short essay about public transportation

151 Transportation Essay Topics & Writing Tips

Have you ever thought about the importance of transportation? Every day we see cars, trucks, planes, and ships and never wonder what exactly they are doing. In fact, these vehicles not only transport people from one place to another. They also form a vast system that plays a vital role in any country.

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This is what transportation essays are devoted to. This article by Custom-Writing.org team will help you with writing your paper. Here, you will find:

a list of 151 excellent topics;
a step-by-step writing guide;
a public transportation essay sample.
🔄 Before You Start
✈️ Transportation Topics
✍️ Outline & Guide
📑 Essay Sample

🔗 References

🔄 essays on transportation: before you start.

First of all, we want to explain the two essential things you should consider before writing an essay. These are narrowing down the scope and planning .

STEP#1: Narrow down the scope.

Needless to say, transportation is a field that offers hundreds of issues to consider. You can start by determining what aspects of transportation interest you the most and using them as a starting point for your essay.

The picture enumerates the aspects that influence transportation essay topic choice.

STEP#2: Plan your paper.

After you’ve collected plenty of material for the essay, the next step is to think what specific points you want to highlight and what particular sources will be necessary. An effective way to do it is to make note cards while researching your topic:

On every note card, write down the point that you want to include in your paper.
Look through your cards and choose ideas that will finally make up your transportation essay.

✈️ Transportation Essay Topics

Now you’re ready to choose a perfect topic. Below you’ll find various exciting ideas that you’ll enjoy writing about.

Transportation Essay Topics: Top 10

Public transport in rural areas.
Road transport’s economy.
The future of public transport.
How to start a car
Gender inequality in driving
Family cars: pros and cons
American vs. British driving
Peculiarities of building bridges
My first driving experience
Preventing road accidents.

Topics for an Essay on Transportation in the Past and Present

Transport plays an integral part in human history . Its development facilitated the expansion of territories and allowed different nations to collaborate. Explore these fascinating transportation topics in your essay:

Importance of mobility : then and now. The role of transport has changed dramatically over time. Are you interested in studying differences in vehicle use between the past and present? This topic is for you.
Transportation modes before and after the Industrial Revolution . Choose several vehicles from the past. Then, compare them to some modern ones. Which of the old transportation modes have survived to this day?
Animal-powered transport: past to present. With this topic, consider the earliest methods of transit. You can focus on horses , camels, or llamas. It’s also interesting to look into the current use of animals for transportation.
How did transport influence expansion? Assess the role of vehicles during the Age of Exploration . How did they facilitate competition between countries?
National Road: connecting the US through the first highway . The National Road was vital for America’s expansion . Write about its past and present impact in your essay.
From the Appian Way to the Silk Road . Compare these two historic roads. Which of their features caused trade to boost? Can we trace present-day trade globalization to them?
Interstate Highway System and its legacy. The Interstate Highway System is a perfect transportation topic. Your essay might address its role in the US transit development. How does it connect America’s past with its present?
Challenges of transport in the past and present. Comparing past issues to the present ones can provide you with a perspective. This topic requires thorough historical analysis. For instance, you may focus on infrastructure development vs. environmental concerns .
From horse-drawn carriages to gasoline cars . The invention of the first automobiles is an exciting essay idea. Describe the significance of this innovation. How did it influence people’s lives?
Air travel : a revolution in the transportation industry. This exciting topic will take you on a journey through history. Describe the invention of a plane starting with the earliest attempts. What makes it a crucial step in global development?
Transport in the military . Vehicles help to accomplish critical tasks in the army. In your essay, explore inventions introduced during wartime. For example, you may examine the role of zeppelins and U-boats in WWI or bombers in WWII .
Transit for indigenous cultures in the past and present. Examine several tribes in your transportation essay. Various aboriginal cultures have unique approaches to transit. What factors influenced their emergence?

Topics for an Essay on Transportation Systems

Transportation systems are various means of carrying goods or people. These include air, water, and land transport. All of their components are interconnected, with each one serving a unique role.

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Intelligent Transportation Systems : how AI transforms the industry. Explore the latest innovative ideas with this topic. Will AI systems define the future of supply chain management ?
Transport systems and sustainability : working toward a better future. It’s not easy to maintain an environmentally friendly approach in the transportation industry. Your essay can explore several recent solutions.
Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs): what are the prospects? CAVs are a recent yet promising development. Will they be the next milestone in public mobility?
Control of hazardous materials: key concerns. Environmental hazards are often mentioned in conjunction with public transport issues. This concern harkens back to the problem of sustainability. Further research on this topic can help improve road management.
Video detection: opportunities for flexible data capture. This future-oriented essay will be fascinating to write. For example, you can research the options that digital video detection tools offer.
AI-based traffic control frameworks. Traffic control is a crucial factor in road management. What innovative tools were introduced in recent years? Review them in your paper.
Deep learning in transportation systems . Technological updates are essential for preventing accidents. What opportunities does deep learning offer in this regard?
Complex system software for improving the road management system. You can focus your essay on IT tools. What type of software is required to navigate a modern transportation framework? Review its various opportunities.
Construction and structural design of road systems. Road designs change to reflect our current needs. Today it’s essential to make them safe and sustainable . Look into the industry trends and outline them in your paper.
Integration of manufacturing systems . Lean production is an exciting idea to explore. How can manufacturing systems help in improving the transportation sector?
Manufacturing, modeling, and simulation . Explore modeling and simulation as tools for creating safer vehicles . Can they increase the efficacy of current transportation systems?

Ideas for an Essay on Transportation and Communication

Communication is intrinsically connected with transportation. From the dawn of humanity, people exchanged goods and information by traveling. Throughout the ages, the speed of these exchanges increased. Today, our opportunities regarding communication are practically endless. Enjoy researching them in your essay!

Ways of increasing market size using transportation and communication. For this paper, analyze the changes in the target market attributes. What influences market size?
Role of communication in informing the public about disasters. Discuss disaster preparedness and information management.
How do transport and communication improve travel accessibility? Assess the extent of this change. What are its economic implications?
Investments in infrastructure development. Analyze the current model of managing transport-related financial concerns. Does focusing on socioeconomic factors make it effective?
Policymaking as an issue in transportation and communication. Analyze the implications of policymaking on economic development . Will development rates increase if we reconsider the existing policies?
Updating policies for cargo storage handling . In your essay, review the issues of cargo management. How can we make it better?
Investing in transportation and communication. Point out the connections between investment and the socioeconomic environment.

The picture enumerates the main components of transportation.

Spatial problems in building a transport system network . Spatial problems cause multiple infrastructure issues. Study them and expose the issues in building of transportation and communication channels.
Economic issues in transport management: key outcomes. Your essay could also delve into the financial problems of transit. Transport should be linked in a working system. Otherwise, you can expect dire consequences for its management.
Ways of increasing reliability of data management . Information management directly affects the realm of transport. The reliability of the data determines its effectiveness. How can we improve it?
Building a global transportation and communication system. With this topic, you can review critical global transport trends. Explore advantages and drawbacks of the innovation. Pay attention to the development of a worldwide framework.
Transportation and communication: gateway to economic development. Economic changes will lead to improved communication within transport systems . As a result, it will become more efficient. Encourage this improvement by writing an essay about it.

Benefits of Public Transportation: Essay Topics

Nowadays, public transportation is losing its popularity. More and more people prefer buying a car instead. However, buses and subways still have numerous benefits. Explore them with this list of essay topics:

What are the three main benefits of urban public transport ? Talk about how public transportation improves life in the cities. Mention how subways are faster than any type of private urban transport .
How does public transit benefit the environment ? Discuss how it helps to keep the air clean by reducing CO2 emissions.
Private transport is not as safe as public transit. Talk about how safe public transport is. Unlike traveling by car, it has fewer accidents , traffic casualties, and deaths.
In what ways does mass transit reduce health issues ? Here you can mention how the use of subways increases physical activity.
Public transportation gives people more free time. For instance, it allows passengers to read, study, or work instead of watching the road . It can also reduce the commute time.
Why is public transit perfect for tourists ? Discuss how it helps tourists to learn more about the places they travel to.
Public transportation contributes to the country’s economy. For example, it creates job opportunities such as drivers and dispatchers.
Mass transit is the best way to travel . You can interview people who prefer to use public transport. Mention how it helps them to save money and time.
How does public transportation help to reduce air pollution ? For instance, you can mention that using it leads to fewer car emissions.
The importance of efficient public transportation . Explain how the development of mass transit helps to improve people’s lives. For example, it allows them to commute to work and travel between cities and countries.
Public transit helps to reduce traffic congestion in the big cities . You can assess the role of an efficient transport system with timetables.
How does technology change public transportation? Talk about technological development that helps to improve the mass transit system, making it more convenient.
What makes up an efficient public transport system ? Mention various means of transport, as well as good routes and timetables.
Reasons why you should use public transportation . You can discuss its safety, convenience, and other benefits.
The popularity of mass transit in the modern world. Talk about how it allows people to travel to work and visit other cities or countries.

