Transport (in
British English), or transportation (in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
), is the intentional
movement
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
of humans, animals, and
goods from one location to another.
Modes of transport
Mode of transport is a term used to distinguish between different ways of transportation or transporting people or goods. The different modes of transport are air, water, and land transport, which includes rails or railways, road and off-road tr ...
include
air,
land (
rail and
road),
water,
cable,
pipeline
Pipeline may refer to:
Electronics, computers and computing
* Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on
** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...
, and
space. The field can be divided into
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
,
vehicles, and
operations
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. Transport enables human
trade, which is essential for the development of
civilizations.
Transport infrastructure consists of both fixed installations, including
roads,
railways,
airways,
waterways,
canals, and
pipelines, and terminals such as
airports,
railway stations,
bus stations,
warehouses, trucking terminals, refueling depots (including fueling docks and
fuel stations), and
seaports. Terminals may be used both for interchange of passengers and cargo and for maintenance.
Means of transport are any of the different kinds of transport facilities used to carry people or cargo. They may include vehicles,
riding animals, and
pack animals
A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft ani ...
. Vehicles may include
wagons
A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...
,
automobiles
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
,
bicycles,
buses
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
,
trains,
trucks,
helicopters,
watercraft,
spacecraft, and
aircraft.
Modes
![Manchester Transport Montage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Manchester_Transport_Montage.jpg)
A mode of transport is a solution that makes use of a certain type of vehicle, infrastructure, and operation. The transport of a person or of cargo may involve one mode or several of the modes, with the latter case being called inter-modal or multi-modal transport. Each mode has its own advantages and disadvantages, and will be chosen on the basis of cost, capability, and route.
Governments deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the procedures set for this purpose, including financing, legalities, and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be either public or private, depending on the country and mode.
Passenger transport may be
public, where operators provide scheduled services, or
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
. Freight transport has become focused on
containerization, although
bulk transport is used for large volumes of durable items. Transport plays an important part in economic growth and
globalization, but most types cause
air pollution and
use large amounts of land. While it is heavily subsidized by governments, good planning of transport is essential to make
traffic flow and restrain
urban sprawl.
Human-powered
![Sherpa carrying woods](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Sherpa_carrying_woods.JPG)
Human-powered transport, a form of
sustainable transport
Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; th ...
, is the transport of people and/or goods using
human muscle-power, in the form of
walking,
running, and
swimming. Modern
technology has allowed
machine
A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...
s to enhance human power. Human-powered transport remains popular for reasons of cost-saving,
leisure,
physical exercise
Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness.
It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...
, and
environmentalism; it is sometimes the only type available, especially in underdeveloped or inaccessible regions.
Although humans are able to walk without infrastructure, the transport can be enhanced through the use of roads, especially when using the human power with vehicles, such as
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
s and
inline skates. Human-powered vehicles have also been developed for difficult environments, such as snow and water, by
watercraft rowing and
skiing; even the air can be entered with
human-powered aircraft
A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport.
Human-powered aircraft have been successfully flown over considerable distances. However, they are still primarily constructed a ...
.
Animal-powered
Animal-powered transport is the use of
working animals for the movement of people and commodities. Humans may ride some of the animals directly, use them as
pack animals for carrying goods, or harness them, alone or in
teams, to pull
sleds or wheeled
vehicles.
Air
![Airfrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Airfrance.a318-100.f-guga.arp.jpg)
A
fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
, commonly called an airplane, is a heavier-than-air craft where movement of the air in relation to the wings is used to generate lift. The term is used to distinguish this from
rotary-wing aircraft, where the movement of the lift surfaces relative to the air generates lift. A
gyroplane
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...
is both fixed-wing and rotary wing. Fixed-wing aircraft range from small trainers and recreational aircraft to large
airliner
An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
s and military cargo aircraft.
Two things necessary for aircraft are air flow over the wings for
lift and an area for
landing. The majority of aircraft also need an
airport with the infrastructure for maintenance, restocking, and refueling and for the loading and unloading of crew, cargo, and passengers. While the vast majority of aircraft land and take off on land, some are capable of take-off and landing on ice, snow, and calm water.
The aircraft is the second fastest method of transport, after the
rocket. Commercial jets can reach up to , single-engine aircraft . Aviation is able to quickly transport people and limited amounts of cargo over longer distances, but incurs high costs and energy use; for short distances or in inaccessible places,
helicopters can be used. As of April 28, 2009, ''The Guardian'' article notes that "the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time."
