EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

1. INTRODUCTION 5

2. RESEARCH APPROACH AND REPORT OUTLINE 7

2.1 Research Approach 7

2.2 Report Outline 7

3. THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 9

3.1 Definition 9

3.2. The Information Superhighway Today 10

3.2.1 How It Started 10

3.2.2 The Internet Today 10

3.2.3 Growth of the Internet 11

3.3 Access to the Information Superhighway 12

3.4 The Components of the Information Superhighway 13

3.4.1 Individual/Home 14

3.4.2 Automobile/Mobile 15

3.4.3 Office 16

3.5 Distributed Computing and Massive Information Sharing 16

3.6 Standards 17

3.6.1 Software Standards 17

3.6.1.1 Common Standards 17

3.6.1.2 Common Applications 18

3.6.2 Hardware Standards 18

3.7 Privacy 18

3.8 Security 19

3.9 Cost 20

3.9.1 Internet Structure 20

3.9.2. Internet Cost 21

3.9.3 Web Site 22

3.9.4 Future Costs 22

3.10 Summary of Conclusions 22

3.11 Recommendations 23

4.0 BASIC BUSINESS ORGANIZATION AND COMMUNICATIONS 25

4.1 Basic Organizational Functions and Transportation Agency Examples 25

4.1.1. State Department of Transportation (Caltrans ) 26

4.1.2 Metropolitan Planning Organization 26

4.1.3 Local Government 27

4.1.4 Public Transit Agency 27

4.2 Public Transit Agency Internal and External Uses and

Impacts of the Information Superhighway 27

4.2.1 Impacts of the Information Superhighway on Internal Activities 28

4.2.1.1 Internal Distribution of Information 28

4.2.1.2 Operations 28

4.2.1.3 Production 30

4.2.1.4 Development of New Products 30

4.2.2.Impacts of the Information Superhighway on External Activities 30

4.2.2.1 Product/Service Distribution 31

4.2.2.2 Customer Service 32

4.3 Development of New Products with Concurrent Engineering 33

4.4 The Future Workplace 37

4.4.1 Virtual Office 37

4.4.2 Benefits of the Remote Employment/Virtual Office 37

4.4.3 Telework 38

4.5 Making Change Happen 39

4.5.1 Organizational Changes 40

4.5.2 Interoperability 41

4.6 Summary of Conclusions 41

4.7 Recommendations 42

5. TRANSPORTATION/COMMUNICATIONS

RELATED SOCIETIAL CHANGES 43

5.1 Increase in Working at Home 43

5.2 More entertainment, information and Services at Home 46

5.2.1 How Much? 46

5.2.2 Internet Access and Usage 47

5.3 Formation of Communities and Isolation from Society 48

5.3.1 Virtual communities 48

5.3.2 Educational Use 48

5.3.3 Seniors On-Line 49

5.3.4 Isolation from Society 52

5.4 Impacts of Telecommuting on Transportation 49

5.4.1 Movement to the Suburbs and further 49

5.4.2 How Far? 51

5.4.3 Change of Travel Characteristics 52

5.4.4 Mileage Saved 53

5.5 Additional Impacts of Telecommuting 54

5.5.1 Environmental Impacts 54

5.2.2 Increased productivity and cost savings 54

5.5.3 Opportunities for Activities 55

5.6 Possible Additional Transportation Impacts 56

5.5.1 Trip Stimulation 56

5.52 Trip Substitution 57

5.7 Future Societal changes and Transportation-Related Impacts 57

5.8 Ethics 63

5.8.1 Brown Act/Sunshine Laws 63

5.9 Summary of Conclusions 64

5.10 Recommendations 64

6. SOME OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 67

6.1 Administration 68

6.1.1 Correspondence, Communications and Information 68

6.1.2 Breaking Down Barriers 70

6.1.3 Training 70

6.1.4 Telecommuting 70

6.1.5 Toll Card Sales 71

6.1.6 Other Issues 71

6.2 Transportation Planning 71

6.2.1 The Planning Roundtable 72

6.2.2 Public Communication 73

6.2.3 Substitution of Travel 74

6.2.4 Household Travel Surveys 74

6.3 Right of Way 75

6.4 Project Development 75

6.4.1 Smart Permitting 77

6.5 Construction 77

6.5.1 Presence on the Internet 78

6.5.2 Computer-Integrated Construction 79

6.5.3 Automatic Identification 80

6.5.4 Advanced Positioning Techniques 81

6.6 Maintenance 81

6.61 Quality Evaluation 82

6.6.2 Schedule 82

6.6.3 Work Reporting 82

6.64 Inventory Updating 82

6.7 Operations 83

6.7.1 Overview of Traffic Operations 84

6.7.2 Highway and Street Traffic Management and Control 85

6.7.2.1 Traffic Data collection and Traffic Surveillance 85

6.7.2.2 Data Processing and traffic Modeling 86

6.7.2.3 Traffic Management and Control 87

6.7.3 Driver/Traveler Information 88

6.7.4 Transit Management 92

6.7.5 Commercial Vehicle Operations 93

6.7.6 Vehicle Control 94

6.8 Summary of Conclusions 94

6.9 Recommendations 96

7. OVERALL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 99

APPENDIX A: REFERENCES 107

APPENDIX B: KEY TERMS AND ACRONYMS 117

APPENDIX C: GOVERNMENT AND

TRANSPORTATION-RELATED WEBSITES 123

APPENDIX D: CALTRANS TELECOMMUNICATIONS

MOBILITY PROJECT 127

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3-1: Information Access 11

Figure 3-3: Growth of the World Wide Web 1992-1995 12

Figure 3-4: Components of the “Information Superhighway” 14

Figure 4-1: Concurrent Engineering 34

Figure 4-2: Committed and Expended Costs 35

Figure 5-1: Time Spent on the Computer 48

Figure 5-2: Trends in Rural, Central City,

and Suburban Population, 1950-2000 51

Figure 5-3: Mean Commute Distance for

Drive-Alone Commuting, 1980-1990 52

Figure 5-4: Commute Distance Traveled for

California’s Telecommuting Project 52

Figure 6-1: Traditional Fragmented and

Sequential Project-Delivery Process 76

Figure 6-2: CIC Technology Framework 79

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4-1: Costs of Changes 35

Table 4-2: Benefits of Concurrent Engineering 36

Table 4-3: Distribution of Expenditures for

Caltrans District 7 (1994-1995) 36

Table 4-4: Distribution of Telecommuters within PUC Divisions 38

Table 5-1: Time Use Data (Americans’ Use of Time Project) 46

Table 5-2: Applications Used on the Internet in the Past 24 Hours 47

Table 5-3: Workers by county of Residence,

Large Metropolitan Areas, 1960-1990 50

Table 5-4: Transportation Impacts from Telecommuting 54

Table 5-5: Productivity Increase due to Telecommuting 55

Table 5-6: Telecommuting Advantages Americans Consider 56

Table 5-7: Distribution of Vehicle Trips, and

Average Trip Length by Trip Purpose 58

Table 5-8: Summary Statistics on workers

from the 1990 Census and 1990 NPTS 60

Table 5-9: Changes Over Time 61

Table 5-10: Average Vehicle Occupancy for

Selected Trip Purposes, 1977-1990 62

Table 5-11: Consumer Expenditures 62

Table 6-1: Summary of Expenditure Assignments 83

Table 6-2: Expenditures in Incremental Research

Categories by Technical Topic, 1993 84

Table 6-3: Summary of Electronic Toll Collection

System Benefits 88

3. THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

There are many technological issues of which Caltrans and other transportation agencies must be aware in order to deal with the challenges and opportunities forthcoming from the development of the Information Superhighway. Failure to recognize, understand, and respond to these issues could result in growing inefficiency, inability to adapt to increasingly complex transportation issues, little capability to respond to security problems, or worst of all, costly adoption of standards and protocols which Caltrans and these agencies were not involved in creating and which do not take into account the agencies’ needs. Discussions of some of the critical issues are contained in the following sections. First, the Information Superhighway will be defined, followed by a discussion of the concept as it exists today. Next, the critical elements of the future Information Superhighway will be discussed. Conclusions will be drawn regarding the most critical of these issues and their impact on Caltrans and other transportation agencies.

The objective of this section is to discuss:

· Definition of the Information Superhighway

· Brief discussion of the present Information Superhighway

· Access to the Information Superhighway

· Components of the Information Superhighway

· Issues:

- Distributed computing and information sharing

- Standards

- Privacy

- Security

- Cost

· Conclusions

· Recommendations

3.1 Definition

The term “Information Superhighway” is attributed to Vice-President Al Gore (3). He used the term to describe a communications network akin to a highway system. The system will allow everyone to be connected to everyone else, have a universal standard, and minimize bottlenecks. According to the searchable index on the World Wide Web on the Internet at Web site http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/?information+superhighway, the Information Superhighway is “… the emerging high-speed global communications network capable of carrying voice, data, video and other services around the world. These services will use satellite, copper cable, fiber optics, cellular telecommunications and be accessible via set-top boxes or suitable equipped computers.

The term “Information Superhighway” has been used interchangeably with the federal government’s proposed National Information Infrastructure (NII). The NII, when built, will be “a seamless web of communication networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that will put vast amounts of information at users’ fingertips” (4). The two main goals of the Information Superhighway are: single form of “information” that can be easily accessed and wiring all households and businesses in the country so that everyone is connected to the network. But the most immediate challenge is “building” it. Many questions remain unanswered. Precisely what form will the information highway take? What is the best way to deliver information to people? When will this all happen? And most importantly, who will command it?

3.2 The Information Superhighway Today

The information highway is still more concept than reality. The Internet, a loosely organized computer communications network made up of many smaller networks patched together, is the nearest thing existing today to a working prototype of the Information Superhighway.

3.2.1 How It Started

The Internet emerged from the experimental network ARPAnet established during the 1970s, which was designed by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to support academic and military research (5). The agency wanted a network that could withstand partial outages, such as nuclear attacks and bomb attacks, and still be able to function.

3.2.2 The Internet Today

Today the Internet (the Net) is the world’s largest computer network; it is a global connection of networks that links together the large commercial computer and communications services as well as the tens of thousands of university, government and corporate networks. Additional companies, organizations, and private citizens are connecting to the Net everyday. Although the number of people using the Net is unknown, it is estimated that 30 to 40 million people in more than 160 countries can at least send and receive e-mail (6). The Internet is predicted to grow at ten percent of its total base users every month (7).

The Internet has changed the way some people scan for information, process personal and business communications, and solve problems. It is a two-way medium which allows access to:

· people

· data

· computer software

· written documents

· and multimedia information such as pictures and sounds.

Current major features of the Internet include:

· Electronic Mail (e-mail)

· Talk

· Usenet

· File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

· Telnet

· Gopher

· Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS)

· World Wide Web (the Web, WWW, 3W)

· Netscape, Mosaic, MS Explorer, Lynx

· Video Conferencing.

These terms, in addition to other key terms, are defined in Appendix A of this report. In the Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center’s (GVU) Fifth WWW User Survey, users were asked how frequently they accessed each category for information, i.e. several times a day, once a day, several times a week, several times a month, once a month, a few times, and never. There were a total of 6,619 respondents for all categories. The percentages presented in Figure 3-1 were calculated by subtracting the total number of respondents who answered ‘never’ from 6,619. The category which almost all the respondents have used was reference information (99.69%). Other information categories frequently used include: product information (92.37%), replace other browser (87.61%), and electronic news (86.09%). The type of information least accessed was shopping (53.57%).

Source: GVU’s Fifth WWW User Survey (April 1996)

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys

3.2.3 Growth of the Internet

From 1986 to 1992, the number of Internet users increased a thousand-fold and is now growing at a rate of ten percent per month. It will more than double itself in one year from 30 million users to more than 66 million (5). Research from SIMBA Information Inc. (8), an information services company that monitors, analyzes, and reports on the global market, reported that the Internet is expected to grow by 64 percent between 1994 and the year 2000. SIMBA estimates there to be 282,000 direct-dial access accounts to the Internet which are being paid by individual consumers in the United States, as of the second quarter of 1995. Total commercial on-line subscribers were anticipated to reach 10.7 million by the end of 1995 and 27 million by the end of the decade. California surpasses all other states in Internet usage at 13 percent. But while the growth rate is tremendous, there are some factors which will hinder future expansion. More than half of all Americans say they have never heard of the “Information Superhighway.” Also, fewer than 30 percent of the people have home computers. This issue will be discussed further in the following section.

Figure 3-2: Growth of the World Wide Web (1992-1995)

3.3 Access to the Information Superhighway

“The introduction of the personal microcomputer in the mid-1970’s began a movement that brought computer mediated communication to the masses” (9). However, in a survey of 2,000 adults, less than 30 percent of the respondents owned a computer in their home and of these people, 72.9 percent do not think they will ever own one. This becomes more apparent as the Nielson study reports that a quarter of the 24 million people on the Internet have annual incomes of at least $80,000 compared to only ten percent of the overall population who belong to this income level (10). The study also showed that nearly two-thirds of the users have a college degree and are male, while more than half are between the ages of 16 and 34. “In short, Internet users are young, well-heeled professional men” (10).