Essay on Air Transportation: Topics & Ideas

The invention of air transport was one of the greatest milestones in human history. It allowed us to travel faster and safer than ever before. Are you interested in aircraft and its various uses? Check out these examples of air transportation essay topics:

The effect of air transportation on tourism . Mention that the developments of air services have shaped tourism in many countries.
The main benefits of air transportation . For example, talk about how it allows people to travel far distances in a relatively short amount of time.
Aviation and its adverse effects on the environment. Discuss how aircraft use contributes to air, noise, water, and soil pollution. and soil pollution.
Economic development and aviation . Discuss how air transportation contributed to the global economy. For instance, you can mention the development of tourism.
Traveling by plane is safer than road transportation . Here you can mention that despite many flights dispatched each day worldwide, the reports of crashes are very rare. On roads, however, no day goes by without a report of a motor accident.
What are the reasons for the rise of air transportation? Explain why it became popular. For example, you can talk about how air travel became more accessible for people.
Why is air transportation more efficient than high-speed rail ? Mention how a plane can get you anywhere, as it doesn’t need roads.
Aviation and its accessibility. For example, you can mention the prices of the tickets and the number of airports in different countries.
Main reasons why air transportation is safe . Talk about the high-security standards in airports . Give some statistics that show how rarely accidents occur. You can also mention how airplanes and helicopters are equipped for emergencies.
Air transportation and globalization. Talk about how aviation contributed to globalization, allowing people to travel and transport goods over significant distances.
What is the importance of air transportation ? Discuss the benefits of air transportation and how it helps to improve people’s lives.
Pros and cons of air transport . The development of air transportation helped to improve communication between the countries. On the downside, it has a serious environmental impact.
Does air transportation have any environmental benefits? Discuss whether aviation affects nature only in a negative way. You can talk about the technological improvements that help modern airplanes to emit less carbon monoxide.
The political importance of air transportation. Here you can talk about how the development of air transportation improved communication between nations. You can also mention how aircraft can be used as a weapon.
Ways to improve air transportation. Talk about technological development that can make traveling by plane more environmentally friendly.

Extra Transportation Topics

Still haven’t found a suitable topic? Well, here are 76 more transportation essay ideas:

The importance of transportation for a country’s economy . Review the main effects of urban transport on different aspects of the economy and assess its significance.
The public transport system . Research the sphere of different transport modes and determine how they’re connected.
Transportation in times of the Industrial Revolution . The industrial revolution has influenced today’s transport economy in many ways. The transport organization of that period is an interesting topic to research.
Urban transport  improvement in developing countries. Focus the research on finding ways to solve transport problems. You may also propose a new transport policy .
Adjustments for transport fares in a city of your choice. The essay may identify issues in the transport economy and suggests measures for its improvement.
Raising funds for transport improvement. With this topic, you can focus on different fundraising strategies , such as public campaigns.With this topic, you can focus on different fundraising strategies, such as public campaigns.
Types of government interventions in  air transport  organization. The essay may review existing governmental instruments for improving air transportation in a region.
Balancing supply and demand in rural transport economy. You can explore this important topic by identifying issues in rural transport and reviewing strategies for matching supply and demand.
Application of economic theory to urban transport . For this essay, study various economic theories and see which of them can be applied to different modes of transport .
Effective transport systems in various countries. One option is to study several examples of public transport in India and South Africa.
Development of water transport . This essay can explore how different modes of water transport could improve a city’s connectivity.
Recent economic trends in rural transport
How to choose transport for people with mental disorders
Current healthcare-related transport issues  in the United States
A dilemma of animal-powered transport and animal rights
The idea of transportation from the Amish point of view
Travel by train or by plane: the importance of psychological factors
Story of the first car made by Francois Isaac de Rivaz
Public  transportation in the USA : the 1990s vs. the 2000s
Rail transport : 5 issues to worry about in the 21st century
Peculiarities of shooting films on trains:  Murder on the Orient Express
Importance of communication during travel by plane
Threats of cruise ships: Titanic’s  story
Passenger 57  vs.  Speed : movies about transportation  challenges
The Fast and the Furious : a wave of popularity for car movies
Is it acceptable to text while driving?
Toll roads in the USA: an important inequality issue
Pixar’s Cars : what does it teach us about transport?
Advertisement banners in the subway : a powerful marketing tool or a peril?
School bus transportation in Europe and the United States
What emotional problems do students face when they use school buses?
Bike  lanes in parks: the question of safety
Cycling infrastructure: threats and benefits for drivers
Who is responsible for safety in aviation ?
Transport that kills: the case of 9/11
Riding a motorcycle : benefits and possible risks
Special free training programs to support motorcycle safety
Public helipads in the city: equipment that matters
Traffic congestion  in the United States: causes and solutions
Impact of  traffic jams  on human health and employment
Overpopulation or lack of roads: what toughens traffic congestion?
Safety of cable transport: how to behave in elevators
Reasons to visit the  Moon : spaceflight access for Americans
Gas pipelines : a safe means of transportation or a reason for concern?
Benefits of ferry transport: a place for contemplation
Water bike free access: the necessity of a license
Illegal behavior of drivers : lessons to learn
What are the most common driving distractions?
Traffic  jams and their impact on human behavior
Electric transportation technologies of the 21st century
Hygiene in public transport: subway threats for Americans
Driving accidents : the roles of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians
Transportation lessons from movies: Gone in 60 Seconds
Types of conflicts between motorcyclists and car drivers
Availability of transport for low-income families in the United States
Why do people need vehicles in their lives?
What would happen if all modern transport disappeared?
Pros and cons of transportation progress in society
Competition between different transportation systems
Differences between airline flight classes: are they equally safe?
Child  car seat : a new law and new power
The popularity of monorail tracks in different parts of the world
Do people actually like using transport or do they just have to do it?
The effects of drunk driving on road traffic death rates.
Gas prices and human needs: solutions for drivers
What can your car tell about you?
Environmental concerns in car driving discussions : dilemma without a solution
Public and  private transportation : how to make the right choice
You can  live without a car , but do you want it?
Transportation in  healthcare : goals, techniques, and outcomes
Emotions while driving: the importance of control and expert help
Radio, phone calls, and communication:  threats for drivers
Plane and train traveling : history and current situation
Water  transportation characteristics and techniques: sea vs. river
Space for people: what should you know about spaceflights?
A variety of transport in the  James Bond  franchise

If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, feel free to use our topic generator !

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✍️ Transportation Essay Outline & Writing Guide

Now that you’ve chosen a perfect transportation topic, you’re ready to learn how to plan your essay. Similar to any other type of academic writing, a transportation essay consists of three main parts:

The picture shows a transportation essay template.

Now, let’s see how to write each essay part.

Transportation Essay Introduction

An introduction is the first part of the essay. Its goal is to let the reader know what they can expect from this work. Try to make your introduction as brief and straightforward as possible.

Since the introductory paragraph starts the paper, it has to draw the reader’s attention. The most effective way to achieve it is by using a hook . A question, an interesting fact, or statistics can work as a hook:

Why is public transportation important?

Did you know that in 2019 Americans took around 9.9 billion trips using public transportation?

After you’re done with the hook, do the following:

Get an originally-written paper according to your instructions!

State what your paper is about. The reader needs to know the essay’s main topic and why it is important.
Provide some background information. It will help you to establish the issue.
Finally, build a strong thesis statement. Want to know how? Read the following section.

What Is the Strongest Thesis for an Essay on Public Transportation?

A thesis statement is a sentence that contains an answer to your paper’s central question. It helps you organize and develop your arguments and ideas. It also makes it easier for the reader to follow your logic.

To generate a good thesis statement, think of a question you will answer in your essay. For instance, let’s say your topic is “Explain how using public transportation can benefit people’s health.” With a topic like this, you may choose a question such as “What are the health benefits of using public transport?”

After you have a question, you can think of some answers to it. For instance:

The possible health benefits of using public transportation are that it helps to be more active, reduces stress, and keeps the air cleaner.
Using public transportation can help people stay more active, avoid stress, and keep the air cleaner.

Keep in mind that a thesis statement shouldn’t be too general. Try to narrow down the topics so that it becomes more specific. Take a look at the following thesis examples:

Transportation Essay: Main Body

In the essay’s body, you prove your thesis and support it with examples. If you have a simple thesis, you probably won’t need many body paragraphs to explain your ideas. Usually, 2 or 3 are enough.

Each of the main body paragraphs should contain:

Transportation Essay Conclusion

In a conclusion, you go back to the main focus of your essay. When writing a concluding paragraph, make sure to:

Rephrase the thesis statement. Remind the reader of your main argument using the information you have discussed in the body paragraphs.
Summarize the points you’ve made. It’s better to avoid mentioning new information in your conclusion. Briefly summarize the points you’ve made and explain how they support your ideas.
Talk about the argument’s significance. Demonstrate why the discussion on this topic is important. For instance, you may demonstrate how your argument helps shed light on a neglected issue. You can also suggest what the reader can do with the information they’ve learned.

📑 Public Transportation Essay Sample

Looking for an example a transportation essay? Look no further! Below, you will find an excellent essay example. Check it out:

We hope that this article helped you write your essay. Tell us in the comments which transportation topic you’ve chosen. Don’t forget to check our free tips on other essay types!

Essays on Public Transport

In today's world, the choice of public transport as an essay topic is an important and relevant subject for discussion. Public transport plays a crucial role in the daily lives of millions of people around the world, and it is a topic that can be explored from a variety of angles. Whether one is interested in the environmental impact of public transportation, the economic implications of investing in public transit, or the social and cultural aspects of public transport, there are many different essay topics to choose from.