Land
Land transport covers all land-based transport systems that provide for the movement of people, goods, and services. Land transport plays a vital role in linking communities to each other. Land transport is a key factor in
urban planning. It consists of two kinds, rail and road.
Rail
![ICE1 Schellenberg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/ICE1_Schellenberg.jpg)
Rail transport is where a
train runs along a set of two parallel
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
rails, known as a railway or railroad. The rails are anchored
perpendicular to
ties (or sleepers) of timber, concrete, or steel, to maintain a consistent distance apart, or
gauge. The rails and perpendicular beams are placed on a foundation made of concrete or compressed
earth and
gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
in a bed of ballast. Alternative methods include
monorail and
maglev.
A train consists of one or more connected vehicles that operate on the rails. Propulsion is commonly provided by a
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
, that hauls a series of unpowered cars, that can carry passengers or freight. The locomotive can be powered by
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, by
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
, or by
electricity supplied by
trackside systems. Alternatively, some or all the cars can be powered, known as a
multiple unit
A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contr ...
. Also, a train can be powered by
horses
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...
,
cables
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
,
gravity,
pneumatics
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and elec ...
, and
gas turbines. Railed vehicles move with much less friction than rubber tires on paved roads, making trains more
energy efficient, though not as efficient as ships.
Intercity trains are long-haul services connecting cities; modern
high-speed rail
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
is capable of speeds up to , but this requires specially built track.
Regional and
commuter trains feed cities from suburbs and surrounding areas, while intra-urban transport is performed by high-capacity
tramways and
rapid transits, often making up the backbone of a city's public transport.
Freight trains traditionally used
box cars, requiring manual loading and unloading of the
cargo. Since the 1960s,
container train
Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...
s have become the dominant solution for general freight, while large quantities of bulk are transported by dedicated trains.
Road
![High Five](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/High_Five.jpg)
A road is an identifiable
route
Route or routes may refer to:
* Route (gridiron football), a path run by a wide receiver
* route (command), a program used to configure the routing table
* Route, County Antrim, an area in Northern Ireland
* ''The Route'', a 2013 Ugandan film
* Ro ...
, way, or
path between two or more
places.
Roads are typically smoothed,
paved
Pavement may refer to:
* Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering
* Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways
** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface
* Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway alo ...
, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel;
though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal
construction or
maintenance. In
urban areas, roads may pass through a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
or
village and be named as
street
A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...
s, serving a dual function as urban space
easement and route.
The most common road vehicle is the automobile; a
wheel
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...
ed passenger vehicle that carries its own
motor. Other users of roads include
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
trucks,
motorcycles,
bicycles, and
pedestrians. As of 2010, there were 1.015 billion automobiles worldwide.
Road transport offers complete freedom to road users to transfer the vehicle from one lane to the other and from one road to another according to the need and convenience. This flexibility of changes in location, direction, speed, and timings of travel is not available to other modes of transport. It is possible to provide door-to-door service only by road transport.
Automobiles provide high flexibility with low capacity, but require high energy and area use, and are the main source of harmful
noise and
air pollution in cities; buses allow for more efficient travel at the cost of reduced flexibility. Road transport by truck is often the initial and
final stage of freight transport.
Water
![Jadrolinija supetar ferry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Jadrolinija_supetar_ferry.JPG)
Water transport is movement by means of a
watercraft—such as a
barge,
boat,
ship, or
sailboat—over a body of water, such as a
sea
The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
,
ocean,
lake,
canal, or
river. The need for buoyancy is common to watercraft, making the
hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
a dominant aspect of its construction, maintenance, and appearance.
In the 19th century, the first
steam ships
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ca ...
were developed, using a
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
to drive a
paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about ...
or
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
to move the ship. The
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
was produced in a
boiler using wood or
coal and fed through a steam
external combustion engine. Now most ships have an
internal combustion engine using a slightly refined type of
petroleum called
bunker fuel. Some ships, such as
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s, use
nuclear power to produce the steam.
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
al or
educational craft still use wind power, while some smaller craft use
internal combustion engines to drive one or more
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s or, in the case of jet boats, an inboard water jet. In shallow draft areas,
hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...
are propelled by large pusher-prop fans. (See
Marine propulsion.)