As the wealthy are hooking up to the network, the lower-middle and poor people may be left behind as they can not afford to have access to the Internet. The Clinton Administration hopes to be able to provide access to everyone. Vice President Gore told the Wall Street Journal that, “It is a priority for this administration that every classroom, library, hospital, and clinic be connected to the National Information Infrastructure by the year 2000” (11). Despite the Administration’s goal, “information haves and have-nots”, thus further enlarging the economic and cultural gaps between the middle and upper classes and the urban and rural population (11).

A 1993 survey by an interactive services trade group reported that about 20 percent of the U.S. population do not have access to most commercial on-line services by way of a local phone number (12). Commercial on-line providers are unwilling to add local sites unless there are enough customers in the area using their services. Adding a local access point incurs a large cost to the company because they need to pay for a secure location, phone lines, modems, ports, circuits, and hardware. As a result, people living in these areas need to call the nearest local access site, which then becomes a long-distance phone call. The phone bill adds up quickly as one user in Virginia was faced with a $205 phone bill after being on-line for a month (12). In addition to the long-distance cost, users often also pay an hourly charge to the on-line service provider. These extensive toll charges hinder the poor, even those with a secondhand computer, from gaining access to the Information Superhighway.

Another factor which prohibits the poor from accessing the Internet is that 7 million Americans do not even have telephones (13). Supporters of wider access are trying to lessen the economic and cultural gap by installing computers and Net connections into libraries, post offices, and other public places for people without home computers to use. For example, this is taking place in Santa Monica, California (13), where 15 public-access terminals have been installed in places such as banks, community centers, and grocery stores. Now, even the homeless are able to get on-line information about city services, send e-mail to city officials and local members of Congress, and participate in discussion groups.

In November 1994, future House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-GA, emphasized the importance of making documents available on-line to the public. He said, “We will change the rules of the House to require that all documents and all conference reports be filed electronically … and that they cannot be filed until they are available to any citizen who wants to pull them up” (14). On January 5, 1995, Congress started the Thomas system, the main repository for documents such as the text of bills and electronic copies of the Congressional Record. Although unofficial printed copies of transcripts and records of committee hearings are available shortly after they are completed, electronic copies sometimes cannot be obtained for days or even months later (14).

In contrast to these intentions, the government has not placed great priority in providing staff and officials with the latest technology. Members of Congress, those with access to computers, work with outdated ones. “More than half the PCs are two generations old and aren’t capable of running the Windows operating system, a de facto standard in most businesses” (14).

3.4 The Components of the Information Superhighway

The term Information Superhighway can be interpreted to mean the flow of information, both stored or actively created and modified, across locations. Presently this information can flow in two forms, analog or digital. Analog information exchange represents information in continuous form such as voice amplitudes or video color. Digital information exchange involves coding continuous values into a set of numbers. Due to the advent of high speed computers and the flexibility and noise immunity that it creates, information transmitted digitally is rapidly becoming the dominant form of communication devices. To see this impact on information flow, one must examine all levels of knowledge transfer.

The major hardware components of the Information Superhighway are depicted in Figure 3-4. Essentially, the Information Superhighway will be accessible from the home, vehicle, office or from anywhere outside of these three places. It will be accessed via wireless communication or various wired systems. The receiver may be a computer, a television set, a telephone, or other devices which resemble these well-known appliances. Many new devices will combine some of the functions of the aforementioned devices (15).

3.4.1 Individual/Home

There are essentially five ways of information flows to and from homes:

a) One-way Radio Frequency (RF) transmission (radio): This communication channel is presently analog only and is used predominately for audio information exchange. Due to bandwidth constraints, it is unlikely to become digital. It is, however, currently the most common technique for receiving automobile traffic flow information.

b) One-way VHF and UHF transmission (television): This transmission is presently one way and analog. This is, however, changing rapidly and dramatically. First, interactive analog transmission, while presently not very successful, does allow for real-time data exchange. More importantly will be the adoption of a digital television protocol (commonly referred to as High Definition Television (HDTV)). Once this occurs, computers can be used to receive the video information, and then it becomes possible, for example, to not only receive traffic information, but interpret routing patterns, etc.

c) Two-way direct connected narrow bandwidth transmission (telephone): This

is presently a narrow bandwidth analog communication channel. However, through the use of modems, which convert digital data to analog form, two-way data communication is possible. This has become an exploding area for the Information Superhighway as individuals establish modem connections to sites on the Internet. Through establishment of data compression techniques and serial line interface protocol (SLIP) connections, complete two-way access to the World Wide Web is possible. The problem, however, is the limited bandwidth which, even with compression and error checking protocols, presently stands at 28.8 kBaud. With the advent of ISDN lines to homes, the speed can be improved to over 100 k Baud, but it is doubtful that it will ever achieve the capabilities of the two systems discussed below.

d) Direct connect broad bandwidth transmission: This is presently an analog protocol, but because of the broad bandwidth coaxial cable allows, it will soon be a high speed two-way connection to the internet. In France, experimentation with having one channel devoted to an internet connection has already begun. This high-speed connection opens the possibility for much faster video transmission as well as more complex compression and security features. This will, for instance, be important if car or driver’s license registration were to become possible directly from home.

e) One-way microwave transmission (satellite): This represents the largest growth potential for home communications. GM Hugh’s Direct Broadcast Satellite System (DSS) already has a 23 MB/sec band for two-way digital data communications, which opens the possibility for real-time audio and video in the future.

It is critical to realize that once home transmission is digital, then any system based on computer, microcomputer, and microprocessor can receive, exchange, and process information. Information transfer will become software dependent and much less hardware dependent. It will be this software that will enable individuals to access information on traffic information , etc.

3.4.2 Automobile/Mobile

Cellular communications systems now allow the individual to leave the home and still remain connected to their phone system and, in some limited cases, the Information Superhighway. While most of these systems are analog, with bandwidth constraint similar to home telephone systems, there has begun a move to digital cellular communications. Now, two-way data transfer to vehicles of any sort and to pedestrians will be quite common. This could be important to transportation agencies as it would enable traffic information to be transmitted to an automobile, bicycle, train, truck, ferry or pedestrian or a customer who stays at a point of origin. Unique automobile ID codes (similar to IP addresses) could be sent to transportation agencies and aid law enforcement, traffic routing, registration verification, and possibly even toll payments (tolls could be paid by debit from the car owner’s bank account). It should be noted that some of the methods used to transmit information to and from the home also apply here, the predominant method being cellular network access to telephone communicating.

3.4.3 Office

Obviously, organizations including transportation agencies potentially have access to all Information Superhighway connections described above. Only the public, private, and government institutions that take advantage of this fact will maintain maximum efficiency, excellent customer relations and thus achieve a good probability of survival. It is believed that the number one use of the World Wide Web will eventually be commerce (16). Initially, static publishing has been the dominant way of using the Net. Corporations can display everything from products and services to job openings. This obviously has many applications for transportation. The next step is dynamic Web pages whereby the Web page is changed depending upon the query. Thus, information from thousands of databases can show up on one Web page. The third step is the ability to order goods and services on the Web, i.e. updating the Web site’s base by query. The Web could be used to purchase toll passes, pay fees, etc. Finally, the ability exists to un applications across the Web. Simulations can now be launched at any time from anywhere, causing information to be then sent to other sites. Toward this end, based on the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, which was initially developed for phone systems, ironically have been first implemented for data networks within corporations by some regional and backbone providers.

3.5 Distributed Computed and Massive Information Sharing

As discussed previously, there are many reasons for wanting to use the Information Superhighway. Fundamentally, however, it serves two purposes: information sharing and distributed computing. Information sharing includes activities such as traffic data sharing, video image distribution and response, and real-time site communication. For an organization as large as Caltrans, this becomes a massive information exchange structure.

Distributed computing refers to the ability to use many computers simultaneously, either for computation intensive activities, taking advantage of specialized computing hardware, or reducing the needed bandwidth for information exchange. Some examples of each scenario are:

· Large simulations require either enormous computing power within one computer or the distribution of parallel simulation tasks over many computers.

· A remote job site with only a laptop needs to take advantage of visualization software at a computer back at headquarters.

· Motorists want to get continuous traffic updates in their cars.

The last example could be misinterpreted as another example of data exchange. It is, however, an example of distributed computing over the Internet. With new remote program execution protocols such as JAVA^TM, an applet (a small program) can be transferred to a remote computer (either workstation or PC) and executed. This allows for reducing the bandwidth of information exchange by:

Transferring an applet
Remote machine executing the applet
Occasional update of information

Continuous screens updates (HTML files) do not have to be sent.

3.6 Standards

When one computer stands alone, serving its intended function, it does not matter what particular hardware it uses or what software runs on it. The minute the computer is networked and becomes part of a distributed computing environment, software and hardware standards become crucial. Without these standards, data cannot be shared easily, computation cannot be distributed efficiently, and most importantly, human computer interaction becomes slow, tedious, and expensive, as the user must be retrained repeatedly. Network standards are essential. In the U.S. House of Representatives, there are a minimum of nine different internal electronic-mail systems, which makes it difficult for members of Congress to communicate with each other (17). To maximize the rewards from using the Information Superhighway, transportation agencies must adhere to standards in both computing hardware and software.

3.6.1 Software Standards

Software on the Information Superhighway does not just refer to networking, mail, and other communications software. It also refers to the applications that each user is running and operating systems they run upon.

Software standards refer to two separate issues:

Establishment of standards by which all software, both custom and commercial, to be used by the organization must adhere
Stardardization of commercial software to be used by a transportation agency and its contractors.

3.6.1.1 Common Standards

Establishment of standards is critical if any information sharing and distributed computing is to take place. Standards must be set in the following areas:

1. File formats for data exchange. This includes all application generated files that will be exchanged across Caltrans and to outside contractors including text documents, databases, drawings, etc.

Reporting formats within common files. Although a file format may be compatible, if the data reporting within the file is different, communication is broken. A simplistic example would be a common database format that has a completely different field assignment than another database.

Distributed program communication protocols. Obviously, if a program is to communicate in real-time with another program, it must speak in the same protocol. This is critical for such thing as real-time traffic monitoring and management.

3.6.1.2 Common Applications

The continuing development of standards is important in the following areas:

Operating systems
Communication packages
Applications that will be used at more than one site

This issue has an impact not only on ease of data exchange and distributed computing, but also on the cost of software purchasing, training, and maintenance. Software that is common across sites and across computing platforms can allow for volume discounts, common training programs, ease of technical support, and less time keeping software current and compatible. While having common software is not absolutely necessary as long as common standards are set, the monetary savings to agencies would be enormous.

3.6.2 Hardware Standards

As was mentioned previously, the Information Superhighway has eliminated the necessity for common computer hardware. A personal computer can talk to a UNIX workstation and talk to a mobile laptop at the job site without any problems as long as software standards are maintained.

It is very important, however, that hardware standards for communication be established. As discussed earlier, information exchange can take many forms and occur at many speeds. The method for communicating to a remote job site, or a car, or a home, must be established. It costs hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to network buildings together. Real-time video data exchange from a job site or a traffic corridor, for example, requires high bandwidth networks. The choosing of appropriate hardware standards, as well as software standards will impact whether the money spent now will be wasted due to obsolescence.

3.7 Privacy

“Forging e-mail is notoriously easy,” said Gary Jackson, director of academic computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (18). Messages can be manipulated such that it looks as if someone else sent it, which makes verifying the origination of the message difficult. There is also a potential for the unauthorized opening of electronic mail; this would be considered misuse of Internet facilities. On the other hand, activities between two consenting adults are usually private and harmless (19).

Anyone who uses the Internet or puts any document out on the Internet needs to be concerned with the copyright law and intellectual property protection. “All works of expression have at least one thing in common: they are protected by copyright as soon as they are created and fixed in a tangible medium” (20). The copyright law grants authors the right of intellectual property and certain exclusive rights to their works for a limited time. This applies to Usenet postings and e-mail messages as well. Both are original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression (20).

There are two doctrines which will probably allow some copying of Usenet postings and e-mail messages: fair use and implied license. Appropriate fair use may be considered if it was not used in a commercial nature, the postings or message was not an artistic or dramatic work, only a short quotation was copied, and there was little or no impact on any market for the posting or e-mail message (20). With e-mail messages, one must also be concerned with other laws such as defamation, invasion of privacy, and trade secrecy when contents of a private e-mail message are revealed. Others support the idea of an implied license; they argue that anyone who posts their ideas to Usenet “is granting an implied license for others to similarly copy or quote that posting, too” (20). There has been little litigation testing these theories in court since most postings are not registered with the Copyright office. In order for the defendant to win, he/she must show actual damages. These cases do not usually result in any actual damages, and therefore it becomes too expensive to sue for negligible damages.

However, a copyright only protects an author’s original expression and not the “ideas, system or factual information that is conveyed in the copyrighted work …” (20). It also does not apply to U.S. Government works. Works of the U.S. Government cannot be copyrighted and are considered public domain, thus becoming available to be freely used by anyone for any purpose.

