Where we work defines how we get there (and explains a lot about the public transport challenge)

This geographical pattern of job growth and contraction is reshaping our cities but sadly so much of our thinking remains rooted in the mistaken notion that “most jobs are in the inner city.” Inner city professionals in fields as diverse as public policy, government administration, academia, planning, property, law, engineering and the like seem to have fallen into the trap of thinking that everyone must be like them: commuting to inner city office towers. As the economy grows (they argue), many more jobs will be in the inner city so to address congestion, we must invest more in public transport networks designed to carry people from middle and outer suburban homes, to their inner city workplaces. There is no evidence to support this. The reality is very different.

There are things we could be doing. Exploring options around electric, autonomous vehicles (including as PT), along with more tunnels to move more suburban traffic (which includes, increasingly, freight). A more dispersed transport network that will serve an increasingly dispersed future economy. There are unexplored options around train stations as work destinations (not just as places to embark for a city bound journey). Plus there are many options for the development of mixed use suburban business hubs – suburban renewal which mixes housing, work and social infrastructure such that shorter trips are possible and bringing both jobs and services closer to where people live.

Former US President John F Kennedy once famously said: “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

That was way back in 1962. Are we really such slow learners?