. Use of the STOP principle

This determines how an efficient transport system can be designed within the available space. Such design is based on the following order of priority:

• Strolling (pedestrians)

• Treading (cyclists)

• Organised transport (privately or publicly organised)

• Private transport (individual transport)