3.8 Security

Security is always a key issue when data is stored and exchanged. At University of Southern California (USC), the Security Infrastructure for Large Distributed System (SILDS) project has the objective of developing infrastructure to support authentication, authorization, accounting, and related security services for the Internet. These services promote greater sharing of resources and enable electronic commerce. Through the SILDS project, the Information Sciences Institute in San Diego recently released NetCheque, an electronic payment system for the Internet. Users registered with NetCheque accounting servers are able to write electronic checks to other users. These checks may be sent through e-mail or as payment for services provided through other network protocols. When deposited, the check authorizes the transfer of network protocols. When deposited, the check authorizes the transfer of account balances from the account against which the check was drawn to the account to which the check was deposited. This kind of security will be an issue as Caltrans and other transportation agencies become greater players on the Internet.

Data security is also critical in other areas. For instance, security becomes critical when information is exchanged in areas of biometric record keeping, bids, proposals and employee records.

3.9 Cost

To understand the present and future costs of using the “Information Superhighway,” one must understand the structure and cost history of the Internet as well as cost of Web sites. Much of the information from sections 3.9.1 and 3.9.2 is excerpted from the information infrastructure Web Site at the University of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu).

3.9.1 Internet Structure

How much different is the Internet from telephone networks? Most backbone and regional network traffic move over leased phone lines, so at a low level the technology is the same. However, there is a fundamental distinction in how the lines are used by the Internet and the phone companies. The Internet provides connectionless packet-switched may service whereas telephone service is circuit-switched. The difference may sound arcane, but it has vastly important implications for pricing and the efficient use of network resources.

Most of the network hardware in the Internet consists of communications lines and switches or routers. In the regional and backbone networks, the lines are mostly leased telephone trunk lines, which are increasingly fiber optic. Routers are computers. The routers used on the NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) were modified commercial IBM RS6000 workstations, although custom-designed routers by other companies such as Cisco, Wellfleet, 3-Com and DEC probably have the majority share of the market.

The U.S. portion of the Internet is best thought of as having three levels. At the bottom are local area networks (LANs), e.g. campus networks. Usually the local networks are connected to a regional, or mid-level network. The mid-level backbone is an overarching network to which multiple regional networks connect, and which generally does not directly serve any local networks or end-users. The U.S. backbones connect to other backbone networks around the world. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this structure.

A few years ago the primary backbone was the NSFNET. On April 30, 1995, the NSFNET ceased operation and now traffic in the U.S. is carried on several privately operated backbones. The new “privatized Internet” in the U.S. is becoming less hierarchical and more interconnected. The separation between the backbone and regional network layers of the current structure is blurring, as more regionals are connected directly to each other through Network Access Points (NAPs), and traffic passes through a chain of regionals without any backbone transport.

3.9.2 Internet Cost

In January 1994, there were four public fiber-optic backbones in the U.S.: NSFNET, Alternet, PSInet, and SprintLink. The NSFNET was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF); it evolved directly out of ARPAnet, the original TCP/IP network. The other backbones were private for-profit enterprises.

By summer 1995, there were at least 14 national and super-regional high-speed TCT/IP networks in the U.S. As interconnection proliferates, the distinction becomes less important. A map of the major interconnection points and the numerous networks that use them is available at the California Education and Research Federation Network (CERFnet).

MCI, which helped operate the original NSFNET, is probably the largest carrier of Internet traffic today; they claim to carry 40 percent of all Internet traffic. However, this is a highly competitive market; Sprint, Alternet, and PSInet are also signing up many customers.

The NSFNET backbone shut down on April 30, 1995, when its NSF funding ended. NSF is continuing to fund some regional nets, but this funding steadily decreases to zero over five years. Instead, the NSF is funding NAPs near Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. The NAPs are interconnection points for backbone providers.

It is difficult to say how much the Internet as a whole costs, since it consists of thousands of different networks, many of which are privately owned. However, it is possible to estimate the cost of the NSFNET backbone, since it was publicly supported. In 1993, NSF paid Merit about $11.5 million per year to run the backbone. Approximately 80 percent of this was spent on lease payments for the fiber optic lines and routers. About seven percent of the budget was spent on the Network Operations Center, which monitored traffic flows and trouble shooted problems.

To give some sense of the scale of this subsidy, add to it the approximately $7 million per year that NSF paid to subsidize various regional networks, for a total of about $20 million. Based on estimates that there were approximately 20 million Internet users (most of whom were connected to the NSFNET in one way or another), the NSF subsidy amounted to about $1 per user per year. Of course, this was significantly less than the total cost of the Internet; this figure does not include all the public funds from state governments, state-supported universities, and other national governments. No one really knows how much all this adds up to, although there are some research projects underway trying to estimate the total U.S. expenditures on the Internet. It has been estimated–read “guessed”–that the NSF subsidy of $20 million per year was less than ten percent of the total expenditure by U.S. public agencies on the Internet. At present, there are many overlapping information networks (e.g., telephone, telegraph, data, cable TV) while new networks are emerging rapidly (paging, personal communications services, etc.).

Each of the current information networks was engineered to provide a particular type of service and the added value provided by each different type was sufficient to overcome the fixed costs of building overlapping physical networks. However, given the high fixed costs of providing a network is strong. Furthermore, now that all information can be easily digitized, separate networks for separate types of traffic are no longer a basic feature in most visions. The much publicized migration to integrated services networks will have important implications for market structure and competition.

3.9.3 Web Site

One of the critical costs for any company on the Internet is the establishment and maintenance of a World Wide Web site (WWW). Costs to set up, run, and maintain a WWW site can become significant. According to a panel of Internet marketing experts at a conference on marketing on the Internet, at COMDEX FALL 95, it would cost $6 million over two years to run a “large” site, $2 million for a medium site, and $500,000 per small site. Becki Walk, one of the panelists, stated that it was crucial to set up good links on a homepage and this may cost as much as $800 per month. The costs of a WWW presence will grow and become quite significant as the mission of the Web pages grows.

Discussion with Caltrans personnel indicated that the Caltrans WWW presence will be important in information exchange with the public. The benefits and liabilities associated with a Web presence also nee to be considered. Although Caltrans will be able to make more information available to the public and correspond more efficiently, they will need to be accountable for the information distributed as well as respond, in a timely manner, to queries/requests the public makes.

3.9.4 Future Costs

It is impossible to predict the cost of using the Internet and the Information Superhighway in the future. It is clear, however, that adherence to hardware and software standards, as discussed previously, will be critical in keeping costs at a minimum. With an organization as large as Caltrans, securing agreements with Internet providers could also help keep rising access costs down. A coherent policy on Internet access and standards could put Caltrans in the best position to influence the future costs of being on the Information Superhighway.

3.10 Summary of Conclusions

There has been rapid growth in the development of communication and information technologies and this development will probably accelerate. The existing Internet is only the beginning of the development of the future Information Superhighway, which will provide significant opportunities for information sharing, communication, and computing. Opportunities will not only arise for dealing more efficiently and effectively with existing tasks, but may offer opportunities to undertake new or substitute activities which will further the attainment of the overall mission of transportation agencies. Along with the opportunities there will be challenges for transportation agencies in dealing with these changes, which will probably occur very rapidly. A summary of the major specific conclusions follows:

1. It will be advantageous to be pro-active in dealing with the emerging issues. The

most important issues are:

· Identification of which functions will be affected by the Information Superhighway as well as determining which additional functions could be advantageously dealt with through the Information Superhighway

· Standards and protocols for computing hardware and software

· Possible security problems.

2. The improved information sharing and distributed computing offered by the Information Superhighway will create the opportunity to deal with Caltrans units, other transportation agencies and other organizations located in remote locations in an efficient manner. Caltrans could provide leadership to establish priorities for the areas of information transfer and distributed computing which will benefit most from the opportunities offered by the Information Superhighway. This can be done within the context of Caltrans’ and other transportation agencies’ ongoing evaluation of their functional organization and operation.

3. The way in which transportation agencies deal with the public will probably also need to change over time. With the establishment of a World Wide Web presence, Caltrans and similar agencies have introduced potential benefits and liabilities.

4. The benefits or liabilities and the costs or savings associated with these developments, will depend on the ability of Caltrans to have a policy established for hardware and software standards and protocols by which organizations, which Caltrans deals with, could communicate.

3.11 Recommendations

Caltrans and other transportation agencies should develop a policy/strategic plan for dealing with the public, other transportation agencies, vendors and other commercial enterprises. In the short term, this policy should focus on issues related to the Internet. The specific issues for Caltrans to deal with are as follows:

· Establishment of a unit that will oversee and/or establish leadership for interagency communication and, most importantly, distributed computing

· Establishment of a unit that will oversee and/or establish leadership for communication with the public and contractors using the World Wide Web

· Establishment of protocols, of hardware and software standards

· Establishment of a training program for Caltrans and other transportation agencies for the purpose of electronic communication

· Establishment of a cost sharing formula for Caltrans and other transportation agencies for the purpose of electronic communication

· Establishment of a cost sharing formula for Caltrans and other transportation agencies for hardware, software, and training costs.

It is recommended that Caltrans establish a task force to initiate a policy/strategic plan for dealing with the above-mentioned issues. This task force should preferably include representatives from other transportation agencies and possibly also representative from other organizations, such as consultants, which Caltrans and the other agencies routinely deal with. An initial policy will probably have to be proposed by Caltrans. This should be a very worthwhile action since it will establish a cost-efficient and cost-effective direction for dealing with the opportunities and challenges presented by the emerging technologies.

5. BASIC BUSINESS ORGANIZATION

AND COMMUNICATION

It is often said that “Government ought to operate more like a business.” The primary objective of this chapter is to discuss some opportunities for information and communication-related change potentially available for many organizations, including private businesses and public transportation agencies. Advances in communication, information, and computer technologies have impacted the way businesses operate. In just this past decade, the personal computer has, for many, become a tool which helps accomplish daily tasks, aids in the communication process, and retrieves information. It has improved the processes, efficiency, and accuracy of businesses (15). Business users can potentially use the Internet as a delivery medium for their products, information and services. Transportation agencies can potentially utilize the Internet and the future Information Superhighway in the same way that businesses can, and learn from businesses in this respect, given that there is a similarity in the fundamental operation of transportation agencies and private businesses.

In the following sections, the basic functions of organizations will be introduced, with a corporation of the functions of four typical transportation agencies, to address the fundamental question of whether-or-how transportation agencies operate in a similar manner as other businesses. The opportunities and general impacts that the Information Superhighway will have on all businesses (both internally and externally), and some of the specific applications to transportation agencies, will also be addressed. The subject of concurrent engineering will be presented, since improved information/communication technologies can yield substantial benefits in this area. A summary of developments related to the future workplace will be presented, followed by a discussion of how change will take place in an organization. Following this will be a summary of conclusions and recommendations.

4.1 Basic Organizational Functions and Transportation Agency Examples

To create and deliver goods and services, all organizations perform the functions of marketing, production/operations, and finance/accounting. Universities, churches, volunteer groups, and businesses all perform these functions (21). In addition to these basic functions there are other support functions that are important enough to be identified separately. For most businesses, the following major functional areas are commonly found (22).

Marketing. Concerned with the selling, promotion, and distribution of a product

or service.

Production or operations. Concerned with converting raw materials into finished

form, or with delivery of a service.

Finance. Concerned with developing sources of funds and guiding their internal

and external investment.

Personnel. Concerned with attracting, developing, and maintaining the

organization’s human resources.

Accounting. Concerned with financial reporting for external and internal

purposes.

Research. Concerned with discoveries that may be developed into useful products or processes for the future.

Legal. Concerned with protection of an organization from legal action, and maintenance of legal rights, which all organizations have.

Do these particular functions apply to transportation agencies? The assumption is that transportation agencies are (or can be) very similar to any business. The following organizations were reviewed, primarily from an analysis of their published organization charts, to determine how well they correspond to typical businesses:

State Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

Metropolitan Planning Organization (Metropolitan Transportation Commission)

Local Government (City of San Jose’s Department of Streets & Parks)

Public Transit Agency (Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority)

It should be noted that the analysis was carried out by examining published organization charts and noting the obvious functions performed in comparison to the generic business functions identified in the earlier discussion.

4.1.1 State Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

Caltrans is responsible for the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the California State Highway System, as well as that portion of the Interstate Highway System within the California’s boundaries. Caltrans is also involved in the support of passenger rail service in California and promotes the use of alternative forms of transportation. Overall, the major Caltrans functions correspond closely to the functions found in typical business. At the District level there is not an identifiable department of marketing, but there is a public information function.

4.1.2 Metropolitan Planning Organization

Since a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is mainly a planning organization, its functions do not correspond to a typical business as well as the other agencies which were considered. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the MPO in the Bay Area, allocates a large sum of money each year to what it decides are needed improvements, although the MTC usually does not do the project work itself. However, these planning and allocation functions are performed in most businesses.

