| 4. IT Revolution The IT Revolution has a major impact on the transport area both in terms of supply and demand. With regard to demand, the spread of tele-work, SOHO5 and e-commerce has seen to reduce, and in some cases, replace traffic, as well as bringing uniformity in terms of time and space. At the same time, high-speed distribution of vast amount of information has contributed to the stimulation of demand in the travel area, the broadening of business dealings, and the expansion of demand for high-speed precision distribution services. Also, in terms of the supply-side of transport services, improvements in the convenience of public transport and distribution services not only open up the way to improvements in the utilization of traffic infrastructure, but also make it possible to work towards leveling-out traffic demand through the detailed setting of fares and charges. In this context, using IT to good advantage, business operators who can gain a clear appreciation of the thoughts of travelers and cargo customers will be able to meet demand swiftly and precisely, therefore positioning themselves favorably in the market. With this the function of transport operators such as travel agents will change from merely acting as an intermediary and such operators will need to be creative to add value to their products. Furthermore, with traffic information being made available through the Internet and PDA (personal digital assistants)6 and with the growth of business dealings on the internet between traffic operators and their users, IT will facilitate improvements in the functionality of traffic infrastructure as well as advances in traffic systems. |
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Projection of numbers of people engaged in tele-work in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area |
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| Note: "People engaged in tele-work" is defined as those doing "tele-work" more than once a week Source : "Report of the Special Deliberation and Planning Committee for Metropolitan Areas Development" issued by the National Land Agency (data edition ) |
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The Scale of E- commerce final consumer goods market |
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| Source: Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications "2000 White Paper on Telecommunications" |
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