One of the most compelling reasons to choose public transport as an essay topic is the environmental impact of transportation. With the growing concern over climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, public transportation has become an increasingly important issue. Essays on this topic could explore the ways in which public transport can help to reduce air pollution and congestion, as well as the potential for public transportation to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Another important aspect of public transport that is worth exploring in an essay is the economic implications of investing in public transit. Many cities and countries around the world are making significant investments in public transportation infrastructure, and essays on this topic could examine the potential economic benefits of these investments. For example, public transportation can help to stimulate economic growth by making it easier for people to access jobs and businesses, and it can also help to reduce the costs of transportation for individuals and families.

In addition to the environmental and economic aspects of public transport, there are also important social and cultural dimensions to consider. Essays on this topic could explore the ways in which public transportation can help to promote social inclusion and equity, as well as the ways in which public transportation can shape the cultural identity of a city or region. For example, public transportation can provide access to cultural and recreational activities for people who might not otherwise be able to afford or access them, and it can also help to bring people from different backgrounds together in shared public spaces.

When writing an essay on public transportation, it is important to consider the different perspectives and experiences of the people who use public transportation. For example, essays could explore the experiences of people who rely on public transportation as their primary mode of getting around, as well as the experiences of people who might use public transportation less frequently or who have access to other transportation options. By considering the diverse experiences and perspectives of public transportation users, essays on this topic can help to shed light on the ways in which public transportation can impact people's lives in different ways.

In order to write a successful essay on the topic of public transportation, it is important to consider the ways in which public transportation intersects with other important social, economic, and environmental issues. For example, essays could explore the ways in which public transportation can help to address issues of social equity and access to opportunity, as well as the ways in which public transportation can contribute to efforts to reduce air pollution and combat climate change. By considering the ways in which public transportation is connected to these broader issues, essays on this topic can help to highlight the importance of public transportation in addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The choice of public transportation as an essay topic is an important and relevant subject for discussion. Public transportation plays a crucial role in the daily lives of millions of people around the world, and it is a topic that can be explored from a variety of angles. Whether one is interested in the environmental impact of public transportation, the economic implications of investing in public transit, or the social and cultural aspects of public transport, there are many different essay topics to choose from. By considering the diverse experiences and perspectives of public transportation users, essays on this topic can help to shed light on the ways in which public transportation can impact people's lives in different ways.

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Published: 03 September 2019

The benefits of public transport

Mark Buchanan 1

Nature Physics volume 15 , page 876 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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Complex networks
Scientific community and society
Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics

Some 55% of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas, and this number is expected to reach 70% by mid-century. This condensation of humanity into compact zones reflects fundamental causal factors. People can achieve more when working together, coordinating their diverse skills and knowledge. Of course, cities also bring efficiencies of energy use, water and food distribution and provision of the myriad other goods people need. They are probably unavoidable in any energy- and information-intensive civilization.

Our future cities, some believe, could be key sources of the ideas and behavioural change required to meet the environmental challenges of the future, especially avoiding catastrophic global warming. They present opportunities to reduce per capita energy consumption. Yet cities also present problems, such as traffic congestion, which wastes time and energy and creates additional CO 2 emissions. Currently, some 20% of all CO 2 emissions come from road traffic, and that may increase, as armies of delivery vehicles and self-driving cars take to the roads in the future.

Over the past two decades, statistical physicists have discovered a variety of structural and dynamic regularities of cities. As organic structures both shaped by and shaping human activities, these sprawling, irregularly shaped zones follow mathematical scaling laws. For cities spanning some five orders of magnitude in size, some quantities, such as the extent of physical infrastructure, scale sub-linearly with size, meaning the relative costs decrease with city size. In contrast, many quantities reflecting human interactions, such as economic activity, scale super-linearly — cities become even more productive with size.

But statistical physics can go further as well, in giving insight into how our cities might be improved, especially by helping to limit traffic congestion and associated fuel use and emissions. Oddly, prevailing ideas in transportation research suggest there’s little to be done. Thinking of three decades holds that the character of traffic flows is largely determined only by the population density. Some economic analyses have even suggested that building more roads doesn’t help, nor does more mass transit. New traffic always emerges to take the place of any free road space.

New research tells a very different story — that public transport is among the most direct ways to reduce congestion, if done in the right way. The key is making sure that the layout of a public transport system makes access to mass transit easy for a high fraction of people in any city.

To get a better picture of what influences traffic, physicists Vincent Verbavatz and Marc Barthelemy set out to build a simple schematic model capturing the simplest elements in the interplay between driving and public transport, while neglecting secondary details ( PLoS ONE 14 , e0219559; 2019 ). Their aim was to derive the basic relationship between two key variables — first, the fraction of people in a city who choose to drive, rather than taking public transport, and second, the fraction of a city’s population living quite close to public transport, and so having easy access to it.

The model requires quite a few assumptions, and setting parameters including the average driving velocity and speed of public transport, as well as the psychological value people put on avoiding one extra hour of sitting in traffic. Yet most of these details turn out not to affect one qualitative result that emerges from the model. If p is the fraction of people living ‘close’ to public transport, P is the population and T is the fraction of people who drive rather than take public transport, the model gives a strikingly simple prediction: T / P = 1 – p . The fraction of people driving should decrease in direct proportion to the fraction of people with easy access to transport.

Verbavatz and Barthelemy were then able to test this prediction using data for 25 large metropolitan areas from Europe, America, Asia and Australia. The figures fall almost exactly on the straight-line prediction, apart from a small scatter. Across these cities, the fraction of people driving to work decreases in direct proportion to the availability of mass transit, as estimated in this case by the fraction of the population living within one kilometre of a transit station.

One might wonder: why did no one discover this before? Probably, Barthelemy told me, because the required data didn’t exist. Making quantitative estimates to test the model required modern data sources including TomTom navigation data and average driving speeds estimated from Google maps. But also, scientists don’t make observations at random. What researchers measure often reflects possibilities raised by theoretical ideas. The new model is the first to suggest this simple pattern as a possibility.

“Before,” he said, “no one had a predictive model. Economists often look for correlations and perform econometric analysis but do not have a model that makes an analytical prediction.”

The result fits perfectly with the intuition that making public transport easier should tend to reduce automobile traffic by drawing people toward public transit alternatives. An older idea that traffic loads in a city are primarily determined by population density, and nothing else, implied that city authorities could only try to bring in more people, and fit them into smaller zones. In contrast, this new work suggests that city authorities have many more options. The parameter p , reflecting ease of access, obviously wraps up a host of real-world factors that influence how hard it is for people to choose public transport. These include not only geographical proximity to transport stations, but also things such as the frequency of service, availability of up-to-date information, and access to local buses and other services able to take people over short distances to public transport stations. All are targets for making p larger.

This is a good example of how surprising insight can come out of combining complex sources of data. It’s Big Data doing good. It’s not going to solve our traffic problems, but at least it points the way to the most intelligent way to reduce traffic congestion: make public transport more effective.

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Buchanan, M. The benefits of public transport. Nat. Phys. 15 , 876 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0656-8

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Published : 03 September 2019

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Public Transport Essay

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Public Transportation Essay for School and College Students

Big cities have started feelings about the negative impacts of greenhouse gases in different forms. Meteorologists, climate experts, and researchers are highlighting that the best option to reverse the trend is to adopt public transportation in place of personal cars. The public transportation includes various modes of transport like bus, train, light rail, tram, and metro systems. Due to the significance of this issue, writing a public transportation essay has been becoming a regular feature in many academic institutes.

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Essay on Bus Transportation

If you are a student at a high school or college level, then you can never avoid your writing assignment. Go through the following list of advantages and disadvantages. It will enable you to write a good essay on bus transportation in the end. A few salient benefits of bus transportation are listed below:

Less Stress

This is the leading benefit of bus transportation. While driving personal transport, you feel more pressure in terms of safety, time, and cost; however, while traveling on a bus, you are free of many stressful factors. Thus, include the stress factor in your transportation essay introduction right in the beginning.

Cost-Effectiveness

Valuable money can be saved by opting for buses as a mode of travel. In case you use a personal car for transportation, you have to pay lots of amounts related to fuel, maintenance, and parking expenditures.

Enjoy Your Journey

While using the bus as transportation, you are absolutely free to enjoy your journey. You no need to drive, rather put your head on the back of the seat to have rest, read any interesting book, or watching the beautiful passing scenes. Even you may interact with other passengers, make new friends, and learn from their experiences. Not but not the least, open up your mobile and enjoy any movie or social media chat with your dear ones.

Less Pollution

A bus is more environmental-friendly mode of transportation. If everybody opts to use personal cars for transportation, of course, it will create huge amount of pollution in the atmosphere, resulting in global warming and climate change. However, buses can handle a mass at a time, causing less use of individual vehicles and thus contributes to less emission of pollutant particles in the atmosphere.

Every picture, event, or technology has two faces. same here with bus transportation too. If your tutor asks you to write an essay about the transportation problem with respect to its negative impacts on society, no need to worry. The following guideline will help you to understand the disadvantages of bus transportation in this era.

Over Crowded Traveling

On certain occasions, you may find additional passengers are onboard on the bus you are traveling. This over-crowded scenario may create anxiety, tension, and stress in you. if you are short-tempered, then this situation may turn you hyper, causing high blood pressure in you.

Wastage of Time and Effort

On your personal transport, you are your own boss, but in case of a public bus, you have to compromise on schedule. Sometimes, you have to wait for long hours for a particular route or destination.

Discomfort Feeling

While traveling on the bus, you cannot choose a suitable route for yourself. Moreover, you cannot stop the bus with your own will. You are totally dependent on the bus schedule and route.