4.1.3 Local Government

The mission of the City of San Jose’s Department of Streets and Parks is “to ensure that the City’s investments within its street right-of-ways are effectively and efficiently maintained; to operate the City’s traffic system in a manner that is sensitive to community concerns, minimizes accidents, and provides for the efficient movement of vehicles and pedestrians; and to effectively manage the City’s parking enforcement and citation programs” (http://www.1pac.net/csj/street&traffic/sts&pks.html). Again, there is a close similarity between the functions for the Department of Streets and Parks and the functions in a typical business.

4.1.4 Public Transit Agency

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (SCVTA), created under statue as the Santa Clara County Transit District, was established in 1972 and has the primary responsibility of operating and maintaining public transit services within the county. It has a fleet of approximately 461 buses and a 21-mile light rail system serving the county. These divisions are very similar to the divisions in a typical manufacturing company. The main difference is that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority provides the transit system products and services, while a company such as NUMMI manufactures cars.

From the discussion in the preceding sections, it can be concluded that transportation agencies are very similar to other businesses, except that they provide transportation products and services and are government agencies. The difference between these organizations from private businesses is that they are also instruments of public policy and are more susceptible to political factors.

The traditional marketing function was not readily apparent in the agencies analyzed except in the case of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Most public agencies do have an identified function of public information, but this is very often based primarily on disseminating information on the agency’s own activities. It should be noted that the emergence on the Information Superhighway will provide the opportunity, but also a need, to increase activity in this area, especially in overall public relations and marketing.

4.2 Internal and External Uses and Impacts of the Information Superhighway

The underlying theme throughout the discussion is that the Information Superhighway can be used to complement and supplement other modes of communication rather than replace them. Whenever practical, people should be given a choice of modes of communication rather than being constrained to any single mode.

One of the frequently cited advantages of the Internet is institutional cost savings. For example, Jerry Neece, Internet Marketing Manager at Sun Microsystems, estimates that Sun has saved approximately $1.25 million from having an Internet connection (http://www.southcon.com/nethype.html). Although cost savings can exist, a significant WWW presence can involve large costs, particularly for a large company. IBM has spent several million dollars creating their site. IBM’s site is extensive, containing over 10,000 documents across 30 Web servers (http://www.ibm.com). It should be noted that the start-up money is only an initial investment, while the on-going maintenance cost can be significant. IBM is also creating WWW sites which will be used to disseminate confidential IBM information to employees.

Although cost reduction obviously is an important potential advantage, this chapter will focus more on the quality of communication than on reduced costs for several reasons. First, it is both hard to generalize about cost savings and also difficult to accurately measure all the cost impacts, including less direct impacts. Second, given the rapid rate of change with many aspects of the Information Superhighway, including changing cost levels and structures, it is difficult to predict future costs of use. Quality-related communication advantages, on the other hand, will tend to be more stable over time.

The Information Superhighway will impact transportation agencies in a number of areas. It is important, however, to note that there are few models for integrating the Information Superhighway into core organization functions (23).

Internal uses will be discussed fist, followed by external uses.

4.2.1 Impacts of the Information Superhighway on Internal Activities

There are significant areas within a firm which can benefit from using the Internet and the Information Superhighway. In the following sections, the various areas of these benefits will be presented. They include internal distribution of information, operations, and production. In a later section of this chapter, the use of concurrent engineering in new product/project planning and development will be discussed.

4.2.1.1 Internal Distribution of Information

For much internal communication, the Internet combines the best features of telephone and paper communication. The written format used with e-mail tends to lessen communication misunderstandings that can arise with telephone communication. At the same time, information can be disseminated more rapidly and at a lower incremental cost through e-mail than with paper communication, particularly with large, multiple-site organizations.

The Internet can also contribute to significant hard-cost savings in the way firms distribute information. Schlumberger (23) identified the following advantages of using the Web rather than paper to distribute information:

· Lower cost of distribution

· Greater speed of distribution

· Ease of cross-indexing information

· Ease of using and reusing information by “cutting and pasting”

· Ease of correcting and updating information

· Ability to monitor who is interested in obtaining what information.

4.2.1.2 Operations

As a result of improved communication, there will be a reduction in purchase costs, product development and manufacturing cycle times as well as inventory levels. There is a large trend toward partnership arrangements with suppliers in order to reduce costs and implement just-in-time (JIT) systems rather than the old adversarial relationship. “A survey of North American companies revealed the average number of suppliers to be 1,096 prior to JIT. The number dropped to 759 after one year of JIT, to 656 after two years, and to 357 after five years” (25).

Part of the requirement in a partnership is much closer communication with suppliers. Some 40 percent of U.S. manufacturers are already electronically linked to suppliers, customers, and partners, according to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. The trend in the future will be the development of closer ties to suppliers since fewer suppliers generally result in lower costs and higher quality. Firms have found that a stable relationship with a small number of suppliers, who can provide high quality, meet delivery schedules and remain flexible to changes, is price value alone without considering these other factors. This may be an important lesson for public agencies to consider, since procurement laws and regulations often require compliance with “low bid” provisions.

Also, it would be easier to implement JIT if the relation with the suppliers were more of a partnership. But all these changes require better communications. Requirements and changes need to be communicated quickly and accurately. If this were done, vendors would be able to time deliveries closer to the actual need date with a higher quality, while also reducing the total dollars in inventory. U.S. companies have had impressive results including: lead time reduction of 90 percent; inventory reduction of 35 – to 73 percent; se-up times reduced by 75-to94 percent; cost of purchased materials reduced 6-to-11 percent; and the cost of quality reduced 26-to-63 percent (26).

4.2.1.3 Production

Organizations can experience an increase in productivity as a result of Internet use. Many of these benefits are intangible, but they are very important for firms to consider. The benefits can include:

· Improved morale from sharing work and interests with co-workers

· Accurate, easily accessible and timely information available

· Research, via search engines, customized new feed

· Cross pollination of engineering project information, yield new synergistic engineering projects. For example, Genentech (23) greatly improved their research and development from use of the Internet. They mainly used it for: “(1) acquiring data or computer programs for use at Genentech; (2) collaborating with colleagues at other institutions; (3) participating in electronic forums; and (4) finding and using data, information, or computing resources available outside Genentech.” It has become clear to Genentech’s scientists and management that the Internet is an important link in their research and development effort. The information available on the Internet is necessary part of their ability to be competitive.

· More effective outsourcing of functions, as companies become electronically linked

· Personnel home pages/Frequently Asked Questions

· Remote access of information in support of field sales and telecommuting. At Cyrix, a leading supplier of high-performance processors and PC systems, all 20 U.S. salespeople are currently using the Internet to capitalize on this benefit (27).

4.2.1.4 Development of New Products

Improved communication among product development team members will result in shorter product development cycles. If projects can be completed sooner, the savings can be considerable. For example, Caltrans paid a $14 million bonus to a contractor who completed a construction project 70 days ahead of schedule after the Northridge earthquake.

Communication of customer preferences and marketing information to team members will enhance development. Collecting good data on the customer’s needs is a difficult task for the design team (25). The collection of good data will become easier with the Information Superhighway. To illustrate the importance of this information, on of the tools used by businesses for new product development is Quality Function Deployment (QFD). This tool uses the customer’s needs and “compares the company’s and key competitors’ abilities to satisfy those needs.” One of the key requirements for successful implementation of QFD is good information about customer needs. QFD is one of the tools for companies using concurrent engineering. The concept of concurrent engineering will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

4.2.2 Impacts of the Information Superhighway on External Activities

An essential difference exists between internal communication and external communication. A great deal more organizational control exists with internal communication. An organization has control over whether all employees have access to the Internet. In addition, by posting certain internal information only through an intranet, employees are given a very strong incentive to access the system on a very frequent basis. Organizations also may require training and/or only hire those people who have computer expertise. Obviously few of these conditions exist when a transportation agency communicates with the public. The lack of control with the public has significant implications for the use of the Internet with external communications. In general, less control means that different and stronger motivational techniques are needed to encourage the public to access an agency’s website than the techniques needed with employees. In addition, in dealing with the public, other means of communication are needed.

A significant difference also exists between a public agency’s external communications and a business institution’s external communications. A business firm can decide to target only certain segments, or niches, with information. A public agency, on the other hand, needs to try to provide information access to the entire public. As with the above difference between internal and external communications, this difference also means that other modes of information, in addition to the Internet, need to be used by a public agency in communicating with the public.

The main types of communication functions between transportation agencies and the public involve a) agencies providing “product/service” information to the public concerning transportation, and b) providing a “customer service” function that allows the public to ask questions, make complaints, and provide input and opinions on transportation issues. Each of these functions are discussed below.

4.2.2.1 Product/Service Distribution

Seattle Metro is an example of using the Information Superhighway to provide relevant, accurate, and timely information to the public through their RiderLink program. This program integrates text and photos, with the potential of video, to create an accessible easy-to-use resource for their customers. RiderLink provides information on fares, schedules, and connections to other systems. Also Seattle Metro is constantly looking for ways to improve products – from computer-optimized rideshare programs that connect commuters with vanpools and carpools, to traffic signal pre-emption systems that aid buses through congested intersections during peak commute times. As another example, Caltrans uses a website to provide information ranging from highway conditions, updates on highway construction, transit information, to the history of transportation in California.

In providing product/service information to the public, the key challenge facing transportation agencies is providing sufficient motivation to those with Internet access to actually access the appropriate websites on an ongoing basis. This is a very daunting task, given the amount of competition on the Web. On the other hand, much of the public is very interested in transportation issues.

In general, motivation can be stimulated both by the type of information provided and the manner in which it is presented. There is a wealth of web-marketing references available, and new publications appear frequently. Some general recommendations appear below:

· The definition of transportation-related information should be a broad-based one. It should be based more on the information of interest to at least some segments of the public than on the specific functions of a transportation agency.

· Given both the wide range of information available to present and the variance in desired information from one segment of the population to other segments, some research would be useful in website design.

· Given that a large amount of information on a variety of topics probably needs to be provided, a site-specific search engine and/or index would be very useful

· Information should be localized, given that the specific information desired often is local in nature

· Links to and from other transportation and government agencies need to be established and maintained

· Information needs to be updated frequently to encourage frequent access.

4.2.2.2 Customer Service

The main purposes of the customer service are to provide accurate and timely information to customers, to solve customer complaints, and to obtain feedback from customers.

Millipore (23) was successful in using the Internet to improve customer service. They have been successful in finding out what customers are saying about their products In one case, a customer was using e-mail to complain that a filter was on back order. The marketing director was able to reach the customer with e-mail and shipped the filter out immediately. The value of solving customer complaints expeditiously is tremendous. Some statistics from a Century 21 training course showed that 50 percent of dissatisfied customers never complain, 45 percent complain to the front-line representative and only five percent complain to management. One upset customer will, on the average, tell at least nine other people and they will each tell five more so that more than 50 people will hear about the problem. Thus it becomes important to find out about upset customers as quickly as possible. Also, customers who have a reason to complain and don’t are the least loyal to a company and 90 percent will not return. But 95 percent will do business again if the complaint is resolved on the spot. The value of a loyal customer depends on the business. In the case of an automobile manufacturer, this study stated that the value of a satisfied customer was worth $140,000 over their lifetime.

The importance of customer service should not be underestimated. The 1994 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award gives more weight to Customer Focus and Satisfaction than to any other category (300 points out of 1000). The main areas to address in the evaluation are:

· “how the company determines current and near-term requirements and expectations of customers”

· “how the company addresses future requirements and expectations of customers”

· “how the company evaluates and improves its processes for determining customer requirement and expectations”

The Information Superhighway will be an asset to firms obtaining this information, and the importance of this feedback from customers should not be underestimated. At the present time no transportation company has won a Malcolm Baldrige award, but that should not discourage an agency from trying.

Transportation/highway agencies, however, operate as virtual monopolies and do not face market pressures resulting from regular market mechanisms to improve service or to reduce costs (28). They do face periodic pressure from legislative and other oversight bodies to cut costs, as any government agency would. In order for public agencies to move away from cutting costs by simply reducing service, they need regular and competitive forces. Government agencies need to keep searching for new methods which will enable them to lower costs and provide equal or better service to the public.

Since members of the public with complaints often are highly motivated, some of the recommendations cited in the previous section on product/service information are not as relevant here. However, some non-motivational recommendations are presented below:

· Particularly for public agencies, which may be perceived as being unresponsive and bureaucratic, it is critical to provide quick responses that, to the extent possible, are constructive and responsive, rather than defensive.

· Public complaints and suggestions, along with agency responses, should be incorporated into a centralized information system. This will help spot more prevalent complaints and perspectives.

· Communication among the public can be encouraged and monitored by helping establish newsgroups and chatrooms.

4.3 Development of New Products with Concurrent Engineering

Historically, some groups with important input to new product planning have not been brought into the planning process until well into the process. In “marketing oriented” organizations, engineering and manufacturing often are not brought into the planning process until after the Research and Development budget has been established and also after product attributes are identifies. Conversely, in a “technically oriented” organization, marketing and sales may not be included until after a prototype of the new product exists. Both of these patterns tend to identify mistakes too late in the process. The solution to this historical process involves incorporating all relevant groups and viewpoints at the very beginning of the new product planning process. This is the basic underlying concurrent engineering.