Although it is slow compared to other transport, modern
sea transport
Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people ( passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...
is a highly efficient method of transporting large quantities of goods.
Commercial vessels, nearly 35,000 in number, carried 7.4 billion tons of cargo in 2007. Transport by water is significantly less costly than air transport for transcontinental
shipping;
short sea shipping
The modern terms short-sea shipping (sometimes unhyphenated), marine highway, and motorways of the sea, and the more historical terms coastal trade, coastal shipping, coasting trade, and coastwise trade, all encompass the movement of cargo and pas ...
and
ferries remain viable in coastal areas.
Other modes
Pipeline transport sends goods through a
pipe; most commonly liquid and gases are sent, but
pneumatic tubes can also send solid capsules using compressed air. For liquids/gases, any chemically stable liquid or gas can be sent through a pipeline. Short-distance systems exist for
sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...
,
slurry
A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...
,
water, and
beer, while long-distance networks are used for
petroleum and
natural gas.
Cable transport is a broad mode where vehicles are pulled by
cables
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
instead of an internal power source. It is most commonly used at steep
gradient. Typical solutions include
aerial tramways,
elevators, and
ski lifts; some of these are also categorized as
conveyor transport.
Spaceflight is transport out of Earth's atmosphere into
outer space by means of a
spacecraft. While large amounts of research have gone into technology, it is rarely used except to put satellites into orbit and conduct scientific experiments. However, man has landed on the moon, and probes have been sent to all the planets of the Solar System.
Suborbital spaceflight is the fastest of the existing and planned transport systems from a place on Earth to a distant "other place" on Earth. Faster transport could be achieved through part of a
low Earth orbit or by following that trajectory even faster, using the propulsion of the rocket to steer it.
Elements
Infrastructure
![Tampereen rantatunneli](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Tampereen_rantatunneli.jpg)
Infrastructure is the fixed installations that allow a vehicle to operate. It consists of a roadway, a terminal, and facilities for parking and maintenance. For rail, pipeline, road, and cable transport, the entire way the vehicle travels must be constructed. Air and watercraft are able to avoid this, since the
airway and
seaway do not need to be constructed. However, they require fixed infrastructure at terminals.
Terminals such as airports, ports, and stations, are locations where passengers and freight can be transferred from one vehicle or mode to another. For passenger transport, terminals are integrating different modes to allow riders, who are interchanging between modes, to take advantage of each mode's benefits. For instance,
airport rail links connect airports to the city centres and suburbs. The terminals for automobiles are
parking lot
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
s, while buses and coaches can operate from simple stops. For freight, terminals act as
transshipment points, though some cargo is transported directly from the point of production to the point of use.
The
financing of infrastructure can either be
public or
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
. Transport is often a
natural monopoly and a necessity for the public; roads, and in some countries railways and airports, are funded through
taxation. New infrastructure projects can have high costs and are often financed through
debt. Many infrastructure owners, therefore, impose usage fees, such as
landing fees at airports or
toll plazas on roads. Independent of this, authorities may impose
taxes on the purchase or use of vehicles. Because of poor forecasting and overestimation of passenger numbers by planners, there is frequently a benefits shortfall for transport infrastructure projects.
Means of transport
Animals
Animals used in transportation include
pack animals
A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is an individual or type of working animal used by humans as means of transporting materials by attaching them so their weight bears on the animal's back, in contrast to draft ani ...
and
riding animals.
Vehicles
![1992 Fiat Uno IE 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/1992_Fiat_Uno_IE_1.0_Front.jpg)
A vehicle is a non-living device that is used to move people and goods. Unlike the infrastructure, the vehicle moves along with the cargo and riders. Unless being pulled/pushed by a cable or muscle-power, the vehicle must provide its own propulsion; this is most commonly done through a
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
,
combustion engine,
electric motor,
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
, or
rocket, though other means of propulsion also exist. Vehicles also need a system of converting the energy into movement; this is most commonly done through
wheel
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...
s,
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s, and
pressure.
Vehicles are most commonly staffed by a
driver. However, some systems, such as
people movers and some rapid transits, are fully
automated. For
passenger
A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...
transport, the vehicle must have a compartment, seat, or platform for the passengers. Simple vehicles, such as automobiles, bicycles, or simple aircraft, may have one of the passengers as a driver. Recently, the progress related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought a lot of new emerging technologies for transportation and automotive fields such as Connected Vehicles and Autonomous Driving. These innovations are said to form future mobility, but concerns remain on safety and cybersecurity, particularly concerning connected and autonomous mobility.
