The considerations will mainly be focused on short and medium distance travels in urban areas. The issue of land use planning will not be dealt with, and references to literature will not be included.

Some headlines are

• transport is linked to activities
• transport is plastic of nature
• market conditions are missing in the transport area
• "slow modes" is not a good term
• the car is the core market
• bicycles behave like cars
• obvious perspectives for public transport are ignored
• combination with individual means improve reliability
• bicycle tourism saves car travel

In connection with the market approach to transport, the word "demand" is used in at least two different meanings:

• the amount of transport which people consume under the given (market) conditions
• the amount of transport which people need in order to fulfil their necessary activities

In the first meaning transport is considered a product in competition with all the other products offered on the market, and something which one can choose to consume in an amount where there is an optimum relation between the money spent and the welfare achieved.

In the other meaning transport is considered something directly and inevitably connected to necessary activities.

A wish to change the travel patterns should, thus, not only involve a discussion of alternative means of transport in connection with a given origin-destination, but should also address a potential change of the destination and corresponding length of the trip derived from the activity in question.

Some conclusions to this is

• transport is not a primary consumer good but is derived from other human activities
• changes in the transport consumption can be achieved as well from a change in the means of transport used for a given trip as from a change of the trip connected to the originating activity
• the word "demand" should be used with care and replaced by e.g. "consumption" where appropriate.

A search for "core and competitive markets" thus can be rephrased to

• finding out for which types of people and which types of trips a change in the means of transport would be possible and desirable
• finding out for which types of people and which types of activities a diminishing of the trip length involved would be possible.

In connection with a market approach to transport it is worth noting that one of the must fundamental problems of the modern transport system - congestion of roads - is related to non-market conditions.

Congestion represents an unbalanced situation where a small increase in the number of cars or whichever transport means attempting to use a given part of the infrastructure leads to a significant decrease of the overall performance of the system. Under ideal market conditions the shortage of the resource asked for - namely available infrastructure - would result in an increased price for using the infrastructure (which may in some instances in term result in more infrastructure being built).

The introduction of market conditions has in a wide range of areas shown an impressive ability to solve shortage problems by achieving a balance between price and supply of a given issue demanded by (part of) the population.

So far as transport and transport problems are concerned it would be logical to approach one of the fundamental ones - the lack of balance between supply and demand for infrastructure - by applying market conditions.

This would imply that road infrastructure was not as a general rule given away for free, but "sold" in terms of introducing road user charges for using certain parts of the system. Such charges should in case not only depend on the place but also on the time of the day.

In the discussion the non-motorised modes cycling and walking is sometimes designated "slow". In practice, however, these modes are often used where they offer a faster alternative than the motorised modes.

Since the word "slow" in the modern society is often regarded synonymous with "bad" it is suggested to use the expression "non motorised modes" if walking and cycling are regarded together.

So far as urban transport is concerned the relevant modes are

• walking
• cycling
• public transport (bus, tram or train)
• car

Trends are forecasting an increase in car ownership, also in urban areas. Cartraffic, however, leads to major congestion problems in urban areas since there is not enough space available. And the general acceptance of the environmental impact from cartraffic is decreasing.

Said very shortly:

Often public transport is looked upon as the alternative to cartraffic. The two means have, however, mainly one thing in common, e.g. that they are both motorised.

Both walking and cycling can be looked upon from a "supply" point of view:

• readiness to walk or cycle by the individuals
• availability of space for walking or cycling

Modern people are not happy to walk far, 1-2 km is usually the maximum. This is not only an individual question but depends also of the local culture.

In some cities - with Venice as one of the most well known examples - people walk a lot, and walking gives an important contribution to the transport system. In others walking is not used to far the same degree.

A highly relevant issue, though often ignored, relates to the availability of walking space. Examples of cities where priority for cars has led to a deterioration of the possibilities for walking are numerous. The phenomenon can be represented by

• no or too little space available for walking
• poor paving quality
• detours introduced by traffic fences or separate (off road) paths
• delays resulting from traffic lights not taking the waiting time for pedestrians into account.

A pro-walking policy will involve

• proper space allocation for pedestrians
• pedestrian route planning avoiding detours and giving priority to good paving
• pedestrian priority at signals.

So far as cycling is concerned similar matters apply.

The bicycle is however, though non-motorised as the pedestrian, very different in performance. Cycling speed (15-25 km/h) is thus more comparable to urban car speeds (30-50 km/h, though in rush hours down to 5 km/h or less) than walking speeds (4-6 km/h).

Cycling fits perfectly into a road system without special bicycle infrastructure given the conditions

• car speeds are reasonably low
• cars are represented in numbers leaving room for the bicycles

are met. In other cases there is a need for specific bicycle infrastructure, e.g.:

• bicycle tracks
• bicycle lanes
• separate bicycle ways.

Moreover, a "bicycle culture" needs to be in place if normal people shall choose the bicycle. Experience shows that it usually takes quite a long time to develop a bicycle culture and that such a development requires that reasonable conditions are in place, e.g. low car speeds or sufficient bicycle infrastructure.

Public transport is basically multimodal. Almost nobody can jump directly from the office or the living room into a public transport vehicle.

However, very often the approach to public transport is limited to consider only one of several multimodal options, namely

• walking and public transport.

There are two very interesting alternatives that should be looked into, e.g.:

• cycling and public transport
• car and public transport.

The often stated lack of success for the public transport is closely related to the failure to see how most can be made out of its advantages and how the disadvantages can be overcome in combination with other individual means than walking.

The problem about combining walking and public transport is that this usually involves the change between different lines (means) of public transport. This gives the disadvantage of waiting, changing and loosing connections.

The 3 following basic options are available:

• bike and ride
• bicycles as accompanied luggage.
• park and ride

The considerations move the discussion of supply of public transport as such to include as well

• good parking facilities for bicycles at public transport terminals
• possibility of taking bicycles as accompanied luggage
• good park and ride facilities (including bicycle parking) at the edges of the city.

Supply as a necessary precondition for use ("purchase" in the market approach) is however only part of the question.

It is also imperative to change perceptions in order to make more people using the alternatives. This can relate to simple matters as improving the information about the alternatives. Image campaigns can also come in question.

Another very basic question is however who will be ready to change their behaviour. This is also something that has been studied.

Paradoxically, in spite of walking, cycling and public transport being relatively cheap, those most probable to change over to these means will be people of higher salaries and higher education, as well as students, though.

This should be seen in relation to the positive health aspects of a physically active lifestyle and a less tradition oriented behaviour among the people in question.

A few remarks should be given on long distance transport.

An attempt to switch from car to public transport will not be beneficial in environmental terms as long as the occupancy of the car is high and the public transport alternative chosen is air transport.

Another remark should be given on bicycle tourism, e.g. the activity where people spend their holidays cycling in a distant area.

From an environmental point of view there is no advantage in bicycle tourism if one only takes into account the usually motorised travel involved to bring the people and their bicycles (if not rented) to the starting point. It can even have a negative impact to put bicycles on the roof of the car as this might increase the use of gasoline by 20%.

By tradition human beings have set distance equal to the degree of adventure, which is - together with the relatively lowered prices - probably are the main reasons for the increase in long distance travels.