Concurrent engineering is replacing sequential engineering for new product development and involves all groups (design, manufacturing, marketing/sales, finance, tooling, etc.) in the design and development of products (see Figure 4-1 below). It requires team members from all areas of business to communicate and share information with each other easily. Low-cost computer-aided design and manufacturing software and flexible factories could help companies develop multiple prototypes quickly and competitively without large product development labs. Lockheed-Martin has implemented these concepts in their research and development (R&D) division (23). The R&D scientists are able to use other information sources rather than “reinventing the wheel.” In the past, R&D scientists usually relied on their own resources, but now they have achieved significant labor savings by reusing information provided by others.

How is the Information Superhighway relevant when implementing concurrent engineering? A roundtable forum, born out of concurrent engineering, can be extremely useful to transportation agencies. (The concept and applicability of a roundtable forum will be referred to several times throughout this report.) This forum often involves people from multiple locations. The coordination and teamwork needed to implement concurrent engineering, particularly in a multiple location environment, is greatly facilitated with the Information Superhighway.

The main benefits of using concurrent planning in new product planning are cost and time savings. The importance of good information early in the design process should not be underestimated. The following graph (Figure 4-2) shows the cost committed and cost expended from product concept to production. During the concept and design stage, about 70 percent of the total costs are committed, but only about five percent of the costs are expended (29). A frequent mistake is spending too little during the early stages of a project and having to make changes later.

Other issues to consider are the cost of making a change at various stages in the development process and whether it matters if a change occurs later rather than earlier in the process? In manufacturing, the costs of engineering changes often follow the “law of tens,” which assumes that the cost of an engineering change increases by a factor of ten at each succeeding stage in the development process. This law is demonstrated in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1: Costs of Changes

When Change is Made Cost

Design $1000

Design Testing $10,000

Process Planning $100,000

Test Production $1,000,000

Final Production $10,000,000

Source: A Smarter Way to Manufacture. Reprinted from April 30, 1990

McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The general principle of the law of tens can also apply to transportation agencies and transportation projects. A change to a bridge/road/rail project is easier during the design stage than after it has been built and put into use. For example, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District in the San Francisco area, one of the first modern rapid-rail transit systems, did not design for wheelchair access into their stations. During the construction phase of the project, in response to strong advocacy by a member of the disability community, the BART Board decided to include elevators at each station. Rather than place the elevators where it would be most convenient to users, the elevators had to be inserted into places where they would cause the least amount of disruption to the construction process. Earlier consideration of this issue could have resulted in lower cost and less inconvenience, although BART did become a model for future rapid-rail accessibility design.

The benefits of concurrent engineering are summarized in Table 4-2, below:

Table 4-2: Benefits of Concurrent Engineering

Benefits Percent Difference

Development Time 30%–70% less

Engineering Changes 65–90 fewer

Time to Market 20–90 less

Overall Quality 200–600 higher

White-Collar Productivity 20–110 higher

Dollar Sales 5–50 higher

Return on Assets 20–120 higher

Source: A Smarter Way to Manufacture. Reprinted from April 30, 1990 issue of

Given that the highway industry spends a great deal of money on what could be termed now product planning, the use of concurrent engineering should have substantial benefits to transportation agencies. To expand, the highway industry spends about $84 billion a year (28). Almost half of all highway spending falls under the category of construction, reconstruction, and other capital outlays. Large savings in the construction and reconstruction categories can be brought about by promoting concurrent engineering.

A related issue is team-work within improved communication/information exchange. Good team-work with people in other locations will be necessary to make the concept of concurrent engineering work well.

An analysis of Caltrans District 7’s expenditures shows (see Table 4-3) that the amounts involved in planning and design are significant by themselves, and improvements in these functions could save large amounts of money.

Table 4-3: Distribution of Expenditures for Caltrans District 7 (1994-1995)

District 7- Operating Percent¹Personnel Positions

Los Angeles Expenditure Expenditure

(in $000) (in $000)

Administration 6,208 7.2 9,980 202

Planning 9,075 10.6 7,220 113

Traffic 6,955 8.1 17,640 315

Operations

Maintenance 36,453 42.4 42,590 936

Right of Way 732 0.85 9,730 169

Design/Contract 20,603 24.0 35,180 562

Oversight

Construction 85,917 100.0²140,730 2,606

Source: Caltrans District 7,Elaine Hiyashi and Gerson Rapfogel, August 28, 1995

¹ Percent of total operating expenditure

²Because of rounding, the figures may not sum to totals

4.4 The Future Workplace

The introduction of new technology has altered the workplace. Through the use of telephones, personal computers, and modems, workers are able to perform a significant amount of work at a location other than the employer site. This work arrangement not only offers benefits to both the employer and employee, but also minimizes work disruption in the aftermath of an emergency situation such as an earthquake. Typical remote workers include anyone who produces information that can be transmitted electronically and/or has a large amount of telephone contact with others, such as customers or suppliers.

4.4.1 Virtual Office

A “virtual office” is the part of a business whose work force includes a large number of remote workers (http://www.globaldialog.com/~morse/arevo.htm). The Internet helped create “virtual companies” in which “no one works in a single location and all workers communicate across the network” (4). Companies can now work on projects continuously and the nine-to-five workday will be less prevalent. Improved information and communication technologies enable companies to efficiently utilize their world-wide staff. For example, a firm with its headquarters in Toronto and most of their world-wide offices in the United Kingdom can start working on the project at 9 a.m. London time (3 a.m. Toronto time). At 7 p.m. London time, the project is handed off to the office in Toronto (1 p.m. Toronto time). The Toronto group continues to work on the project until 7 p.m. (1 a.m. London time). In essence, the firm can keep the project going for sixteen hours a day (http://www.meckler.web.com/mags/iw/v5n5/feat3.4htm).

4.4.2 Benefits of the Remote Employment/Virtual Office

The Remote Employment/Virtual Office (RE/VO) arrangement offers significant advantages to both the employer and the employee, but is often not used due to a lack of information training. Employees do not understand the technology which makes RE/VO possible and the employers are fearful of reduced worker accountability and lower productivity. But these problems can be overcome to make workers accountable, increase productivity, and realize the following benefits for the employer:

· Increased productivity and reduction of turnover due to better morale

· Increased recruiting since geographic limits are eliminated

· Less office space required

· Greater flexibility in choosing the central office, in changing the staff size

· Possible tax incentives.

Benefits to the workers of RE/VO include:

· Greater flexibility in daily schedule

· Flexibility in location for two career couples

· Financial and time savings from reduced commuting

· Financial savings from food costs

· Financial savings in cost of housing

· Increased productivity

4.4.3 Telework

The Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989 provided an opportunity to telecommute when “highways were structurally impaired, a freeway in Oakland collapsed, and one section of the Bay Bridge collapsed” (30). Even with a breakdown in the transportation system, telecommuting provided the means for uninterrupted work at the California State Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in San Francisco.

The PUC, as part of a 3-year pilot telecommuting project for state employees, had already trained some of their employees to telecommute for one and a half years, starting in mid-1987. Following the earthquake, top managers authorized expansion of their telecommuting program to other workers. Thirty-three post-earthquake telecommuters were added to the program. Table 4-4 shows the distribution of telecommuters within the PUC divisions. Managers were more inclined to allow additional staff to telecommute if they already had people in the program (30). Although all divisions had pilot telecommuters, only division C was active in promoting telecommuting and added the most post-earthquake telecommuters. In some cases, top-management did not allow for either telecommuting or a compressed work week.

Table 4-4: Distribution of Telecommuters within PUC Division

PUC Division Pilot Telecommuters Post-Earthquake Telecommuters

Added

A 2 0

B 12 1

C 18 32

D 5 0

E 3 0

Total 40 33

Source: Pratt, Joanne H. Travel Behavior Impact of Telecommuting Following the San Francisco Earthquake: A Case Study. In Transportation Research Record 1305, TRB, National Research Council, Washington. D.C., 1991, pp. 282-290,

Additional behavioral characteristics of the telecommuters are noteworthy. “Pilot telecommuters increased their telecommuting time only temporarily, if at all, then returned to pre-earthquake schedules when the Bay Bridge reopened” (30). Almost half of the post-earthquake telecommuters continued telecommuting two to six months after the earthquake. Equipment, job-related, and personal circumstances were the primary factors contributing to those who stopped telecommuting.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake is another example which illustrates some of the lifestyle/employment changes that will occur with the Information Superhighway. A surprising consequence of the traffic jams brought on by eight collapsed segments of the freeway system was a headlong rush toward the Information Superhighway. Mayor Richard Riordan announced a grandiose plan to relieve traffic congestion by extensive ‘telecommuting.’ He also spoke of ‘satellite office centers’ outside the downtown districts. The Southern California Telecommuting Partnership was organized in the earthquake’s aftermath. Its members, a coalition of businessmen and government officials hope to make telecommuting a viable option for the city, bring permanent change to the way its work force is organized. “This will become the country’s most advanced telecommuting system ever,” said Riordan, a lawyer and former venture capitalist. “People are happier because they don’t have to fight the traffic, and they get more work done. When an 800-number line was set up for companies interested in establishing satellite offices, more than 600 firms called in just the first week” (31).

4.5 Making Change Happen

Businesses are faced with the major question of how to organize to facilitate change. A the current time organizations do not appear to have a systematic, integrated approach to change. One of the biggest challenges is to continue running the business while at the same time changing the business. Organizations do not have a choice as they must figure out how to do both at once. Two key parts to be successful are top management support and employee involvement. KPMG cited a lack of employee involvement as a key problem from their Managing Change survey (http://www.kpmg.ca/change/change.html). Employee involvement in the design phases of the change almost never occurs, and only a modest number are involved during the implementation. But one of the most important elements to any successful change is having employee support and involvement.

Change occurs effectively when top management leads the change while other managers run the business. Top management needs to provide the leadership so that progress is made toward the vision. Management also can ensure that adequate resources and training are provided.

For business to utilize the new technologies, including the Internet, it must be recognized that there is a substantial learning curve involved (23). It quickly becomes apparent that substantial resources for Internet training need to be allocated. The training will run the spectrum from basic awareness training to very technical training. But in organizations where the Internet has become a solution to everyday problems, it is completely integrated into the other systems (23).

It may be concluded that a change towards better utilization of the emerging technologies will require top management to lead the change. At the same time, they must involve employees in planning the change, to allocate sufficient resources for training, and continue to run the current business.

4.5.1 Organizational Changes

Management information systems (MIS) are increasing in importance for all business. Accurate information, obtained in a timely manner, can significantly affect the quality of decisions. Because of the importance of information, private businesses have often placed the chief MIS executive at the highest level of the organization (32) while this is often not the case with public organizations. There are currently significant changes taking place within public organizations due to the Information Superhighway. Having the proper amount of management support is an important part of making any change successful. This support is an important part of making any change successful. This support is easier to obtain if the chief MIS executive or CIO (Chief Information Officer) is at the highest level. Also CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) must understand the importance of information technology (33) and the strategic value of this information for the leadership of the information systems department to be truly effective. But Jeff Moad (34) states that many CEOs still need training in the importance of IS (Information Systems). According to Thomas Lodahl, chairman of CogniTech Services, only about 30 percent of top IT (Information Technology) managers are included in high-level strategic planning (34). Without a close working relationship between the CEO and the CIO, it will be difficult for an organization to maximize their return on this new technology (35).

Boyle (36) provided a list of some of the implications for CEOs, CIOs, and senior line managers of promoting the use of these new information systems. These suggestions are summarized below:

Implications for CEOs:

· Understand the strategic value of information technology

· Include the CIO in the strategic planning process.

Implications for CIOs:

· Speak the language of the organization

· Report to an executive who understands and supports the Information Systems function (ideally the CEO, but this depends on the CEO)

· Focus on conferring competitive advantage

· Create a technology platform and standards that will provide long-term flexibility and competitive advantage

· Actively participate in strategic planning.

Implications for Senior Line Managers:

· Consider the function’s technology needs

· Be proactive in seeking out technology solutions

· Coordinate the centralized support of decentralized IS and the establishment of standards.

4.5.2 Interoperability

One other important consideration for management is the issue of interoperability. Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems (computers, communications devices, data bases, networks or other information technologies) to interact with one another and exchange data according to a prescribed method in order to achieve predictable results” (http://nii.nist.gov/optimum/html).

Interoperability allows different vendors’ systems to communicate with each without user involvement. Everyone will agree that interoperability is an important goal for any business and is increasing in importance with the development of the Information Superhighway. But, there is no consensus at the present time on how to achieve interoperability and even in full interoperability is desirable. Some people are concerned about “reducing consumer choice or removing incentives for innovation and competition” (http://nii.nist.gov/optimum html). Others argue that full interoperability is the only way to proceed.

Economically, one has to decide how to minimize chaos and inefficiency when having multiple vendor systems and still encourage innovation. Neither zero nor 100 percent interoperability seems to be the optimal solution, but it is not clear what is the best strategy. It is generally accepted that the benefits of interoperability increase until an optimal level is reached and after that optimal level the benefits decrease. But no one yet has figured out what that optimal level is and how to obtain it. It is also not clear what the management structure should be to support interoperability, but it is clear that is an issue that needs to be addressed. Transportation agencies need to strive for a high degree of interoperability and have the management structure in place to support that level.