Operation
![Incheon International Airport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Incheon_International_Airport.jpg)
Private transport is only subject to the owner of the vehicle, who operates the vehicle themselves. For public transport and freight transport, operations are done through
private enterprise
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
or by
governments. The infrastructure and vehicles may be owned and operated by the same company, or they may be operated by different entities. Traditionally, many countries have had a
national airline
A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.
Hist ...
and
national railway. Since the 1980s, many of these have been
privatized. International shipping remains a highly competitive industry with little regulation, but ports can be public-owned.
Policy
As the
population of the world increases,
cities grow in size and population—according to the United Nations, 55% of the world's population live in cities, and by 2050 this number is expected to rise to 68%.
Public transport policy must evolve to meet the changing priorities of the urban world. The institution of policy enforces order in transport, which is by nature chaotic as people attempt to travel from one place to another as fast as possible. This policy helps to reduce accidents and save lives.
Functions
Relocation of travelers and cargo are the most common uses of transport. However, other uses exist, such as the strategic and tactical
relocation of
armed force
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
s during
warfare, or the civilian mobility construction or emergency equipment.
Passenger
![ACTION Bus-467](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/ACTION_Bus-467.jpg)
Passenger transport, or travel, is divided into
public and
private transport. Public transport is scheduled services on fixed routes, while private is vehicles that provide ad hoc services at the riders desire. The latter offers better flexibility, but has lower capacity and a higher environmental impact. Travel may be as part of daily
commuting or for
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
, leisure, or
migration.
Short-haul transport is dominated by the automobile and mass transit. The latter consists of
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es in rural and small cities, supplemented with commuter rail, trams, and
rapid transit in larger cities. Long-haul transport involves the use of the automobile, trains,
coaches, and aircraft, the last of which have become predominantly used for the longest, including intercontinental, travel.
Intermodal passenger transport is where a journey is performed through the use of several modes of transport; since all human transport normally starts and ends with walking, all passenger transport can be considered intermodal. Public transport may also involve the intermediate change of vehicle, within or across modes, at a
transport hub, such as a
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
or
railway station.
Taxis and buses can be found on both ends of the public transport spectrum. Buses are the cheapest mode of transport but are not necessarily flexible, and taxis are very flexible but more expensive. In the middle is
demand-responsive transport, offering flexibility whilst remaining affordable.
International travel
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
may be restricted for some individuals due to legislation and
visa requirements.
Medical
![World War I ambulance Pittsburgh 20th Century Club](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/World_War_I_ambulance_Pittsburgh_20th_Century_Club.png)
An ambulance is a vehicle used to transport people from or between places of treatment, and in some instances will also provide out-of-hospital medical care to the patient. The word is often associated with road-going "emergency ambulances", which form part of
emergency medical services, administering
emergency care
Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...
to those with acute medical problems.
''Air medical services'' is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transport to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and critical care to all types of patients during aeromedical evacuation or rescue operations, aboard helicopters, propeller aircraft, or jet aircraft.
Freight
![BW Fjord an Glameyer Stack 2007-12-15](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/BW_Fjord_an_Glameyer_Stack_2007-12-15.JPG)
Freight transport, or shipping, is a key in the
value chain in manufacturing. With increased specialization and
globalization, production is being located further away from consumption, rapidly increasing the demand for transport. Transport creates place utility by moving the goods from the place of production to the place of consumption. While all modes of transport are used for cargo transport, there is high differentiation between the nature of the cargo transport, in which mode is chosen.
Logistics refers to the entire process of transferring products from producer to consumer, including storage, transport, transshipment, warehousing, material-handling, and packaging, with associated exchange of information.
Incoterm
The Incoterms or International Commercial Terms are a series of pre-defined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) relating to international commercial law. Incoterms define the responsiblities of exporters and ...
deals with the handling of payment and responsibility of
risk during transport.
Containerization, with the standardization of
ISO containers on all vehicles and at all ports, has revolutionized
international and
domestic trade Domestic trade, different from international trade, is the exchange of domestic goods within the boundaries of a country. This may be subdivided into two categories, wholesale and retail. Wholesale trade is concerned with buying goods from manufactu ...
