It is certainly true that in the US, the vast majority of motion, that is getting from one place to another takes place in privately owned vehicles. And as much as our betters would like to see that change, I just don’t see it happening anytime soon.

There are a lot of reasons for that, the main one being freedom. Owning a car gives you freedom. Freedom to choose when and where you want to go. You may live in an apartment and cannot afford a single family dwelling, but owning a car gives you a piece of your country. Yes, its not a square of dirt, but it is something that has value, and something you can use to your benefit.

I don’t think POVs are going to go away anytime soon because people like to drive. Get behind the wheel and experience the open road. POVs take you to neighborhoods across the city. You get to see how other people live and dare I say it, you get to meet people out there, if you like.

Many of us simply love cars. We like to look at them, we like to lift the hood and be impressed with raw power, and frankly we like to keep them shiny and clean. I’m sorry but you don’t get the same feeling holding a chamois in your hand and polishing a bus or train as you do wiping that last bit of polish off the hood of your Belchfire V-12.

I thought it interesting that at “Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress” to be held in Barcelona in November, that I couldn’t find one word on their web sites that mentioned privately owned vehicles. The topics included: Mobility Data Spaces, Inclusivity, Affordability &Fairness, Connected, Cooperative & Automated Mobility, Sustainable Urban Logistics, Multimobility, Urban Air Mobility, Energy Transition, and Active Mobility. Fair Enough.

I understand that this meeting is being held in Europe and the EU is not nearly as car-centric as is the US. However there are still millions of cars in the EU and millions of people who get around using them. I just wonder if it’s reasonable to simply ignore the transport that in the US at least, takes 80 percent of the population to and from wherever they are going.

Even if it’s only 30 or 40% in the EU, wouldn’t one or two seminars about how to work with POVs be reasonable? Of course, if your goal is to do away with them, perhaps not.

JVH