4.6 Summary of Conclusions

A summary of the major conclusions reached in this chapter follows.

1. Transportation agencies are very similar to all business organizations. Thus the advantages of the Information Superhighway for businesses will also apply to transportation agencies.

2. The traditional marketing function was not readily apparent for most of the transportation agencies analyzed. Most public agencies do have an identified function of public information, but this is very often based primarily on disseminating information on the agency’s own activities. It should be noted that the emergence of the Information Superhighway will provide the opportunity but also a need to increase activity in this area and especially in overall public relations and marketing.

3. The concept of a roundtable forum, born out of concurrent engineering, can be extremely useful as transportation agencies learn to take advantage of the Information Superhighway.

4. Improved communication/information technologies have great potential to transform the future workplace. Workers can conduct their work outside the normal workplace and at hours outside traditional working hours.

5. A difficult process for any firm is how to manage and facilitate change and the Information Superhighway will be a major change in the organization. Top management commitment is essential to lead, but employees also need to be actively involved throughout the planning process.

6. The CIO needs to be places at the highest level in the organization and needs to be included in the strategic planning for the agency.

7. Interoperability is an important issue that needs to be addressed by transportation agencies, but there is not a clear solution at the present time.

4.7 Recommendations

The following major actions are recommended for transportation agencies:

1. Training regarding the benefits and use of the Information Superhighway and should be conducted for upper management are down to worker level.

2. Conduct training throughout the organization on implementing change. It is recommended that Caltrans set up a review committee designated to study the implementation of these recommendations. The committee should have representatives from all levels of the organization, all functions, and also draw from other organizations which are stakeholders.

3. Have the CIO (or equivalent) report to the CEO or top person in the organization.

4. Conduct training throughout the organization to work in teams, which could include people in locations outside the office.

5. Promote the use of concurrent engineering concepts throughout the organization.

6. Develop a stronger customer marketing focus for the limited public information functions that are currently found in public transportation agencies. The Information Superhighway can be a very useful tool to implement these activities.

7. Study interoperability and recommend the appropriate actions to be taken for the organization.

5. TRANSPORATION/

COMMUNICATIONS RELATED

SOCIETAL CHANGES

Having discussed the technological aspects of the emerging Information Superhighway in chapter 3 and business organizational structure and opportunities in Chapter 4, this report now moves to address the lifestyle changes resulting from emerging technologies and the subsequent impacts they will have on tripmaking. Lifestyle is a pattern that is related to the individual’s attitude, values, and behavior. It is defined by how individuals and households allocate time to activities such as work, in home time, and reaction (37). During the past decade, the use of a computer network to communicate and to retrieve information has grown immensely. “The new technology holds the potential to change human settlement patterns, change the way people interact with each other, change our ideas of what it means to be human” (38). Rapid technological development has allowed many business transactions to take place over communication lines and thus making distance irrelevant. While companies will no longer need to be based in city centers, employees will no longer need to commute to these urban city offices. As a result, work and lifestyle patterns will change.

The overall goal of this chapter is to explore the various societal changes which have resulted from improved information and communication technologies, and have an impact on transportation, the impact that these changes will have on transportation and the opportunities offered by these technologies. The following topics will specifically be addressed:

· Increase in working at home

· Increase of entertainment, information, and services provided to the home

· Formation of communities and isolation from society

· Impacts of telecommuting on transportation

· Additional impacts of telecommuting

· Possible additional transportation impacts

· Some possible future societal changes and transportation related impacts

· Ethical issues resulting from emerging technologies.

A summary of major conclusions and recommendations for the chapter then follows.

5.1 Increase in at Home

The 1990 Census reported that 3.25 percent of California workers age 16 years and older work at home. In the Bay Area, 3.4 percent of the workers work from their homes, a 79 percent increase from 1980. This number is expected to continue to increase as emerging technologies make working at home more possible and convenient. In 1992, approximately 2 million workers practiced telecommuting; this number is likely to reach 7.5 to 15 million by 2002 (39). The phenomenon of telecommuting as a form working at home and thus substituting for the commute trip to and from work has been gaining popularity in the corporate world recently.

The term “telecommuting” was coined by Jack Nilles in the 1970s to characterize the use of telecommunications to access information resources and interact with co-workers and others, thus substituting trips to and from work (40). Today’s advanced telecommunication technologies make telecommuting a “natural substitute for transportation.” For example, telephone calls and teleconferencing can replace travel to meetings while file transfer protocol (FTP) and electronic transmission of files substitute for postal delivery. Employees equipped with a supportive supervisor, computer, modem, and phone line can work virtually anywhere by remote access. Telecommuting is one method in which employers can reduce the number of employees commuting. By telecommuting, the employee avoids daily traffic, costs, and stress of traveling to a central work site, and is able to get more work done. Also, it was noted in Chapter 4 that disruptions after emergency situations may be minimized with telecommuting.

Telecommuting can be classified into two basic types of remote work: home-based and center-based (41). In the “classical” form of home-based telecommuting, a salaried employee works at home instead of at a central office. Center-based telecommuters travel to a facility (single employer or multiple employers) where they share equipment at the site with other users. These telecenters can be set up in residential areas such that workers only travel short distances to a remote work center. In 1960, only nine million workers in the U.S. has jobs which were located outside their county of residence, but in 1990, that number grew to 27.5 million, a 206 percent increase over the thirty-year period (42).

The goal of telecommuting is to reduce or eliminate trips made to and from work, thus resulting in a more efficient, clean, and safe commute for the remaining vehicles on the road. In a heavily congested area such as Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympic Games, small reduction of seven percent in traffic made a significant difference; congestions decreased by 60 percent (40).

According to a telephone survey by LINK resources (43), as of early 1993, telecommuting accounted for 7.6 million U.S. workers, up 15 percent from 6.6 million in 1992. This includes people with company or government jobs who work full or part-time at home during the day. The increasing number of people telecommuting is likely to “accelerate with the arrival of newer, more user-friendly technology designed specifically for mobile employees” (44). Overall, telecommuters probably make up less than five percent of the U.S. workforce, leaving an enormous population untapped (40).

Travel by workers on days they telecommute, however, is not entirely eliminated but is reduced by 75 percent, indicating that the time saved is not used to make additional trips (40). A 100 percent reduction cannot be expected since commuting accounts for only 22.7 percent of total travel (45). Telecommuters tend to avoid making trips in the morning and late afternoon during rush hours, but rather make trips which are close to home. As a result, people will devote less time and cost to transportation.

It is, however, difficult to accurately predict the reduction of travel resulting from telecommuting since trips not made are not directly observable. According to Gary Ritter and Stan Thompson (40), the typical practice of telecommuting is just one or two days a week, which affects only 20-to-40 percent of the weekly worktrips. Thus, telecommuting will displace only as much as two percent of the total vehicle miles of travel over the next decade. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently calculated that over the next ten years, a reduction in commuting travel of 2.3 to 4.5 percent is expected, and a reduction in vehicle miles traveled of 0.7 to 1.4 percent is projected (43). One reason for such low figures is that the space a telecommuter leaves could be filled by someone else who usually car pools or uses transit, after observing that traffic is less congested.

The practice of telecommuting has grown steadily in the past couple of years. Some experts estimate that currently 4.5 percent or 300.000 Bay Area workers and 8.1 million people nationwide telecommute up to three days a week (46). Susan Handy and Patricia L. Mohktarian reported in “Technical Memo 1: Current Levels of Telecommuting in California” that in 1993, 1.4 percent of California workers were likely to telecommute on a given weekday. Results from telecommuting pilot programs indicate that the average telecommuting frequency is 1.2 days per week (or 24 percent). This is a significant number, given that by comparison, 5.8 percent of workers in the State telecommute at some time (47). Statistics from the 1990census showed that only 4.1 percent of California workers use public transportation.

The Association for Commuter transportation, AT&T, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. general Services Administration sponsored a week-long telecommuting program during the week of October 22-27, 1995. This was part of a nationwide effort to promote the benefits of telecommuting and nontraditional work environments to corporations, small businesses, and individuals.

The major force opposing the shift toward telecommuting is society’s “basic resistance to change” and the casting-off of traditional command and control management methods from the industrial age (40). Some resist spending too much time away from the office, fearing the old staying “out of sight, out of mind.” Other people are hesitant to telecommute because of a lack of information on the latest technologies. In a national poll conducted by CDB Research & Consulting, Inc. (48), 38 percent were afraid they would not “have access to the information and records” needed. Workers generally appear to not be aware of the capabilities of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) which can give telecommuters equal access to corporate documents and data.

Telecommuting, moreover, is not for everyone. Although some people have experienced an increase in work satisfaction and productivity, some are also feeling more stressed. Telecommuters sometimes have a difficult time balancing their time between work and their personal life. Also, people who thrive on the social contact of the office or whose social life revolves primarily around their co-workers should continue working at the office. In a one-year study in Washington’s Puget Sound region (49), one-third of the 280 participants stopped working at home; eight percent said that they simply didn’t like it. They can no longer turn to their co-workers to exchange ideas or talk over problems. “Telecommuters may feel left out of the loop on official company business – or office gossip” (50).

One issue which is often overlooked by people who work at home is that their homeowner’s insurance policy does not usually cover a home office (51). Most homeowner policies do not cover business losses in the home or liability for accidents happening to business customers visiting the home. It is advised, however, that people who work from their homes full-time should buy separate policies for their businesses. A business policy will “cover inventory, accounts receivable, professional liability of loss of income because of a business disruption, and it is generally less restrictive about the types of claims covered” (51). It should also be noted that working at home may involve additional issues such as monitoring safety issues in the home office or accounting for overtime hours of a normal work schedule.

Before embarking on a telecommuting program, it is necessary to conduct training workshops to educate both the supervisor and prospective telecommuters of the possible forms of telecommuting and of the potential impacts resulting from telecommuting. The supervisor may decide whether the employee’s work is suitable for telecommuting or if the arrangement is a feasible one, especially if equipment such as computers and printers need to be purchased. The workshop will also give employees a chance to decide whether telecommuting can work for them.

5.2 More Entertainment, Information and Services at Home

5.2.1 How Much?

It should be noted, however, that people’s use of time is not always determined on a rational basis. On average, Americans have about five hours more free time per week today than they did 30 years ago (52). People are busy because they want to be and make themselves feel more important when they fill up their schedules. According to a 1990-92 survey by Leisure Trends (53), Americans have about 41 hours of leisure time a week. But one-third of free time during the week and one-fourth on weekends is spent in front of the television. Table 5-1 shows the results from the Americans’ Use of Time Project conducted in 1985, which seem to verify this (52). According to this study, Americans spend more than fifteen hours of their leisure time watching television. More recent data (1994-95 survey) will not be available until some time in 1997.

Table 5-1: Time Use Data ^a (Americans’ Use of Time Project)

^aHours per week men and women aged 18 to 64 spent on various leisure time activities, as recorded in time diaries

Activity 1975 1985 Percent change

Television 15.2 15.1 -.7%

Visiting 5.5 4.9 -10.9

Reading 3.1 2.8 -9.7

Traveling 2.6 3.1 +19.2

Talking 2.2 4.3 +95.5

Hobbies 2.3 2.2 -4.3

Adult Education 1.6 1.9 +18.8

Cultural Events .5 .8 +60.0

Clubs/Organizations 1.2 .7 -41.7

Activity 1975 1985 Percent change

Religion 1.0 .8 -20.0

Sports/outdoors 1.5 2.2 +46.7

Radio/recording .5 .3 -40.0

Thinking/relaxing and

Listening 1.1 1.0 -9.7

Total 38.3 40.1 +4.7

Source: Trends: Trends in Media Usage by William G. Mayer in Public Opinion Quarterly (Vol. 57, no. 4. 1993. Used by permission of he University of Chicago Press and by the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

5.2.2 Internet Access and Usage

Both the amount of time spent on leisure activities and the specific leisure activities are likely to change as the possibility of having many television channels, video-on-demand, interactive television, and other forms of electronics-based entertainment become available. According to a survey by Nielsen Media, Americans and Canadians spend the same amount of time on the Internet as they do watching rented videos. Users are on the Internet for an average of 5 hours and 28 minutes per week. The percentage of persons age 16 years and older in the U.S. and Canada using the Internet for various applications are summarized in Table 5-2. Although most people primarily think of the Internet as a means to send e-mail, the frequency of accessing the WWW exceeded e-mail use in this survey. The survey sampled 3,000 randomly selected individuals which represented the populations of the United States and Canada.

