Design options for reducing environmental costs of mobility

In my previous blog, I mentioned what I thought were key parameters in determining reducing overall mobility related costs in North America and rest of the world.

At a policy level, there is already a change in investment patterns made by departments of transportation. Departments of Transportation are responsible for investments in state highway systems. There is a growing realization that highway investments have to change from the single dimension of preservation of asset value to multiple dimensions of providing mobility, ensuring safety and reducing environmental costs.

However, that is no longer enough. In urban America, a very large number of people have commute distances that can be best described as intra-regional and not intra-urban. The same is true for container traffic. The option is then, to provide regional multi-modal systems. To be successful, regional multi-modal systems require integration of transportation systems at both ends of the system. Fo most commuters, it means a viable road based personal and public transportation systems for their sub-urban environment.

A similar strategy is required for goods transport. For intra-regional and inter-region transportation of goods, rail systems could become the system of choice rather than the huge fleet of road and air vehicles maintained by logistics organizations. It could also mean developing a market for smaller and more nimble logistics companies that are more regional in nature. These could offer collection, sortation and delivery systems at either end of the system.

Software architecture

How does it all tie back to software architecture? The question obviously is to design a software architecture to meet this requirement. The following stakeholders needs need to be met to meet the above goals.

1. System owners and operators - These are typically the owners of the system such as state departments of transportation.
2. Policy makers - These are national transportation bodies.
3. Local system owners and operators - These are urban bodies responsible for planning and running the system.
4. Individual system users - These are individuals who make travel decisions for planning commutes and making them.
5. Commercial system users - These are organizations who use the system for commercial reasons such as freight and logistics companies.