Uncertainty of Time

One of the shortcomings of bus transportation is time uncertainty. Sometimes the buses get late in timely departure and arrival at some particular destination. Thus, the element of uncertainty is always there.

What Are the Major Benefits of Public Transportation Essay?

If you make a list of large industries in the world, of course, transportation will be one of the most important ones. It is actually the movement of products as well as people from one place to another, and this is why its supply chain is heavily influenced by time consumption, money, and human involvement. No logistic support can be completed without appropriate support of transportation as it connects all segments of supply chain management.

Public Transportation Mitigates Air Pollution

The emission of air pollutants per person in the atmosphere is too less by a public bus as compared to a car driven by a single head. On average, per passenger, a bus emits 10% fewer hydrocarbons, 20% less carbon monoxide, and 75% less nitrogen oxide in the air.

Better Fuel Consumption

As far as fuel consumption per passenger mile is concerned, public transportation is far better than an individual vehicle because it uses quite less amount of fuel. According to the American Public Transportation Association, each year, public transportation saves around 4.2 billion gallons in use of gasoline only.

Improves Traffic Management

Public transportation is inherently helpful in taking goods and passengers in bulk from one destination to another. Thus, it contributes less use of vehicles and eventually strengthens the overall traffic management by reducing traffic congestion.

Reduction in Financial Cost

The use of public transportation creates a positive impact on the economy of an individual as well as at the national front. You may save thousands of dollars individually, and the nation can save millions of dollars annually by promoting the culture of using public transports. See, you will be able to valuable money that could have been used in fuel, parking, maintenance, and other relevant expenditures of your automobiles.

Best Alternative of Personal Transport

Of course, if you can’t drive or don’t have personal transport, then public transportation is the only choice for you to go shopping, market, picnic, visit friends, or hospital.

Public Transportation is Much Safer

Transportation is becoming a sensitive issue day by day in the entire world. Thus, in order to address the matter at the grassroot level, students are often asked to write the benefits of public transportation essay during their academic careers. Traveling using public transportation is much safer than driving personally, particularly when you travel by train or bus.

Statistics indicate that the accident ratio is quite low with trains or buses while the mishap rate is far high with personal cars. The major reason is training. The train and bus operators are better trained than individuals. Moreover, they are also regularly detailed for refresher courses. The fatality rate and crime rate are also lower with public transportation than using individual automobiles.

It Promotes Healthy Environment

A number of social activities are closely linked with public transportation. At many picnic spots and places, you avoid taking your personal transport. Moreover, the people who use public transportation have more energy to participate in sports, walk, or leisure activities than those who drive personally.

Mitigating Global Warming

The use of public transportation is highly beneficial to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, resulting in global warming.

While writing your transportation paper, you must discuss both sides of the pictures. Besides hundreds of benefits, it is good to highlight certain grey areas in your essay about transportation problem. When you complete your writing assignment, summarize the salient benefits in your transportation essay conclusion and recommend some critical steps to the readers as well.

Best Topics for Essay on Transportation

If you have to write an essay on transportation but feeling confusions in finding a good idea, then the following topics will be really helpful for you. Read the topics and choose the one that suits best for you.

How Does transportation contribute to a country’s economy?
How to manage a public transport system in big cities?
The industrial revolution has a critical role in current transport dependent societies.
How American and British driving styles to confuse the people of other cultures.
What could be the next-generation transportation modes?
Impacts of traffic management system on human behavior.
Water transportation: how it contributes to the city’s connectivity?
How to write an essay on air transportation?
Public transportation is safer than individual transport.
The significance of psychological factors in traveling by air and train.
Communication is the backbone of air transportation.
Weather hazards for air and ground transportation.

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5 Essays on Transportation [ Types & Importance in Life ]

Essay on Transportation | Importance of Transportation in our Life

Transportation is an important part of our lives. It helps us get from one place to another. There are many different types of transportation, such as cars, buses, trains, planes, and boats. Each type of transportation has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Transportation refers at the process of transferring people or goods from one place to another. It is an important aspect of both our economic and social lives, facilitating the movement of goods and people between locations.

>>>> Read Also : ” Essay on My Travel Experience “

Types of Transportation:

There are many different types of transportation. Some of the most common are:

Cars: Cars are the most popular type of transportation in the United States. They are fast and can go anywhere. However, they are expensive to buy and to operate.

Buses: Buses are cheaper than cars, but they are not as fast. They also have to stop at bus stations, which can be inconvenient.

Trains: Trains are faster than buses and can go to more places, but they are also more expensive.

Planes: Planes are the fastest type of transportation, but they are also the most expensive.

Boats: Boats are a popular way to travel in the United States and around the world. They are slower than planes and cars, but they are cheaper than both.

Importance of Transportation in our Life:

Transportation is important because it helps us get from one place to another. It is also important for economic development. Transportation helps businesses move goods and services around the country and the world. It also helps people travel for work or pleasure.

Transportation is also important for safety. When people can get to hospitals, police stations, and fire stations quickly, it can save lives.

>>> Related Post: ” Essay on Effects of Global Warming ”

Short Essay on Transportation:

Transportation is the movement of people, goods and animals from one place to another. It has always been an important aspect of human civilization, enabling trade and communication between different regions.

The earliest forms of transportation were walking, swimming and riding animals. However, with advancements in technology, various modes of transportation have emerged such as roadways, railways, airways and waterways. Each of these modes has its own unique characteristics and benefits, catering to different needs and requirements.

Roadways are the most common form of transportation, with a vast network of interconnected roads allowing people and goods to travel within cities, towns and across countries. They provide flexibility and convenience for short distances, but can also lead to traffic congestion and pollution.

On the other hand, railways are a more efficient mode of transportation for long distances, carrying heavy loads of goods and people at high speeds. They also have a lower carbon footprint compared to roadways.

Airways have revolutionized transportation with the ability to travel long distances in short periods of time. However, they also contribute significantly to air pollution and climate change.

Waterways are another crucial form of transportation, especially for transporting goods across large bodies of water. They are also a popular mode of travel for tourists and provide a scenic and relaxing experience.

In conclusion, transportation plays a vital role in our daily lives and the economy. It has greatly evolved over time, making the world more connected and accessible. However, it is important to consider its impact on the environment and work towards sustainable solutions for the future. Transportation will continue to shape our society and it is important to adapt to its advancements while also being mindful of its consequences .

Essay on Transportation in India:

Transportation is an essential aspect of any country’s development and progress. In a vast and diverse country like India, having a robust transportation system is crucial for connecting people, goods, and services across the nation.

India has made significant strides in its transportation infrastructure over the years. The Indian Railways, with its extensive network of trains running on more than 121,000 kilometers of track, is the lifeline of the country. It carries millions of passengers and tons of freight every day and plays a vital role in the economy.

Apart from railways, India also has an extensive road network covering over 5 million kilometers. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is responsible for constructing and maintaining highways connecting major cities and towns. This well-connected road network has facilitated the growth of trade and commerce, making it easier for businesses to transport goods across the country.

In recent years, India has also seen significant progress in air transportation. With the privatization of airlines and the modernization of airports, flying has become more affordable and accessible to a wider population. The improvement in air connectivity has not only made traveling within the country more convenient but has also boosted tourism and foreign investments.

In conclusion, transportation in India has come a long way, and its continued development is crucial for the country’s growth. With technological advancements and increased investment in infrastructure, India’s transportation system is only expected to get better, making it easier for people and goods to travel across the nation.

Essay on Transportation and Communication:

Transportation and communication have always been essential aspects of human civilization. They are crucial for the growth and development of any society, allowing people to exchange ideas, goods, services, and knowledge. In this short essay, we will explore the history of transportation and communication and how they have developed over time.

The earliest form of transportation was walking or using animals as a means to move from one place to another. As time passed, humans began using boats and ships for transportation over water bodies. The development of the wheel and cart revolutionized land transportation, enabling people to transport goods and travel longer distances.

With the invention of steam engines in the 19th century, railways became a popular mode of transportation. Later on, automobiles were introduced, changing the face of transportation forever. Today, we have a wide range of transportation options such as airplanes, high-speed trains, and even space shuttles.

Similarly, communication has undergone significant changes throughout history. In ancient times, people used smoke signals and drums to send messages over long distances. With the invention of writing systems came letter writing and the development of postal services. The telegraph, telephone, and radio were game-changing inventions that made communication faster and more efficient.

In recent years, the internet has revolutionized communication by providing instant messaging and video calling services. The rise of social media platforms has also changed the way we interact and communicate with each other.

Transportation and communication have not only connected people but also played a crucial role in shaping cultures, economies, and societies. They continue to evolve and improve, making the world a smaller and more connected place. So let us appreciate the advancements in transportation and communication that have made our lives easier and more efficient. After all, these are the pillars of human progress.

Essay on Transportation Problems:

Transportation is an essential component of our daily lives. It enables us to move from one place to another, delivering goods and services, and connecting people across the world. However, transportation also brings forth various challenges that continue to pose significant problems for society.

One of the most pressing transportation problems is traffic congestion. With the increasing number of vehicles on the roads and limited infrastructure, traffic congestion has become a common phenomenon in cities worldwide. This results in wasted time, increased air pollution, and reduced productivity for individuals and businesses.

Another transportation issue that affects our lives is the high cost of transportation. The rising fuel prices and maintenance costs make it difficult for people to afford their daily commute. This becomes even more challenging for low-income individuals who rely on public transportation.