, offering a huge reduction in
transshipment costs. Traditionally, all cargo had to be manually loaded and unloaded into the haul of any ship or car; containerization allows for automated handling and transfer between modes, and the standardized sizes allow for gains in
economy of scale
In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables a ...
in vehicle operation. This has been one of the key driving factors in international trade and globalization since the 1950s.
Bulk transport is common with cargo that can be handled roughly without deterioration; typical examples are
ore, coal,
cereals, and
petroleum. Because of the uniformity of the product, mechanical handling can allow enormous quantities to be handled quickly and efficiently. The low value of the cargo combined with high volume also means that
economies of scale become essential in transport, and gigantic ships and whole trains are commonly used to transport bulk. Liquid products with sufficient volume may also be transported by pipeline.
Air freight has become more common for products of high value; while less than one percent of world transport by volume is by airline, it amounts to forty percent of the value. Time has become especially important in regards to principles such as
postponement
Postponement is a business strategy employed in manufacturing and supply chain management which maximizes possible benefit and minimizes risk by delaying further investment into a product or service until the last possible moment, or where a manuf ...
and
just-in-time within the value chain, resulting in a high willingness to pay for quick delivery of key components or items of high value-to-weight ratio. In addition to mail, common items sent by air include
electronics and
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...
clothing.
Industry
Impact
Economic
![SeattleI5Skyline](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/SeattleI5Skyline.jpg)
Transport is a key necessity for
specialization
Specialization or Specialized may refer to:
Academia
* Academic specialization, may be a course of study or major at an academic institution or may refer to the field in which a specialist practices
* Specialty (medicine), a branch of medical ...
—allowing production and consumption of products to occur at different locations. Throughout history, transport has been a spur to expansion; better transport allows more
trade and a greater spread of people.
Economic growth
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
has always been dependent on increasing the capacity and rationality of transport. But the infrastructure and operation of transport have a great impact on the land, and transport is the largest drainer of energy, making
transport sustainability
Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; the ...
a major issue.
Due to the way modern cities and communities are planned and operated, a physical distinction between home and work is usually created, forcing people to transport themselves to places of work, study, or leisure, as well as to temporarily relocate for other daily activities. Passenger transport is also the essence of
tourism, a major part of
recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
al transport. Commerce requires the transport of people to conduct business, either to allow face-to-face communication for important decisions or to move specialists from their regular place of work to sites where they are needed.
Planning
Transport planning allows for high utilization and less impact regarding new infrastructure. Using models of
transport forecasting
Transportation forecasting is the attempt of estimating the number of vehicles or people that will use a specific transportation facility in the future. For instance, a forecast may estimate the number of vehicles on a planned road or bridge, the r ...
, planners are able to predict future transport patterns. On the operative level, logistics allows owners of cargo to plan transport as part of the
supply chain
In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
. Transport as a field is also studied through
transport economics
Transport economics is a branch of economics founded in 1959 by American economist John R. Meyer that deals with the allocation of resources within the transport sector. It has strong links to civil engineering. Transport economics differs from ...
, a component for the creation of regulation policy by authorities.
Transport engineering, a sub-discipline of
civil engineering, must take into account
trip generation
Trip generation is the first step in the conventional four-step transportation forecasting process used for forecasting travel demands. It predicts the number of trips originating in or destined for a particular traffic analysis zone (TAZ).
Trip g ...
,
trip distribution,
mode choice
Mode choice analysis is the third step in the conventional four-step transportation forecasting model of transportation planning, following trip distribution and preceding route assignment. From origin-destination table inputs provided by trip dist ...
, and
route assignment
Route assignment, route choice, or traffic assignment concerns the selection of routes (alternative called paths) between origins and destinations in transportation networks. It is the fourth step in the conventional transportation forecasting m ...
, while the operative level is handled through
traffic engineering.
![Old Market Roundabout, Bristol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Old_Market_Roundabout%2C_Bristol.jpg)
Because of the negative impacts incurred, transport often becomes the subject of controversy related to choice of mode, as well as increased capacity. Automotive transport can be seen as a
tragedy of the commons, where the flexibility and comfort for the individual deteriorate the natural and urban environment for all.
