Transportation Mobility
Definition
Mobility refers to the movement of people or goods. It assumes that “travel” means person- or ton-miles, “trip” means person- or freight-vehicle trip. It assumes that any increase in travel mileage or speed benefits society.
Users
From this perspective, transport users are mainly motorists, since most person- and tonmiles are by motor vehicle, but recognizes that some people rely on non-automobile modes, and some areas have large numbers of transit, rideshare and cycling trips.
Modes
This perspective considers automobiles most important, but values transit, ridesharing and cycling where there is sufficient demand, such as downtowns and college campuses, and so justifies devoting a portion of transport funding to transit, HOV and cycling facilities. It supports an integrated view of the transportation system, with attention to connections between modes. For example, it considers walking and transit complementary modes since most transit trips involve walking links.