Moreover, the reliance on non-renewable sources of energy for transportation has contributed to environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change. The emissions from vehicles are major contributors to greenhouse gases, which have a detrimental impact on our planet.

In addition, there is also the problem of accessibility in transportation. Many communities, particularly in rural areas, lack proper infrastructure and public transportation options, making it challenging for individuals to access basic necessities such as healthcare and education.

Transportation problems also have a significant impact on the economy. The inefficiencies in transportation systems can lead to delays in the delivery of goods and services, resulting in increased costs and lost opportunities for businesses.

Q: What is transportation in essay?

A: In an essay, transportation refers to the movement of people, goods, or information from one place to another, exploring its various modes, significance, and impacts.

Q: What is the importance of transportation in your life?

A: Transportation is crucial as it enables mobility, access to resources, economic activities, and connection with others, making it an integral part of daily life.

Q: What should I write about transportation?

A: You can write about the different modes of transportation, their role in society and the economy, challenges in transportation systems, and the impact of transportation on the environment.

Q: What is a transportation paragraph?

A: A transportation paragraph discusses various aspects of transportation, such as modes (e.g., road, rail, air, sea), their importance, and how they influence people’s lives and the movement of goods and services

Reader Interactions

Essay on Transport

Students are often asked to write an essay on Transport in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Transport

Importance of transport.

Transport is crucial in our lives. It helps us move from one place to another, enabling trade, travel, and communication. Without transport, our lives would be very different.

Types of Transport

Transport can be land, water, or air-based. Land transport includes cars, buses, and trains. Water transport includes ships and boats, while air transport includes airplanes and helicopters.

Future of Transport

With technology advancing, the future of transport looks exciting. We may soon see self-driving cars, hyperloop trains, and more eco-friendly options, making our journeys faster, safer, and greener.

Also check:

10 Lines on Transport

250 Words Essay on Transport

The evolution of transport.

Transportation has evolved significantly, from the primitive methods of walking and animal riding to today’s sophisticated network of planes, trains, and automobiles. This transformation has been driven by technological advancements, societal needs, and economic forces, shaping our globalized world.

Impact of Transport on Society and Economy

The transportation system is the backbone of any economy. It facilitates the movement of goods and people, fostering economic growth and social interaction. The development of transport infrastructures like highways, airports, and railways has directly impacted the industrialization process, facilitating trade and commerce.

Modern Transportation and Environmental Concerns

While transportation has brought numerous benefits, it is also a significant contributor to environmental degradation. Greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles contribute to climate change, while noise and air pollution affect urban living conditions. Hence, sustainable transport solutions are crucial for the future.

The Future of Transportation

The future of transportation lies in sustainability and technological innovation. Concepts like electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and hyperloop transportation promise a future where transport is efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly. However, these innovations require significant investment and policy support to become mainstream.

Transportation is a critical aspect of our lives, shaping economic growth, societal interaction, and environmental health. As we move forward, the challenge lies in balancing the benefits of transportation with its environmental impact, and embracing innovative technologies to create a sustainable future.

500 Words Essay on Transport

Introduction.

Transportation, a critical aspect of human civilization, has developed significantly over the centuries, evolving from primitive means to advanced technology-driven systems. It plays a pivotal role in the social, economic, and political spheres of society, facilitating the movement of people, goods, and services across various geographical locations.

The history of transportation is a testament to human ingenuity and the relentless pursuit of efficiency. Early humans relied on their physical strength and animals for movement. The invention of the wheel marked a significant milestone, leading to the development of carts and chariots. The advent of industrialization brought about steam engines, revolutionizing land and sea transport. In the 20th century, the invention of the internal combustion engine led to the widespread use of automobiles and aircraft, drastically reducing travel times. Today, we stand at the cusp of another revolution with the development of autonomous vehicles and hyperloop technology.

Transportation systems can be broadly categorized into land, water, air, and space transport. Land transport includes road, rail, and pipeline transport, with automobiles, trains, and trucks as the primary means. Water transport, the oldest form, relies on ships and boats, critical for international trade. Air transport, though expensive, provides the fastest means of travel, essential for global connectivity. Space transport, though still in its infancy, has the potential to redefine our understanding of transportation.

Impact of Transport on Society

Transportation has a profound impact on society, shaping our lifestyles, economies, and cultures. It facilitates trade and commerce, enabling the distribution of goods and services across regions, thus driving economic growth. It fosters cultural exchange and social interaction by connecting different communities. However, transportation also has its drawbacks, notably its environmental impact. The transport sector is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, leading to climate change.

The Future of Transport

The future of transportation lies in sustainability and technological innovation. Electric vehicles (EVs), autonomous driving, and shared mobility are some of the trends shaping the future. EVs, powered by renewable energy, offer a solution to the environmental challenges posed by conventional vehicles. Autonomous driving promises to improve safety and efficiency, while shared mobility can reduce the number of vehicles on the road, alleviating traffic congestion.

Transportation, a cornerstone of human civilization, has evolved in tandem with our advancement. While it has brought numerous benefits, it also poses significant challenges, especially in terms of environmental sustainability. As we move forward, the focus should be on harnessing technological advancements to create a transportation system that is efficient, safe, and sustainable. The future of transport is not just about moving from one place to another; it’s about doing so in a way that benefits us all.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Public Transportation
Essay on Road Transport
Essay on Importance of Rivers

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Essay on Transport in 500 Words

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Jan 2, 2024

Essay on Transport: There are four transport modes: air, water, land and rail. Railways and roads are the most commonly used modes of transport. The Grand Trunk Road or the GT Road is one of the world’s oldest roads and the largest in Asia. Since the domestication of animals in the Mesolithic period, humans started to work on different types of transport mechanisms. Developments in transport systems have come a long way. Today, aeroplanes and jets are the fastest modes of transport. Humans have built jets. Some of the fastest planes and jets are the USAF X-15, SR-71 Blackbird, and MIG-25 Foxbat.

Also Read: Speech on Make Public Transport Free

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With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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Clean, On Time and Rat-Free: 9 International Transit Systems With Lessons for New York

From Tokyo to Zurich, readers told us how New York’s subway compares with the public transportation in their cities (spoiler alert: not well).

By Lara Takenaga

What smells like a “nightclub toilet,” evokes the feeling of “an underworld” and resembles a “working museum”?

That would be t he New York City subway, according to international readers who have experienced it.

The subway runs around the clock and carries millions daily across a sprawling network. But when we asked riders of public transit around the world how their systems compare, New York’s scored worse than most on several measures.

[ Read New Yorkers’ stories of major subway meltdowns. ]

Among the enviable features they described were Moscow’s chandelier-adorned platforms, Istanbul’s plans for a 500-mile expansion and Tokyo’s friendly attendants who locate lost items.

Below are some of their tales of exceptional public transit. They have been condensed, edited for clarity and paired with photos of their systems and New York’s.

What experiences have you had with public transit? Tell us in the comments.

I’m a senior majoring in Russian studies at Carleton College in Minnesota. When I studied abroad in Moscow last year, my father, a South Bronx native, came to visit. We took the metro many times, and he was shocked.

“Where are the rats?” he asked. “I can’t believe how clean it is on these platforms.”

Many of the stations are works of art . Kievskaya, one of my favorites, has chandeliers and glittering mosaics with scenes from Ukrainian and Russian history. My other favorite station, Dostoevskaya, has murals depicting some of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s famous works, including “Crime and Punishment.”

The stations are held to a high standard of cleanliness, and there’s a constant police presence. Hooliganism is a serious crime, and it’s illegal to drink in the metro.

New York impressions: The subway in New York doesn’t follow a schedule in my experience. One time, in the summer of 2017, I waited 40 minutes for a Q train on the way to Brighton Beach. There was construction, but come on, 40 minutes?

— Schuyler Kapnick

I live in Tokyo and rely on three trains — JR and Tokyo Metro lines — to get to my job leading food tours at the Tsukiji fish market. My first train is famous for being packed during the morning commute. But riders are good for the most part about making room for as many people as possible. When things go smoothly, a new train comes on the JR Chuo line every few minutes. If there are ever delays, train stations, social media and TV news are quick to share the information.

Trains are clean, and some cars are reserved for women and children. There are staff at the stations who are helpful and friendly. One time I left my keys on the train, and the staff at my station quickly figured out which train it was and where I could track it down. The keys were turned in and I retrieved them.

Japanese culture respects others before yourself. My train ride is so quiet in the morning that a baby could sleep. There are rules, such as letting people off first, that everyone follows.

New York impressions: I lived in New York for many years, and two things happened to me on the subway. First, I was held up. There were other riders in the car, and no one did anything to help. Second, I was on a train and a man had a gun. Everyone panicked, and people fled to the ends of the train. This doesn’t happen in Tokyo.

— Yukari Sakamoto

As an American and former New Yorker, I am keenly aware of the public transit differences between here and New York. In Amsterdam it is a priority, a connecting web of trams, buses, trains and ferries that allows everyone to get around safely and on time.

I came to Amsterdam in 1989 to work for Radio Netherlands Worldwide and started living here full time seven years later. Now I’m retired, and as a senior on a limited income, I qualify for a free pass on all city transportation. This mobility has opened my life.

When American friends visit, they think our system is like a dream. But it isn’t. It’s the result of decisions made by the city and national governments and supported by the citizenry, who benefit daily and are willing to pay taxes to support it.

New York impressions: When I moved to Amsterdam after 15 years in New York, I had no idea that transport could actually run on a schedule. All I knew was to schedule extra time.