Density of development depends on mode of transport, with public transport allowing for better spatial utilization. Good land use keeps common activities close to people's homes and places higher-density development closer to transport lines and hubs, to minimize the need for transport. There are
economies of agglomeration. Beyond transport, some land uses are more efficient when clustered. Transport facilities consume land, and in cities pavement (devoted to streets and parking) can easily exceed 20 percent of the total land use. An efficient transport system can reduce land waste.
Too much infrastructure and too much smoothing for maximum vehicle throughput mean that in many cities there is too much traffic and many—if not all—of the negative impacts that come with it. It is only in recent years that traditional practices have started to be questioned in many places; as a result of new types of analysis which bring in a much broader range of skills than those traditionally relied on—spanning such areas as environmental impact analysis, public health, sociology, and economics—the viability of the old mobility solutions is increasingly being questioned.
Environment
![Traffic jam Sao Paulo 09 2006 30](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Traffic_jam_Sao_Paulo_09_2006_30.JPG)
Transport is a major use of
energy and burns most of the world's
petroleum. This creates air pollution, including
nitrous oxides and
particulates, and is a significant contributor to
global warming through emission of
carbon dioxide,
for which transport is the fastest-growing emission sector. By sub-sector, road transport is the largest contributor to global warming.
Environmental regulations in developed countries have reduced individual vehicles' emissions; however, this has been offset by increases in the numbers of vehicles and in the use of each vehicle.
Some pathways to reduce the carbon emissions of road vehicles considerably have been studied. Energy use and emissions vary largely between modes, causing
environmentalists to call for a transition from air and road to rail and human-powered transport, as well as increased
transport electrification and
energy efficiency
Energy efficiency may refer to:
* Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process
** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...
.
Other environmental impacts of transport systems include
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
and automobile-oriented
urban sprawl, which can consume natural habitat and agricultural lands. By reducing transport emissions globally, it is predicted that there will be significant positive effects on Earth's
air quality,
acid rain
Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...
,
smog
Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and '' fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor. The word was then inte ...
, and climate change.
While
electric cars are being built to cut down
CO2 emission at the point of use, an approach that is becoming popular among cities worldwide is to prioritize public transport, bicycles, and
pedestrian movement. Redirecting vehicle movement to create 20-minute neighbourhoods that promotes
exercise
Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness.
It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...
while greatly reducing vehicle dependency and pollution. Some policies are levying a congestion charge to cars for travelling within congested areas during peak time.
Sustainable development
The United Nations first formally recognized the role of transport in
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
in the 1992
United Nations Earth summit. In the 2012 United Nations World Conference, global leaders unanimously recognized that transport and mobility are central to achieving the sustainability targets. In recent years, data has been collected to show that the transport sector contributes to a quarter of the global
greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore
sustainable transport
Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; th ...
has been mainstreamed across several of the
2030 Sustainable Development Goals, especially those related to food, security, health, energy, economic growth, infrastructure, and cities and human settlements. Meeting sustainable transport targets is said to be particularly important to achieving the
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...
.
There are various
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...
(SDGs) that are promoting sustainable transport in order to meet the defined goals. These include
SDG 3
Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3 or Global Goal 3), regarding "Good Health and Well-being", is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "To ensure healthy lives and promo ...
on health (increased road safety),
SDG 7 on energy,
SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth,
SDG 9
Sustainable Development Goal 9 (Goal 9 or SDG 9) is about "industry, innovation and infrastructure" and is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. SDG 9 aims to build resilient infrastruc ...
on resilient infrastructure,
SDG 11 on sustainable cities (access to transport and expanded public transport),
SDG 12
Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12 or Global Goal 1), titled "responsible consumption and production", is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording of SDG 12 is "Ensure su ...
on sustainable consumption and production (ending
fossil fuel subsidies), and SDG 14 on oceans, seas, and marine resources.
History
Natural
Humans' first ways to move included walking, running, and swimming. The
domestication of animals introduced a new way to lay the burden of transport on more powerful creatures, allowing the hauling of heavier loads, or humans riding animals for greater speed and duration. Inventions such as the wheel and the sled (U.K. sledge) helped make animal transport more efficient through the introduction of
vehicles.
The first forms of
road transport
Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...
involved animals, such as
horses (
domesticated in the 4th or the 3rd millennium BCE),
oxen (from about 8000 BCE), or humans carrying goods over
dirt tracks that often followed
game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
trails.
