Individual transport happens due to a number of causes and even more occasions. We should distinguish between both, if we want to shape the change. In the long run there is no getting around, reducing the causes and occasions for driving. Maybe as a rule, we should seek to drive only, as we desire to do so. The car itself however is hardly the cause for driving anymore.
Today we use vehicles, because we have to cover distances in a given time. Before we were individually moving on wheels , we individually went by foot. Cities were manageable then; just about the size, of the original settlements our ancestors left to us. These historic old towns quite often seem tiny seeds of today's metropolises. Street names still indicate, that in the old days constricted space was used for living, working and consumtion all at one. Almost all places of everyday life were in reach within minutes. But minutes did not count anyway - for a long time we had no such concept of time at all.
Then we invented means of transport, which facilitated the crossing of urban space and the transportation of goods across greater distances. The start for spatial growth of cities was signalled. Because towns due to sudden influx grew into cities, other innovative means of transport were invented. At the same time, homes had to be placed farther away from unhealthy industrial production.
Watches with their minute-- and even second hands let us become aware, that “time is money”. Since we rush, to always “arrive” in time. Basically we prefer to count on ourselves rather than on others. We are trained for autonomous action and prefer to be in control.
In the second half of the twentieth century motorized individual transport was economized. The motor car became a status symbol and now is celebrated as an important economic factor. Cities and states were planned, leaving most residents alone trying to get to work without individual or public transportation opportunities.
Meanwhile, business and politics expect each citizen to be highly mobile . Spatial mobility and timely flexibility are essential for social participation. This holds especially true for the participation in the labor market. To push into full buses or traffic jams, to commute to the workplace for hours, is our contribution to a more or less well-functioning international economy, if we take the environmental issue into account.
Long term changes, urgent present feasibilities?
Presumably hardly anyone enjoys the daily rush hour, neither in individual, nor in public transport. Fortunately, spatial separation of living- and working places is no longer mandatory. The age of loud and toxic industrial plants is over. Digitization theoretically allows , to, at least temporarily, work in the close proximity to our apartments.. Models, which allow this for teams and in neighborhoods, can be developed (shared work spaces). Therefore the change of the working world should be initiated now. Eventually we will suffer less from stress. And we will waste less of our life time on paths, we don't actually want to travel in the first place. But to this end, political will and a lot of time are required.
Of course we are likely to achieve some success by developing mobility concepts in the long run. This approach is not contradicted by a more modest one, though. Discussing climate protection and health, immediate significant effect can be obtained- too. The technology is available and politically wanted. For a long time sector coupling of electricity and transport has been a key word in professional circles. This requires a simple finding. The stressed-out commuters will immediately use electric vehicles, if they feature at least the same cost-benefit ratio, as vehicles with internal combustion engines. Should electric vehicles remain more expensive and less practical at the same time despite subsidies , the great transition is not to happen indeed.
Once politics understands, that vehicles with standardized exchangeable battery packs are the serious alternative to the conventional automobile, the Bus, vans and lorries, an important step on the path to transition is taken. It won't be the last. Further, much larger steps, are to follow. But we can stop emissions worsening climate and health, by taking this modest step now.