Stockholmarnas resvanor - mellan trängselskatt och klimatdebatt

cations are used. Such professional duties may in fact give rise to extensive
travelling that is difficult to replace with other forms of communication.
In working from an office hotel near home, concrete work tasks were
similarly important. Those who delivered well-defined, mature products
were able to use communications effectively and also to make few trips
apart from the short trip between home and office hotel. Groups with very
high work-life mobility, certain salesmen and consultants used the office
hotel to compensate for/manage long- or short-distance travel to visit
customers or their own head offices (often abroad).
Another controlling factor was power. In both the private and public
sector, there are numerous examples of how power relationships determine
who is expected to travel or communicate in a certain way. Being able to
limit one’s travel or accessibility can be an expression of an influential or
stable position.
An important outcome of the study was that it is not sufficient to base
studies of options for reducing travel on traditional sub-divisions into various
branches, professions and functions. Such sub-divisions are not designed
for resolving issues regarding what determines the balance between
individuals being located at a particular site and travelling or communicating
over space and time. It is also not sufficient to base studies solely on
formal job descriptions, as these seldom coincide completely with the type
of results people are attempting to achieve in their professional role or the
methods they use in practice.
Travel over the course of life
The final chapter in part D) presents empirical findings on changes in travel
habits over the course of life, which are often determined by changes in
family circumstances, housing and work. An interesting example was the
car-free families in the inner city. They were permanent inner city dwellers
who did not change area or type of housing when they had children (or
who did not change job if they moved house). There were no clear breaks
in their travel habits. In other families, several types of change in their life
situation coincided, and often affected their travel habits. Through choices
and adjustments that are made relatively seldom during the course of life,
individuals and families create the basic conditions for their activities and
travel habits. It should therefore be noted that political actions produce
different types of effect. Economic tools are often intended to act from a
short time perspective and generally across the population. They therefore
overlook the effects that cause some individuals and groups to be affected
in the long-term and in specific ways, e.g. families that move house and
Summary 181