Table 5-2: Applications Used on the Internet in the Past 24 Hours

Application Percentage of persons

Access the WWW 72%

Send e-mail 65%

Download software 31%

Participate in an interactive discussion 21%

Partake in a non-interactive discussion 36%

Use another computer 31%

Utilize real-time audio or video 19%

Source: CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research

http://www.nielsen.com/media/press/connect.html

In another survey conducted on the Internet, it was reported that 18.5 percent of the respondents spent over 41 work-related hours per week on the computer, while only 2.6 percent spent over 41 hours per week doing fun computing. Figure 5-1, shows that nearly 85 percent of the users spend 20 hours or less a week on the computer doing fun computing; twenty hours per week is approximately half of their leisure time. According to a recent study by Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, more than half (58 percent) of the Internet users are spending time on-line they normally would have spent watching television.

5.3 Formation of Communities and Isolation from Society

5.1.1 Virtual Communities

“As a general rule, people tend to form groups, clustering themselves around common concerns, interests, or purposes” (9). The computer has become a medium for making new friends and enlarging one’s social circle. With the potential for anonymity and the irrelevance of distance, the anxiety of social contact is lessened when people are on-line. “An estimated 80 percent of all users are looking for contact, and commonality, companionship and community” (54). Mailing lists, Usenet, localized conferencing systems, and bulletin boards have provided a place for the growth of groups around every imaginable topic (9). Thus “virtual communities” are formed. People who belong to these virtual communities may or may not meet one another face-to-face, but do exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks (55).

Since users cannot see the person on the other end, they are unable to form prejudices before they read their message (55). An individual’s characteristics, such as race, gender, age, national origin, and physical appearance, are not apparent in cyberspace. People with physical disabilities, who may find it difficult to form new friendships, discover that in virtual communities, they are treated as “they always wanted to treated – as thinkers and transmitters of ideas and feeling beings” (55).

5.3.2 Educational Use

The Dalton School, a private academy in New York City, is taking advantage of the latest technology (56). For example, sixth-grade social studies students use a computer simulation of an archeological dig – shoveling sounds and all – based on an actual site. In this course, the “kids learn by doing – absorbing science and ancient history through acts of discovery.” Students are also taking part in the school’s own e-mail and bulletin-board system, chatting with friends or joining on-line discussions. One of the most popular offshoots is a senior-class seminar in civil rights. Interested students who are not in the class can also participate in the discussion groups. “The exchange, moderated by the teacher, is both analytical and heated, especially on divisive topics like affirmative action.” This new technology is changing the traditional roles of the teacher as a lecturer to more as a resource and guide to the students (56).

5.3.3 Seniors On-Line

Millions of older and retired people are connecting onto the Internet. Because they have more leisure time and discretionary income than many youths, they are using their new computing power to perform tasks such as monitoring their investment, tracking genealogy and producing their memoirs (57). By learning how to use computers and connecting on-line, some seniors feel more connected with the rest of the society and do not feel left behind by technological improvements. “I feel like I’m with it. I’m connecting with the present and the future,” says a 68-year-old social worker from Newton, Massachusetts. Besides communicating with one another and sharing memories, seniors are also connecting with school children. On SeniorNet, several programs link schoolchildren with seniors (57).

5.3.4 Isolation from Society

The Internet offers people the choice of anonymity. In cyberspace, people can disguise or distort their true identity and personality. “Most users are more likely to project aspects of the person they wish they could be” (54). With a sense of distance, people are able to become more trusting and vulnerable. But over time, the distance can become an obstacle to “deepening the bonds of friendship, romance, and community.” There is a fear that the networks we build today will destroy intimacy, “both making solitude impossible and by making physical presence immaterial to communication” (38).

5.4 Impacts of Telecommuting on Transportation

5.4.1 Movement to the Suburbs and Further

As more business is conducted electronically, geography becomes irrelevant for many industries (58). Improved information and communication technologies will allow us “to telecommute, live anywhere, and work more productively at home” (58).

One life-style change likely to occur with new communication technologies is the shift of housing away from the city. “The American dream is to live in a suburban single-family house on a half-acre lot with a three-car garage” (37). In a 1992 land use and travel behavior survey of five Bay Area neighborhoods (59),“housing cost,” “quiet neighborhood,” and “safety and security” were marked most frequently as the most important reasons why the sampled households chose their current homes. The primary deciding factor for residential location was whether it was affordable (“housing cost”), followed by its living quality (“quiet neighborhood” and “safety and security”), and how accessible it was (“close to transit,” “close to work,” and “close to shops and services”).

For some, however, movement to the suburbs is not far enough. Today, telecommuters move to remote towns such as Telluride, Colorado; Bend, Oregon; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they hop on an airplane to get to their meetings (60). A Telluride telecommuter has the opportunity of going snowboarding when she feels the urge, while maintaining her position as an environmental engineer for a consulting firm in Virginia. She is not alone. Other residents of Telluride include a software consultant for a Silicon Valley company; an analyst for Manhattan-based J.S. Childs; and a money manager for bicoastal clients (60). More individuals are likely to join these telecommuters in the near future as this may be representative of the trend taking place. According to the Census Bureau, the population of telluride was 1309, as of April 1, 1990. In 1995, the population of the town grew to 1500 (60), almost a 15 percent increase. And of the 1500 residents, about one-third have Internet access (60) compared to only 4.1 percent of the households nationwide with access.

When people start telecommuting a few days during the work week and work in their homes instead of traveling to a central work station, they will be more inclined to travel further to the office on the few days they commute and live in a larger house. A small portion of the telecommuters in San Diego considered moving “two and three times farther away from the workplace than were their current residential locations” (61). Six percent of the telecommuters in California’s two-year pilot program, since beginning to telecommute, said they had either moved or were considering moving 45 miles or more farther work (61).

According to an analysis, conducted by Nilles (62), of data collected for the California State Employee Telecommuting Pilot Project, the residential relocation patterns of telecommuters were not significantly different from the control group. The analysis was conducted for a period of only two years. Further scrutiny of the data revealed that the availability of telecommuting does play a role in their decision to relocate and could allow them to actually move beyond the suburbs to a different town. It should be noted, however, that without the impetus of telecommuting, people have been moving out of urban core areas.

Data, presented in Table 5-4, shows that there has been a steady decline in the proportion of workers living in central counties while the percentage of workers living in the suburban counties shows a gradual increase. “Suburban counties continue to make rapid gains as both a work location and a residence location” (42).

Table 5-3: Workers by County of Residence, Large Metropolitan Areas, 1960 – 1990

Year Areawide Central Suburban

Population County Percent County Percent

1960 29,033,438 15,444,704 53.2 13,588,734 46.8

1970 37,416,482 18,310,716 48.9 19,105,766 51.1

1980 46,444,001 21,016,490 45.3 24,760,108 54.7

1990 56,456,047 24,180,355 42.8 32,275,692 57.2

source: Rossetti, Michael A. and Barbara S. Eversole.. Journey-To-Work Trends in the United States and its Major Metropolitan Areas, 1960-1990. Publication No. FHWA-PL-94-012. FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, November 1993.

In 1950, forty-four percent of the total national population of 151 million lived in a rural or non-metropolitan area while the remaining 56 percent lived in a metropolitan area (63). The metropolitan population reached 77 percent of the total national population by 1987 as the non-metropolitan population decreased to only 23 percent of the population. Some of the “decline” in rural population shown in Figure 5-2 can be attributed to the expansion of suburban developments into previously rural areas. As a result, some of the rural population is often shifted to the metropolitan category (63).

5.4.2 How Far?

A perspective on the difference between the commuting distances of telecommuters and other commuters can be gained by examining data collected in the San Francisco Bay Area. As shown in Figure 5-3, the average commute length increased for all nine counties during the period from 1980 through 1990. The average commute distances exclude workers working-at-home. Generally, workers who live in the suburbs of the Bay Area have the longest commute distances (64). Residents of eastern Contra Costa County (Antioch/Pittsburg) averaged the longest commute distance in 1990 (19.1 miles) while resident workers of greater downtown San Francisco averaged the shortest commute distance (4.5 miles) in the same period. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) calculated an eight percent increase in the average commute trip length from 10.2 miles in 1980 to 11.0 miles in 1990 for the Bay Area region (64). The fastest growing portion of commuters was those whose jobs were located outside their county of residence.

The change in mean commute distance traveled by the telecommuters and the control group during California’s State Employee Telecommute Pilot Project is shown in Figure 5-4. It can be seen that the telecommuting group, although already living farther than the control group, moved even farther from the work place in the years subsequent to the start of telecommuting.

5.4.3 Change of Travel Characteristics

The telecenter offers an alternative to sitting in peak hour traffic and has the potential of reducing peak hour traffic congestion. One telework employee in Mililani, Hawaii, works at a telecenter five days a week (65). However, one day out of the week, she begins her day by driving to the telework center 7:30 a.m., then drives to the downtown office around 9 a.m., when the traffic has diminished. At 2 p.m., she leaves the downtown office for the telework center, ending her day there. By adhering to this schedule, she avoids peak hour traffic and shortens her travel and work day by over two and a half hours. Peak period travel by telecommuters is not eliminated altogether. However, an analysis of the travel characteristics of the telecommuters in California’s pilot project showed that peak period trips were reduced by 60 percent (66).

This flexible schedule could be expected to induce non-work travel, thereby increasing vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). Experimental evidence has not shown an increase in non-work travel but rather a decrease in vehicle distance traveled and peak-period trips as well as fuel consumption and emissions (61). Not only did the total distance traveled decrease by 75 percent on telecommuting days in California’s pilot project, but freeway miles were reduced by 90 percent (66). Approximately ten percent of the average 6.8 miles telecommuting-day trip is spent on the freeway (0.68 miles) while 50 percent of the average 14 mile commuting-day trip is spent on the freeway (7 miles). Although it can be seen that there was no increase in surface-street travel (6.12 miles on telecommuting days vs. 7 miles on commute days), the number of shorter trips originating from the home increased on telecommuting days. This may imply that there is a higher concentration of surface-street travel around residential locations (66).

5.4.4 Mileage Saved

By having an office set up in their own homes, workers can perform tasks without leaving their homes each morning and traveling back home each evening. Impacts of telecommuting presented in “Technical Memo 2: Estimates of Current Levels of Telecommuting in California” by Patricia L. Mokhtarian estimated total travel savings of 26.3 vehicle miles per telecommuting occasion or 4,858,000 vehicle miles per day state-wide (47). Under the assumption that the number of work days per year is 250, this represents 0.51 percent of the state-wide total of 239 billion vehicle-miles traveled per year. In March 1990, President George Bush stated, “if only five percent of the commuters in Los Angeles telecommuted one day each week, they’d save 205 million miles of travel each year” (65). Studies done in California and Washington State showed that telecommuting households reduced commuting and had fewer household trips overall than those from non-telecommuting households (67).

Commute savings calculated from telecommuting studies may not be a true representation of future savings since the participants in the programs, on average, had a commute length that was 1.87 times longer compared to their region’s average (45).

It is difficult to predict the impacts of telecommuting on transportation because there are many factors involved. For example, how telecommuting is perceived by the public and whether the employer considers the implementation of a telecommuting program feasible will affect the number of telecommuters. However, reduction in highway congestion, time lost, accidents, and fuel consumption are possible. Some predictions of the effects of telecommuting are shown in Table 5-4 (39).

5.5 Additional Impacts of Telecommuting

Table 5-4: Transportation Impacts from Telecommuting

Transportation Impacts 1992 1997 2002

VMT Saved (billions) 3.7 10.0-12.9 17.6-35.1

% of total Passenger VMT 0.23% 0.49-0.63% 0.7-1.4%

% of commuting VMT 0.7% 1.6-2.0% 2.3-4.5%

Annual Hours Saved for

Average Telecommuter 77 93 110.3

Total Annual Hours Saved

(millions) 156 444-577 826-1,652

Source: Transportation Implications of Telecommuting, Report PB93-201119. U.S. Department of Transportation, April 1993.

5.5.1 Environmental Impacts

Transportation’s use of energy generates most of the air pollution in urban areas and accounts for approximately one quarter of all energy used today (68). The desire for mobility has resulted in a dependence on imported petroleum; 11 million barrels of petroleum products burn each day for transportation activities in the United States. The production, handling, and combustion of such enormous quantities of fuel create serious unintended and undesirable consequences (68). These energy problems include air pollution from fuel combustion, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy sustainability. This appetite for oil created the challenge of finding energy sources to meet future demands, while also protecting the global environment.

Public transportation has long been seen as a solution to the oil dependence, environmental, and congestion problems. Advocates believe that diverting commuters from autos to transit will reduce auto emissions and the number of people on the highways and thus improve air quality and mitigate congestion. Telecommuting, viewed by some as a travel demand management tool, can possibly aid in pursuit of a solution to the energy problems.

It was estimated that an average of 1.3 gallons of gasoline and 581.2 grams of CO (carbon monoxide), 62.0 grams of NOx (nitrogen oxides), and 70.2 grams of TOG (Total Organic Gas) emissions are saved per telecommuting occasion. A minimum of 118,800 gallons of gasoline with a maximum of 580,00 gallons are saved each day; the savings per day equals 0.48 percent of state-wide total of 12.5 billion gallons (47). However, since telecommuters represent only a small portion of the total workers, the effect it has on the total VMT, amount of energy saved, and air pollutants emitted is limited, but helpful.