I still don’t trust the timetables, mainly because I want to keep some of my New Yorker-ness!

— Ruth Dreier

The metro here is known as the world’s longest art gallery .

One card allows you to ride the commuter trains, metro, trams, ferries and buses. There are even driverless vehicles . Transit is safe, punctual and affordable. Between my commute from the suburbs and my work co-directing the Stockholm Fringe Festival, I take three to four transportation modes a day. The system is part of my office.

For the festival we rely on public transit to get our actors, crew and audience members to each venue. In fact we plan the locations and schedule around the metro lines. In 2012 we had a roaming performance that took place across different stations and trains. It won the Audience Choice Award.

New York impressions: The subway looks like it does in the movies and smells like a shady nightclub toilet.

— Adam Potrykus

When my husband and I were both working remotely, we thought, “Why not do this from Berlin instead of home?” So we left Austin, Tex., and spent a month there in 2016. We returned last year to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary and my birthday. Berlin is our favorite big city, in large part because of how easy transportation is.

The U-Bahn was our primary method of transit for everything. Trips on it aren’t particularly memorable, and that’s how it should be. Systems are consistent across platforms and stations. There aren’t obstacles to smooth travel. What’s memorable, though, is the exquisite, ornate tiling in many of the stations. You also don’t validate your ticket when you enter a platform, which I think only works because of German culture.

New York impressions: When I visited New York, the stations were grungier and more rundown than the U-Bahn. But the U-Bahn serves a city with 3.5 million people. It’s harder to maintain and clean a system in a city of 8.5 million.

— Jamie Miller

My family has a foundation that manages a robotics competition in Turkey. My work for it often requires taking public transit to meet with schools, sponsors and teams across Istanbul. When I was looking for an apartment, access to the metro and buses was basically my only criterion.

The metro is pretty fantastic. The trains can carry a massive number of people. We have mild overcrowding for an hour or two a day, but it’s usually not horrendous. Trains are almost never delayed thanks to good maintenance. My line, the M2, carries about 400,000 people each day without trouble .

The trains have TV screens that play lots of things. My favorites are the cat (and sometimes dog) videos.

The metro sparkles: Trains and stations are shiny clean. What I like most, though, is how fast it’s expanding. There are plans to go from 105 miles of track to about 680 miles in the next decade or so.

New York impressions: I’ve come to New York for robotics competitions. The subway gets you there. That’s about it. It was slow and broken, with lots of trash and decay. I felt like I was in an underworld.

— Alex Francis Burchard

My work addresses urban-planning issues. Before moving to Vancouver, I lived in San Francisco, where I helped take down the Embarcadero Freeway and create the Presidio, a national park. Here, I’m working to remove two old highway viaducts, which will be replaced by a new roadway, parks, housing, bike paths and more.

The SkyTrain, our rapid transit system, has three lines that run through metro Vancouver. It plays a key part in a transportation strategy that makes walking, cycling and transit account for half of all trips in Vancouver.

The entire system is driverless. I’ve sat in the front seat of a SkyTrain, imagining that I’m the engineer as we race across the Fraser River.

Automation puts more money into maintenance and expansion. Six new stations opened in 2016. A project that will connect the suburbs to a major hospital has been approved, and an extension to the University of British Columbia is being discussed.

New York impressions: The subway is a critical public asset with impressive 24-hour service. But it’s antiquated, inefficient and not designed for all ages and abilities.

— Michael Alexander

I’m a professor of computer science and use public transit on weekdays to drop off my youngest daughter at school, get to my university, run errands and go to meetings.

Zurich’s system has many desirable features. Most trams and many bus lines have their own lane, so travel time is more or less predictable.

The buses, with few exceptions, and many trams have low floors, allowing a stroller, wheelchair or suitcase to be moved easily onboard. Most U-Bahn stations are also accessible.

The timetables are fairly dense on many lines, and the evening and weekend schedules aren’t much thinner. On Friday and Saturday there’s a late-night network. I’ve never felt unsafe in any bus or tram.

Public transportation covers every part of the city. I don’t recall walking more than five minutes to a stop. It also has wide social acceptance; I know C.E.O.s who take public transit.

We once had visitors from the United States who left a handbag with money, jewelry and their passports on a bus. It took a phone call to find out when and where to meet the bus, and the driver handed over the bag.

New York impressions: The subway is a nice working museum.

— Thomas Gross

I go to Northeastern University in Boston and studied in London for six months in 2017. I return every so often to work with a friend there on a business venture.

The Tube was the most amazing thing to happen to me. I could reach practically every spot in London in less than 40 minutes.

The system is extremely efficient, with frequent trains during the day. For me this is one of the main reasons that London has stayed ahead of many cities that haven’t aged as gracefully.

The trains are extremely long and can fit tons of passengers. Some stops also serve as national rail stations. I could board a train near my apartment and head out almost anywhere in the United Kingdom, from London’s suburbs to Edinburgh.

Transit fares are based on zones. One time I accidentally left the area that my card could access. It was 2:30 a.m., and I was six miles from my apartment. A security guard offered to pay for me and I was home within 30 minutes.

New York impressions: I like that New York’s subway is extensive (more so than Boston’s), but it’s extremely poor quality. It’s closer to London in terms of having many stops in many places, but not close in much else.

— Andrew Cataldo

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Transportation in the United States Essay

Introduction, historical background, future of us transportation network.

The nineteenth century saw arise of economies of various nations across the globe. Alongside this growth was the development of strong transportation networks/systems. The settlers movement to the West of America further facilitated spread of technology and hence development of better transport facilities. The growth of cities and industrial centers demanded the revolution of the transport industry to suit the emerging needs As a result of development (Caltrans 2). As the world opens up to a new dawn, one cannot help but question whether the approach taken then, at managing transportation was the best. Milestone in development of transport networks were characterized with increased road network construction; introduction of advanced equipment like steam boats, and most fundamentally, introduction of railroads. Despite America being a leading global economy for many years, it is still confronted by commuter crises, crowded airports, crowded air lanes, screeching airplanes, archaic control equipment, abuses of safety regulations, roads that falls below its perceived global glory.

The transportation network in America forms the pillar upon which the economy runs. Applauded, as one of the best networks in the world, the system provides services to businesses, markets, recreation centers, and jobs among many others. In essence, the transportation touches on the life of every American. It is comprised of road, rail, air, and water networks. While short distances are dominated by automobiles, long distance is mainly based on air transport (Luxner 15). The state and the local government own a vast majority of roads. Though the federal government funds some roads like the inter-state highways, the state still have an obligation to maintain the roads. However, there are a few private highways where tool charges are used to fund construction and maintenance. Most of the local roads are however concentrated in the remote parts of the country. The freight/passenger railway systems, bus services, and water ferry services are classified as either public owned or privately owned (Pucher, and Dijkstra 13). Private ownership is more pronounced across the civilian airlines. Most airports are however owned by the government though there are few privately owned.

The American transportation system has developed over the years to be what it is today. Horse transportation dominated in the late 18th century. However, it must be mentioned that utilities that used to serve the country well can no longer meet their obligations now. Though transportation is obviously only one of many daunting challenges that America faces today, it remains an exceptionally important one. Without investing adequately in transportation to refresh our models for funding and managing our system, America is in danger of losing its competitive edge. The ability to move people and goods flexibly, efficiently, and cost-effectively is as critical as ever. It is essential not only to maintaining U.S. global competitiveness, but to nurturing a dynamic and adaptable workforce, growing local and regional economies, supporting livable communities, and reducing the environmental and national security liabilities of our continued dependence on petroleum fuels for nearly all our transportation needs. The task is two-fold: to maintain and improve existing infrastructure and systems, which are increasingly overloaded and inadequately maintained, while also investing in the new systems and technologies that will be needed to meet the mobility needs of the future. The transport infrastructures have far too long been left at free hand. The central government concentrated resources in other areas at the expense of the nations transport sector. The first government expenditure on highways was aimed at speeding up overland mail. This includes the Boston Post Road connecting New York and Boston (Bookman 31). With the economic fortunes recorded in the 18 th century, canals were built to meet the rising demand for faster travel e.g. the Erie Canal (Pucher, and Dijkstra 16). Upstream transit remained impracticable until the introduction of stream boats which facilitated passenger and freight movement from one point to another. However, it must be acknowledged that the overall structure has remained laissez faire with negligible regulation.

Chronic underfunding, especially on maintenance of existing infrastructure, has exposed the systems to significant degradation, thus weakening the system leading breakdown of some fundamental components. Currently the cost for fixing the resources is largely incomparable to the resource requirement aimed at diverting the anticipated system failure. An urban mobility report in 2009, illustrates the magnitude at which the free-hand in transportation system costs the economy. It was estimated that in 2007 only, total fuel waste and loss in production amounted to $87.2 billion translating to $750 for every driver in the US (DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence 46). The slight congestion decline in 2008 and 2009, reflected disconnect between government intervention or road maintenance and the changing economic situations (DeBoer and Lawrence 47). One may presume that, as the country’s economy enlarges, a corresponding mechanism by the government to intervene is lacking.

