Travel, work, and telecommunications: a view of the electronics revolution and its potential impacts

Considerations of the impacts of electronic technologies on transportation usually focus on substitution of communications for travel, especially telecommuting. This topic is reviewed briefly, followed by consideration of electronic technology-induced changes in the structure of firms, work by individuals, and consumption. Today’s organization of the work place on the basis of time-at-a-place measurements dates from early in the Industrial Revolution; the communications control of production dates from the introduction of the telegraph. Recent and upcoming communications developments may relax time and place requirements while intensifying communications control. Resulting changes in production and consumption may challenge transportation developments in coming decades