5.5.2 Increased productivity and cost savings

Studies have shown that employees increased their productivity by 15 to 25 percent due to telecommuting (46). The increase can be attributed to enhanced job satisfaction and a reduction of commute travel time. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) documented the productivity increase experienced by several corporations, which is summarized in Table 5-5.

Table 5-5: Productivity Increase due to Telecommuting

Organization Percentage of Productivity Increase¹

Amex Life Assurance 20%

State of California 10 to 30%

Blue Cross/Blue Shield 20%

Traveler’s Insurance 20%

Smart Valley Inc. 18 to 23%

3 Com

Cisco Systems

Deloitte & Touche

Gray Cary Ware Freidenrich

Hewlett Packard

Pacific Bell

Regis McKenna

Silicon Graphics

IBM 15%

Information Access 20 to 25%

Mountain Bell 30%

¹Percentages are rough estimates of productivity increases.

Source: “Productivity Documentation.” Association of Bay Area Governments.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/telecomm/producti.html

Companies with a telecommuting program are also able to reduce their costs in buying office equipment and renting real estate. FindSVP Inc., a market research company based in New York, estimates an investment of $5,500 for a start-up home-office while the traditional work station can cost between $12,000 to $15,000 (46). Last year, IBM converted most of its U.S. marketing and services workers to “mobile” status and reported a cost savings of $35 million of 40-60 percent reduction in real estate costs (55). Ernst & Young experienced similar savings after practicing the concept of “hoteling,” whereby employees reserve office space when they need it. Hoteling has cut the firm’s need for office space by 30 percent and saved them $30 million a year in real estate costs (69).

5.5.3 Opportunities for Activities

The results from a U.S. News/CNN poll (70) of 820 adults, show that of the nine percent of Americans who have telecommuted (defined as working from home by computer), more than four-fifths said that being available to their family was an important advantage of telecommuting, while more than three-quarters said having a flexible schedule was an advantage. Six of the telecommuting advantages most commonly considered by Americans are shown in Table 5-6.

Table 5-6: Telecommuting Advantages Americans Consider

Advantage Percent

Available to family 82%

More flexible hours 76%

No commute 59%

Don’t have to dress up 42%

Fewer distractions from co-workers 43%

Available for service people and deliveries 39%

Source: Computer Homework, U.S. News & World Report, November 27, 1995, p. 25. Used by permission of U.S. News and World Report and CNN.

Many people are able to take advantage of the flexible schedule which telecommuting offers. The time normally taken up by commuting and other activities, which is saved by using the Internet, can be used to accomplish other activities such as grocery shopping, laundry, housework, or yard work. People who work odd hours are better able to juggle their schedule to manage daily work and family commitments (40). This flexibility also gives “housebound workers or those who are transportation-disadvantaged due to physical disabilities” the opportunity to work (40). Employees who are on maternity leave, ill, or injured can continue to work at home as well.

Telecommuting can become an alternative to using transit for people living in rural areas. Rather than planning their time around the usually-very-limited bus schedule, they can avoid the transit system altogether by telecommuting from their own homes. Telecenters present workers with another solution to traffic congestion.

5.6 Possible Additional Transportation Impacts

Improved communication technologies may have two different results upon life-styles as it affects transportation. Some people are more likely to remain at home given the opportunity to watch a television program or a program presented through another medium at any time or interact with others electronically. On the other hand, others may increase their trip-making as they become aware of events taking place in their area.

5.6.1 Trip Stimulation

People will want to physically participate in events publicized through the various improved communication channels, thereby generating additional trips Transportation systems are expected to work more efficiently as a result of improved communication and information technologies, making traveling on the roads a more attractive option.

Also, the space that telecommuters “free up” on the road may be taken up by someone who normally used transit or carpooled to and from work. This concept is known as “latent demand” (67). After noticing that the traffic is less congested, others will choose to drive themselves.

In addition, recent advances in transportation and communication technologies and globalization of the economy may bring a resurgence of jobs to the major cities and metropolitan areas. “The acceleration of commerce tends to generate customized, single-purpose trips that leave immediately and go by the fastest means” (67). The single-occupancy vehicles and small trucks which are usually used will generate trips. Services such as home-delivery of fast food and overnight package delivery will also produce traffic on the roads as they are meeting people’s needs. New relationships will be developed which will result in an increased number of transactions and interactions. “Even if 90 percent of the new interactions are done electronically, the remaining ten percent involving personal visits or movement of physical matter via package shipment represents a net increase in travel” (67).

Although people will reduce the total number of trips made as a result of home shopping via cable TV and/or the Internet, the overall trips reduced may be minimal. This is primarily due to the increase in trips needed to deliver the products and services ordered. Carriers such as Federal Express, DHL, and United Parcel Service will play a large role in the success of home shopping as consumers will expect delivery within hours of purchasing the goods (71). This added characteristic will make living in the rural areas more attractive and convenient for residents as they will not need to make a long drive into town to purchase goods that can now be delivered to their homes.

5.6.2 Trip Substitution

With an Internet connection, one will be able to remotely access information and services; one can chat with electronic friends across the country, browse through on-line reference materials, and play games.

Trips may be eliminated by electronically sending messages and data instead of physically transporting them by holding teleconferences. Also, teleneting, or remotely accessing a computer, will allow one to access another computer’s database such that information may be exchanged between the two terminals.

5.7 Future Societal Changes and Transportation-Related Impacts

It is impossible to predict exactly what future societal changes, which will have transportation-related impacts, will take place. Some idea of future developments can be formed by assessing trip purposes to see where additional savings may be attained as a result of improved information and communication technologies. These issues will be discussed in this section, together with some of the trends in work trips and mobility increases.

The 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Study (NPTS/72) reported that the daily work commute accounted for 26 percent of the average household’s annual trips by vehicle (see Table 5-7). Shopping accounted for 20 percent, other family and personal business accounted for 24 percent, social or recreational trips accounted for 21 percent, while the remaining nine percent went to trips for other reasons such as trips to schools, doctors, dentists, and business appointments. Since 1969, the number of trips that increased the greatest was in the areas of shopping and family and personal business, up 88 percent and 137 percent, respectively.

While the average private vehicle miles traveled on home-to-work trips increased 16 percent in 1990, the commute time shave increased by just 42 seconds since 1980 to 22 minutes and 24 seconds, according to the 1990 census.

Table 5-7: Distribution of Vehicle Trips, and Average Trip Length by Trip Purpose

Percent of All Average Trip

Trips^aLength^b

Trip purpose 1983 1990 1983 1990

Earning a Living

To or from work 27.8 26.1 8.6 10.9

Work-related business 2.9 1.8 11.3 14.0

Subtotal 30.7 27.8

Family and personal business

Shopping 20.0 20.2 5.3 5.1

Doctor/dentist 1.2 1.1 9.8 10.5

Other/family/personal 18.3 24.1 6.5 7.2

Subtotal 5.9 5.3

Civic, educational and religious 5.9 5.3 5.5 7.4

Social and recreational

Vacation 0.2 0.1 113.0 80

Visit friends/relatives 9.9 8.8 10.7 11.3

Pleasure driving 0.4 0.3 19.7 20.9

Other recreation 12.1 11.2 8.7 10.1

Subtotal 22.6 20.4

Other 2.3 7.2 10.7

ALL PURPOSES^c100 100 7.9 9.0

Source: Liss, Susan. Nationwide Personal Transportation Study: Early Results, FHWA, U.S. Dept.of Transportation.

^aVehicle trips by purpose (Table 9)

^bAverage vehicle trip length in miles (Table 12)

^c Because of rounding, the figured may not sum to totals

From the data in Table 5-7, it can be seen that the percentage of trips made for earning a living, family and personal business, and social and recreational remained about the same from 1983 to 1990. There was an overall increase in average vehicle trip length from 7.9 miles in 1983 to 9.0 in 1990. The trip lengths for work, work-related business, civic, educational, and religious, other family and personal business, and other social and recreational trips increased during the same period of time. Each type of travel offers an opportunity for trip reduction, although commuters are usually targeted for trip reduction programs because their trip times and destinations are often seen as relatively predictable events and therefore they could easily travel together (72). But commuting trips are as “individualistic” as the person makes them. Oftentimes, coordination of carpools and vanpools is made difficult by commuters who have flexible hours, work at odd hours, or have to make multiple stops to the grocery store, dry-cleaners or day-care centers and schools to pick up their children.

From Table 5-7 it can be seen that the magnitudes of the percentages of trips undertaken in the category of “family and personal business”, as well as in the “social and recreational” category, are comparable to or higher than those in the “earning a living” category. Even if only a small portion of these trips could be eliminated as a result of the improvement of communication information technologies, the effect on total trip-making could be substantial.

The first stage of traditional shopping involves the gathering of information, which “requires travel to a shopping place in the absence of in-home shopping alternatives” (73). Often, the consumers enter the market when they recognize a need. They evaluate the information obtained about a certain item and may take several cycles until enough information is gathered to make a decision. However, today’s technology allows for gathering the necessary information at home, thus potentially saving several trips to the store. The consumer is able to compare the various choices available before making a purchase.

A study by commerceNet-Nielson Media Research reported that only 2.5 million users in the United States have purchased any products or services via the World Wide Web (10). That number is likely to grow as companies are designing “tamper-proof electronic payment systems” which will make it safe and secure to do business on the network (74). According to IntelliQuest’s survey of 415 people who own a computer or intend to buy one this holiday season, 72 percent of the respondents said that they would not trust sending their credit card number over the Internet. The same survey also reported that eight percent were likely to give someone a gift purchased this season on-line, while 13 percent said they were likely to within the next 12 months; that portion of people more than doubled to 30 percent for making a purchase within the next 5 years (75). On-line shopping may actually offer more in-depth information about products or services than a store clerk would be able to during the holiday season (75).

In 1994, QVC’s sales in goods and services ($1.4 billion) via cable TV increased 16 percent from the previous year (71). Ideally, individuals would shop through their TV and therefore eliminate the need to leave the home to shop for goods. Corporations such as CBS, QVC, Viacom, and AT&T have been competing against each other for a piece of the action as shopping at home, on-line promises to “alter not only how we buy and sell as well as distribute our goods, but also the physical landscape of America” (71).

On the other hand, it may be years from now before consumers will be able to purchase goods using interactive TV. U.S. West, Inc., a Denver-based telephone company providing regional service, together with retailers such as Nordstrom Inc., the J.C. Penney Company, and the Ford Motor Company, began in 1993 the development of a service that would have allowed customers to place orders for merchandise using their televisions. However, due to high costs and premature technology, U.S. West. Announced in August 1995, the ending of their interactive television shopping experiment (76).

Another area which leads itself to changes in tripmaking is education. Telecourses have been offered at a number of college campuses and other sites that would otherwise have been inaccessible to local residents. These courses are becoming more and more common. Students in these courses watch their lectures on a local cable or broadcast channel at home. The Chabot-Las Positas Community College District averages 1,200 students a year in its telecourses (77). Solano Community College began offering classes via teleconferencing in the fall of 1995 (77). Professors taught the courses in a room in Suisun City equipped with technology that allowed the students and teachers to see and hear each other, and interact in real time.

A similar approach was begun in October, 1996, for IISTPS’ first Masters-level transportation course presented via distance learning, which is offered through the San José State University College of Business Graduate Programs Office. This course originated from Caltrans offices in Oakland, California, and was received by students at additional sites in San Jose, Santa Ana, Sacramento, and San Diego. Student reaction to the program has been positive, and there have been requests for additional reception points for courses.

During spring of 1995, Foothill College in Los Altos Hills offered a class on the “C++” computer language via the Internet (77). The professor wrote up the week’s lecture and e-mailed it to the students. After reading the notes, the students e-mailed questions to their professor or to other students. The questions and answers were posted to each participant, so that there was an ongoing discussion. Students from all over California, as well as out-of-state and one student from Sweden took the class.The University of Phoenix has further developed this idea and is currently offering students the opportunity to obtain an MBA on-line (78). Instead of the traditional live discussions held in classrooms, students are expected to participate in on-line class discussions and keep up with the reading assignments and project deadlines.

Table 5-8: Summary Statistics on Workers from the 1990 U.S. Census and 1990 NPTS

Percent 1990

1980 1990 Change NPTS

Bay Area 5 million 6 million +16%

Population

Number of 2.5 million 3 million +25% 118,343

Workers

How workers get

to their jobs

Drive alone 62.8% 68.2% +9% 70.7%

Carpool 16.3% 13.0% -20% 12.0%

Percent 1990

1980 1990 Change NPTS

Ride Transit 11.4% 9.5% -17% 5.0%

Walk 4.4% 3.6% -18% 3.7%

Work at

Home 1.9% 2.3% +79% unknown

Other 3.1% 2.3% -26% 2.5%

Total 100% 100%

Average Travel time

To work

(minutes) 24.3 25.6 +5% 20.0

Average Commute 1.132 1.097 -3%

Vehicle Occupancy

Rate

Technical Report Documentation Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Transportation/Communication Related Societal Changes

Some Opportunities and Challenges

Recommendations for Further Study

2. RESEARCH APPROACH AND REPORT OUTLINE