It is important to note that transport affects every citizen of America. Luxner mentions that of eight jobs in America, at least one is linked to the transport sector (18). Statistics also indicate that around 11% of the country’s GDP is contributed by the transport sector. This translates to approximately $950 yearly (Bureau of statistics 11). Further it is estimated that 19% of household spending by average American families is directed on transport which exceeds food and healthcare projected spending. The system generally engages over 4.7 trillion passenger travel miles and an additional 3.7 million domestic freight ton miles. These are generated by a population of 270 million persons, approximately 6.7 million business entities and a total of 88,000 units of government. Rail and maritime transport sector accounts 11% of total transported tonnage. The major road in the country constitutes around 25,000 miles, while the waterways comprise a total of 500 miles (Bureau of statistics 15).

The sector has been cited as having the potential of unblocking America’s fortunes in the future as new challenges emerge. America is in need of a stronger transportation network in the coming future to move people and goods efficiently. The highway links the infrastructural networks across the nation. They are therefore critical in interconnecting the nations transport networks across various states and its neighbors. Additionally, 600,000 bridges have been constructed across the major highways within the nation (U.S. Government Accountability Office 39). However, states and local government retain authority over highways traversing their jurisdiction. All highways however, form part of the integrated national transport system. The transit system on the other hand is a product of various multi-occupancy vehicle services which are meant for transport of clients both in regional routes and local ones.

More than 500 public transportation systems are operated off government regulation. 4% and 1% are commuter rail cars and light rail cars respectively. It is estimated that in 2007, more than 10 billion passengers used public transportation. The development of passenger rail roads has been challenged by the emergence of low cost air travel options for long distance and the widespread presence of private automobiles used for short journeys.

Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation’s entry into rail passenger services saw it drive away private firms from the intercity railway services (U.S. Government Accountability Office 39). This was an indication of the government realization of the shortfalls of its laissez fair approach. Its take-over saw rebuilding of facilities and public investment attraction with regard to tracks and stations. An example is the North East Corridor. Developing air travel pervasiveness is visible by the ever increasing passenger numbers flown by commercially operated jets. For instance growth in 1975 was 50% yet recent growths have been set at 80% (Caltrans 2). The US maritime transportation system is made up of water ways, ports, and other transportation mode connections. America is one of the largest global economies and transportation sector acts as the cornerstone to the other entire sector that defines its economy. Its position as the remaining world super power, puts lots of challenge to its transportation system, more so in consideration of the large business trading taking place (Caltrans 2). Focus is on maintenance of the best intermodal connections. A sit stands, the disintegrate approach taken in management of American states with each state individually handling its network has left the system rather disintegrated and hence allowed manifestation of problems.

Perhaps the laissez faire approach to road construction and maintenance failed to capture the importance of transportation to the economy and hence the need for a more centralized coordination of transport sector. Notably, a good percentage of the country’s GDP is originating from the transport industry. The laissez faire approach failed to capture system growth within the nation. It instead shifted focus to individual states, resulting into a disjointed system. However, all is not left to the dogs, as options till exist for the federal government intervention in the future programs wit the aim of revolutionizing the transport system to suit the future prospects and ideas of America as a nation. This would pave way for establishment of strong transport structures which would provide the much need pillar to the country’s economy.

As daunting as are the problems within each major mode of transportation, some of the largest problems facing the U.S. transportation system lie at the connections between modes. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have approved (Caltrans 3).

It is the right of the American population to decide how they invest in their transport sector and determine the most appropriate mix that would suite their needs. However, professionals must play a pro-active role in coming up with appropriate measures that would facilitate the sectors reasonable expansion (Bookman 17). Accountability and development of performance based program holds great potential to facilitate the sectors enlargement and improved efficiency taking into consideration the national goals. Comprehensive multimodal proposals urges that the federal program go “back to basics” and focus emphatically on national interests (DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence 52). These include transports infrastructure preservation and renewal, interstate connections, safety concerns, environmental concern and congestions among other aspects. Increased federal funding alongside national performance standards should be set up pursues national goals on transportation (Bookman 18). This would compel states to adhere to standards and be accountable to the federal government on invested funds. They would be obligated to remain accountable to the federal government for the investments directed towards transport.

There is no question that there is a need for substantial funding increases. In the short-term, the economic recovery bill can make a down-payment on these needs. But in the long term, we have to look at sustaining that economic impact.

Rather than the more than 100 current programs, the following six are recommended (DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence 53):

Preservation and Renewal
Highway Safety Improvement
Operations and Management
Transportation System Improvement/Congestion Reduction Program
Environment Program: Air Quality and Climate Change

As you see, it’s going to be an exciting and a critical year for transportation.

Our performance in delivering the promise of the economic recovery legislation will make the case for a robust authorization. Increase commitment to delivery of this promise is a necessity. Additionally, funding regulation need review more so with respect to the Highway Trust Fund (DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence 57), the primary source of federal transportation funding, in the black. It is quite possible we may again face a shortfall late in the year unless some action is taken, and that would threaten to undo the good done by the economic recovery legislation. Finally, we must work to deliver reform legislation that relieves congestion, provides access to rural America, reduces fatalities, doubles transit ridership, streamlines program delivery—and most important, serves the American public. We are up to the challenge! Thank you and I’ll be glad to answer any questions.

The need to review the transportation systems from a wholesome point of view was first mooted in 1991. Over the years progress has been recorded. The National Highway System Intermodal Connectors has been identified for focus in solving some of the challenges threatens the transportation system. Additionally, direct dock rail services are cited as being in dire need of revamping to suit the changing demand landscape (Caltrans 3). It is evident that the quicker the response, the larger the possibility of alleviating further escalation of the already existing challenges. Clear connections need to b e designed to bring together the independently designed local/state road networks (Baltimore 29). Highway connector problems are best captured by re-examination of the existing connectors. A number of examples illustrate the some of the efforts which can be used in efficient re-evaluation of the intermodal connectors.

Firstly, collaboration between the state department and the other arms of government arms as well as stakeholders on project which could revolutionalize the freight transportation. The need for the federal government to invest more funds into transportation development cannot be overstated. Additionally, it’s high time that the federal government directly handles major road transport operations rather than leave to the hands of then

By eliminating intersections, the fly over make it possible for trains to move at high speeds and hence save a lot of time. However, initiatives in place to revamp the transport systems remain relatively few and inconsequential (Baltimore 27). The need for further efforts to eliminate freight free flow across various impediments remains largely vital and fundamental.

A survey indicated that American voters overwhelmingly agree that broader access to transport is a necessity to their well-being. A large percentage believes that they would enormously benefits form expanded transport networks more so with regard to bus and rail services. Additionally, most Americans attach importance to availing of alternative transport networks/options to choose from when moving from one place to another. Re-evaluation of federal funds allocation to transport development is therefore in dire need of review (Anonymous 1). Most specialists agree that more funds should be channeled to road network development and restructuring if America is to maintain its global competitiveness (DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence 59). While liberalization is good, the government needs to critically re-evaluate its policies to ensure that liberalizations does not come at a cost to the very same persons it’s was intended to protect.

Generally, American population is in agreement in desire to for expanded transport system and options to facilitate the system maximum performance ability. American people share in their broad desire for expanded transport system and active federal participation in construction, preservation, and management of transport network if only to enhance efficiency (Anonymous 1). The government must therefore wake up to the challenge, re-evaluate the transport system, reconstruct the areas of weakness, and finally invest heavily in the sector to measure that American people remain protected and enjoy secured transport facilities.

Anonymous. “Annual Vehicle Distance Traveled in Miles and Related Data”. Federal Highway Administration . 2003. Web.

Anonymous. “The heartland fast-freight rail system.. Entrepreneur.com. Fall, 2007. Web.

Baltimore, Chris. “New U.S. Congress looks to boost transport,” The Boston Globe , 23(1), 2007, p 23-29.

Bookman, Jay “Opinion: Toll roads, taxes and why voters distrust leaders” . Atlanta, Georgia: Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2010, p 18.

Bureau of statistics. Pocket Guide to Transportation . 2008. Web.

Bureaus of statistics. System Mileage Within the United States : National Transportation Statistics . 2007. Web.

Caltrans, Louise. The Interstate Highway System Turns 50 . 2006. Web.

DeBoer, David and Kaufman Lawrence. Well Within Reach America’s: New Transportation Agenda. Miller Center of Public Affairs: Faulkner House. 2010.

Luxner, Larry. “Shipping firm sees potential gold mine in Florida-Cuba passenger ferry service.” Cuba News, 2009.

Pucher, John, and Lewis Dijkstra. Making Walking and Cycling Safer: Lessons from Europe. Transportation Quarterly , 52(1), 2000, 11-16

U.S. Government Accountability Office. Intercity Passenger Rail: National Policy and Strategies Needed to Maximize Public Benefits from Federal Expenditures. 2006. Web.

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Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, March 23). Transportation in the United States. https://ivypanda.com/essays/transportation-in-the-united-states/

"Transportation in the United States." IvyPanda , 23 Mar. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/transportation-in-the-united-states/.

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IvyPanda . 2022. "Transportation in the United States." March 23, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/transportation-in-the-united-states/.

1. IvyPanda . "Transportation in the United States." March 23, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/transportation-in-the-united-states/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Transportation in the United States." March 23, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/transportation-in-the-united-states/.

Freight and Rail Transport in International System
Rail Industry: Rail Road Strike
Freight Transportation Modes in the United States
The Security of the US Nation's Passenger and Freight Railroad Network
The European Intermodal Rail-Road Freight Transport
Rail Transport Emergencies and Their Management
Australian Rail Organization: The Existence of Porter’s 5 Forces
Freight Transportation Systems
Expansion of the European Intermodal Rail-Road Freight Transport
Chinese Rail Services' Feasibility in Jamaica
Different Types of Transportation
Improving the Efficiency of Public Transportation
Renewable Energy and Transport Fuel Use Patterns
Innovative Services for Inter-Vehicle Communication
Trade-Offs That Affect Distribution Operations

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Critical Issues in Transportation 2019

Policy snapshot.

