Will The Spread Of Mobile Internet Reduce Traffic?

Few cities have reported an ease in traffic congestion after the rise in oil prices. It appears that, most people love to drive. The grumbling about traffic jams and high oil prices has not reduced in any way though. A few technical gurus are now on a major 'think trip'. They feel that providing high speed internet access in public buses and trains might pull people off the car. The time that you spend behind the wheel in traffic snarls and waiting for the signals to change colors could be better utilized. Hand held devices fed with high speed internet could allow you to get a lot done, only if you did not have to be engaged behind the steering wheel. You could read emails, answer emails, work on price quotes, check the latest stock values and ofcourse even watch the news on the television. Devices are today available in a compact size to do all this and more, all that they need is a continuous connection to a high speed internet service.

It is felt that people might choose to use public transport instead of being engaged in tedious driving routines. This might happen in a few cities where a large number of people drive to work. The expenses to hire a professional driver are high in the U.S and most European countries. As far as Asian countries like Thailand are concerned, the use of the Internet to do serious business transaction or development is still in it's infancy. Look at the public transport bus and train services in any metropolitan city of India, and you will realize that the overcrowded conditions would really not allow any cool internet surfing. And remember that people who drive a car don't carry just only a pocket sized berry to work. Feeling comfortable with all these in a public transport service might take some time to adjust. So most people would continue to drive to work, they would continue to grumble regarding the traffic but life would go on.