Infrastructure
Many early civilizations, including those in
Mesopotamia and the
Indus Valley
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
, constructed paved roads. In
classical antiquity, the
Persian and
Roman empires built stone-paved roads to allow armies to travel quickly. Deep roadbeds of crushed stone underneath kept such roads dry. The medieval
Caliphate later built
tar-paved roads.
Water transport
Water transport, including rowed and sailed vessels, dates back to
time immemorial and was the only efficient way to transport large quantities or over large distances prior to the
Industrial Revolution. The first watercraft were
canoes cut out from
tree trunks. Early water transport was accomplished with ships that were either rowed or used the
wind for propulsion, or a combination of the two. The importance of water has led to most cities that grew up as sites for trading being located on rivers or on the sea-shore, often at the intersection of two bodies of water.
Mechanical
Until the Industrial Revolution, transport remained slow and costly, and production and consumption gravitated as close to each other as feasible. The
Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw several inventions fundamentally change transport. With
telegraphy, communication became instant and independent of the transport of physical objects. The invention of the
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
, closely followed by its application in
rail transport, made land transport independent of human or animal muscles. Both speed and capacity increased, allowing specialization through manufacturing being located independently of natural resources. The 19th century also saw the development of the
steam ship, which sped up global transport.
With the development of the
combustion engine and the automobile around 1900, road transport became more competitive again, and mechanical private transport originated. The first "modern" highways were constructed during the 19th century with
macadam
Macadam is a type of road construction, pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam around 1820, in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the o ...
. Later,
tarmac Tarmac may refer to:
Engineered surfaces
* Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902
* Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...
and
concrete became the dominant paving materials.
![First flight2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/First_flight2.jpg)
In 1903 the
Wright brothers demonstrated the first successful controllable
airplane, and after World War I (1914–1918) aircraft became a fast way to transport people and express goods over long distances.
After World War II (1939–1945) the automobile and airlines took higher shares of transport, reducing rail and water to freight and short-haul passenger services. Scientific spaceflight began in the 1950s, with rapid growth until the 1970s, when interest dwindled. In the 1950s the introduction of
containerization gave massive efficiency gains in freight transport, fostering
globalization. International air travel became much more accessible in the 1960s with the commercialization of the
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
. Along with the growth in automobiles and motorways, rail and water transport declined in relative importance. After the introduction of the
Shinkansen in Japan in 1964, high-speed rail in Asia and Europe started attracting passengers on long-haul routes away from the airlines.
Early in
U.S. history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
,
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
joint-stock
A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...
corporations
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
owned most
aqueducts,
bridges,
canals,
railroads,
roads, and
tunnels. Most such transport infrastructure came under government control in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, culminating in the
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of inter-city passenger rail-service with the establishment of
Amtrak. Recently, however, a movement to privatize roads and other infrastructure has gained some ground and adherents.
[
Clifford Winston, ''Last Exit: Privatization and Deregulation of the U.S. Transportation System'' (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2010).
]
See also
*
Environmental impact of aviation
*
Energy efficiency in transport
*
Green transport hierarchy
The green transport hierarchy (Canada), street user hierarchy (US), sustainable transport hierarchy (Wales), urban transport hierarchy or road user hierarchy (Australia, UK) is a hierarchy of modes of transport of road users prioritising green tr ...
*
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society
*
List of emerging transportation technologies
* ''
Journal of Transport and Land Use
The ''Journal of Transport and Land Use'' is an open access peer-reviewed academic journal covering the interaction of transport and land use that was established in 2008. As of August 2011, it is the official journal of the World Society for Tr ...
''
*
Outline of transport
*
Public transport
*
Rail transport by country
*
Speed record
A speed record is a world record for speed by a person, animal, or vehicle. The function of speed record is to record the speed of moving animate objects such as humans, animals or vehicles.
Overall speed record
Overall speed record is the recor ...
*
Taxicabs by country
Taxicabs in a single country often share a set of common properties, but there is a wide variation from country to country in the vehicles used, the circumstances under which they may be hired and the regulatory regime to which these are subject ...
*
Transportation engineering
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Transportationfrom ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''
*
America On the MoveAn online transportation exhibition from the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
World Transportation OrganizationThe world transportation organization (The Non-Profit Advisory Organization)
{{Authority control
Logistics
Economics of transport and utility industries