ABSTRACT
Transport is many things: it is a means of getting from one place to another. It includes a range of very different forms of travel – walking, cycling, and travelling by car, bus, train or aircraft. A journey to work on the London Underground is very different from a country holiday tour. Except perhaps for the tourism type of journey, transport is unlike other goods in that it is a means to an end: it is not an end in itself. Indeed, much transport is an impediment to the enjoyment of something else. It is a means of providing access. Mobility is not important of itself: its importance is in providing access. Thus transport should not be considered in isolation from the social and economic activities that drive the demand for it and the spatial distribution of activities which determines the pattern of journeys. Yet the debate on transport often forgets this elementary point, and focuses on mobility: faster roads, faster trains, and more frequent buses.
