Skip to main content

Blog: Exceptional circumstances accelerate new traffic solutions

The coronavirus has transformed our lives in a short period of time. No one could have foreseen the current situation even just a short while ago. Effects on traffic have also been significant.

Airports have quieted down, with most flights cancelled. Bus and taxi passengers have disappeared and many trains have been cancelled. The commuter and freight traffic that is necessary for the security of supply has been running, ensuring the delivery of food and medicines, for instance. More information about the development of traffic volumes in different modes of traffic can be found at https://www.tmfg.fi/fi/uutiset/koronavirus-vaikuttanut-merkittavasti-liikennemaariin.

It is clear that the coronavirus has a significant negative impact on the Finnish economy. This can be seen concretely in companies in the traffic sector, which are now facing a sudden and drastic decline in the demand for their services. Key air traffic operators, for instance, have announced layoffs.

Companies providing passenger traffic services employ tens of thousands of people in Finland. Even before the coronavirus crisis, the sector’s profitability was at a modest level so few companies have large buffers. It is important that there are sufficient means and willingness to support healthy companies also in the traffic sector. At the same time, companies in the sector must put feelers out in this new situation and open-mindedly seek new business opportunities utilising traffic information and digital solutions, for instance.

For now, it is uncertain how long these exceptional circumstances last. I’m always an optimist and I would like to see that these difficult times will teach us many new things. When things do return to normal at some point, hopefully we can apply some of the lessons learned in our everyday lives:

  • An increasing number of people will have learned to work remotely in a productive manner. Online meetings will have become more popular and, as a result, we will have been able to reduce especially air travel. Perhaps the need for driving your own car will also have decreased.
  • People will have learned how to use digital tickets – for instance, mobile tickets have already become significantly more popular now that cash cannot be used on buses.
  • Other digital traffic applications will have gained popularity, too – for instance, our Traffic Situation service will have got many new users.
  • We will have learned to optimise our mobility and combine trips. It is not necessary to drive to the shop several times a day (I admit, I’ve sometimes been guilty of this myself!). You can plan your shopping better and more smartly, buying more things less frequently.
  • We will have learned that we do not need to make all trips ourselves: instead, we can use different delivery services. The popularity of food delivery services, for instance, has already exploded during the exceptional circumstances.
  • And finally: Hopefully, we will have learned to care more for our loved ones and others around us. Kind acts and consideration of others, both in traffic and otherwise, will help us make our society safer, more smoothly running and more environmentally friendly.

It seems that the coronavirus crisis will eventually increase the need to accelerate the development of digital services both in people’s mobility and goods logistics. As a provider of traffic information and a controller of traffic on land, at sea and in the air, we are more than ready for this task.

What do you think?  Comments are welcome!

Janne Lautanala
Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer
Traffic Management Finland Ltd
@jannelautanala

Share