INTRODUCTION

Driverless cars maneuvering through city streets. Commercial drones airlifting packages. Computer-captained ships navigating the high seas. Revolutionary changes in technology are taking us to the threshold of a bold and unprecedented era in transportation.

These technologies promise improvements in mobility, safety, efficiency, and convenience, but do not guarantee them. Will the technological revolution reduce congestion, fuel use, and pollution or make them worse by encouraging more personal trips and more frequent freight shipments?

The transportation sector also faces other unprecedented challenges. It needs to (1) sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions to slow the rate of climate change and (2) respond to more climate-related extreme weather. It must serve a growing population and cope with worsening highway congestion. It needs to maintain and upgrade a massive system of roads, bridges, ports, waterways, airports, and public transit and determine how to pay for those improvements. The transportation sector also needs to adapt to shifts in trade, energy, and funding sources that affect all modes of transportation. How will these challenges affect the transportation systems on which consumers and the economy depend?

The answers to these and other questions are critically important. Transportation plays a central role in society and the economy but is frequently taken for granted. Reflect, though, on how much you depend on reliable and affordable transportation to access work, friends and family, recreation, shopping, and worship. Then visualize the transportation networks needed for the daily movement of hundreds of millions of vehicles, ships, planes, and trains to satisfy both personal needs and commercial demands. These networks are enormous and complex. The transportation systems the economy and lifestyles rely on may be challenged dramatically in the coming decades in ways that cannot always be anticipated.

A national conversation among policy makers and citizens about how the country should respond to these challenges is urgently needed. Stakeholders need to debate, discuss, and analyze how transportation can evolve to meet growing and evolving needs and adapt to changes in society, technology, the environment, and public policy.

To spur that conversation, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) identified and organized an array of important issues under 12 key topics. In each of these areas, TRB posed a series of crucial questions to help guide thinking, debate, and discovery during the next 5 to 10 years. These 12 topics are neither comprehensive nor mutually exclusive, and no one can know how the future will unfold. But TRB thinks that asking the right questions, even if they cannot be fully answered, helps to motivate the analysis, discussion, and debate required to prepare for the potentially unprecedented changes ahead. This document is an abbreviated version of a more thorough discussion of the critical issues in transportation. It can be accessed at https://www.nap.edu/download/25314 .

Transformational Technologies and Services: Steering the Technology Revolution

All around the globe, companies are testing automated cars, trucks, ships, and aircraft. Pilot vehicles are already in operation. Some products are almost certain to enter the marketplace in the next few years. Driverless vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence may revolutionize transportation. Perhaps even sooner, vehicles connected to one another with advanced high-speed communication technologies may greatly reduce crashes How will vehicle automation—along with connected vehicles and shared ride, car, bike, and scooter services—transform society? These revolutionary technologies and services can potentially speed deliveries, prevent crashes, and ease traffic congestion and pollution. But they could also cause more congestion and more pollution and exacerbate sprawl and inequity. How do we determine and guide, as necessary, the direction of these changes? How the future unfolds depends on which technologies and services consumers and businesses embrace and how policy makers respond. While we do not know what the future will bring, the changes could be momentous. For example, if we encourage people to pool rides in driverless electric cars, we could see the service, cost, and environment improve. What policies would best reduce traffic congestion and emissions and improve accessibility for the disabled, elderly, and economically disadvantaged? How do we benefit most from the advent of connected and automated vehicles and potentially transformative transportation services?.

Serving a Growing and Shifting Population

The U.S. population is expected to grow about 1 percent annually, with highway use increasing similarly. But this growth will not be spread evenly across the country. Urban areas are growing more quickly, particularly clusters of metro areas known as “megaregions,” while many rural areas decline. At the same time, low-density residential development on the edges of urban areas continues to grow the fastest, which increases traffic and escalates emissions. Although many Millennials are settling in urban centers, more are locating on the edges of cities where Baby Boomers also prefer to live. How do we adjust to and guide travel demand so we are not overwhelmed with more roads, traffic, and emissions as a result of these geographic preferences? Megaregions in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West have emerged as economic engines for the economy, but they also have the worst traffic congestion. And their traffic volumes continue to grow faster than new transportation facilities can be built. What are the best policies and modes for improving travel within each megaregion? How do we ensure that megaregions are well connected to the rest of the nation and the world? How can rural populations be ensured adequate access to jobs and services? How is that access changing? Which policies are needed to provide adequate rural access?

Energy and Sustainability: Protecting the Planet

The Earth’s changing climate poses one of the most important threats humanity has ever faced. To avoid catastrophic changes, all sectors of the economy need to make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicles, planes, ships, and other forms of transport emit more greenhouse gases than any other sector of the economy in the United States. And that share is growing because other sectors of the economy are reducing their emissions faster than transportation. Personal vehicles could rely on electrification using batteries or hydrogen as one way to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Planes, ships, and trucks pose major obstacles to this objective because of their dependence on fossil fuels that pack more power than alternatives. What are the most effective and cost-effective ways of achieving the drastic reductions needed in fossil fuel consumption? What are the appropriate roles for the public and private sectors in hastening this transition? How can the shift to electric vehicles be accomplished without overwhelming the power grid? Sustainability requires that there be long-term consideration of the implications of decisions and policies on social, economic, and environmental systems. Examples include making decisions based on life-cycle cost considerations and the long-term vitality of communities and key natural environmental systems. How can consideration of long-term sustainability goals be better incorporated into public policy debates and decisions about transportation?

Resilience and Security: Preparing for Threats

Recent floods, storms, fires, and hurricanes have disrupted the lives of millions and caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Extreme weather events are exacerbated by climate change, and scientists predict things will get worse. Extreme weather and other natural disasters pose huge and costly threats to the transportation infrastructure. Public officials face the challenge of making vulnerable highways, bridges, railroads, transit stations, waterways, airports, and ports more resilient to climate change and other threats. What policies and strategies would help them meet this challenge? How do we set priorities, cope with disruptions, and pay for these adaptations? Terrorists often choose transportation facilities as their targets. Airports and airlines have increased security to guard against terrorism, but other modes of transport— buses, trains, and ships—are more vulnerable. How do we protect these forms of transport without unduly slowing the movement of people and goods? We also need to address the risks of new technologies. Drones, for example, can be used by terrorists or drug smugglers. Automated vehicles and aircraft are vulnerable to hackers. And all types of transport depend on Global Positioning Systems (GPSs), for which there is no back-up system. How do we make technological advances more secure and resilient?

Safety and Public Health: Safeguarding the Public

We depend on motorized transportation, but we pay a price with our health with deaths, injuries, and diseases. Routine highway travel is the source of the vast majority of transportrelated deaths and a significant portion of transport-related pollution in the United States. Even though there have been improvements in vehicles and facilities, most crashes are preventable. How do we muster the political will to adopt the most effective measures to reduce casualties and diseases caused by transportation? How do we encourage the use of the safest vehicle and road designs, reduce alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, and manage operator fatigue? Also, how do we curb driver distractions, especially in semi-automated vehicles that do not require full attention except in emergencies when multitasking drivers may be unprepared to respond? Marijuana legalization and opioid addiction may lead to more people driving while impaired. In addition, pedestrian and cyclist deaths are increasing. What can we do to address these problems? What successes from other countries can be applied? Air pollution comes from many sources, but some transport emissions, such as the particulates from burning diesel fuel, are especially harmful to people. People living near roads, ports, distribution centers, railyards, and airports—often the marginalized and the poor—are exposed to more of these types of vehicle emissions. How do we best address these problems?

Equity: Serving the Disadvantaged

The United States is prosperous, but not uniformly. More than 40 million Americans live in poverty. Outside central cities, an automobile is essential for access to jobs and a piece of the American dream, but about 20 percent of households with incomes below $25,000 lack a car. In addition, nearly 40 million Americans have some form of disability, of whom more than 16 million are working age. And the population is aging: the number of people older than 65 will increase by 50 percent from 49 million now to 73 million by 2030. Access to jobs, health care, and other services can be expanded through transportation policies and programs and technology, but these approaches need to be affordable and effective. This is a particular challenge in sparsely populated areas. How do we help disadvantaged Americans get affordable access to work, health care, and other services and to family and friends? What policies would ensure that new technologies and services do not create new barriers to the disadvantaged or to rural residents? Also, as we expand transportation networks, how do we ensure that we are not harming low-income and minority neighborhoods?

Governance: Managing Our Systems

A complex web of institutions manages America’s transportation services. Many levels of government, from local to national, play important roles. Some functions, such as public transit, airports, and ports, are managed by thousands of special authorities across the country. This spider web of governance frequently limits efficiency. For example, urban transport networks often span jurisdictional boundaries, creating disagreement about which agency is responsible for which aspects of planning, funding, and management. Separate funding streams for specific transportation modes impede efforts to provide travelers with multi-modal options. How do we address these challenges, particularly as urban areas grow into megaregions? The federal government is responsible for interstate waterways and airspaces and for interstate commerce. However, federal leadership and funding for transportation supporting interstate commerce are waning, forcing state and local governments to take on a larger role. How do we ensure that there are efficient networks for interstate travel and international trade as the federal role declines? New private transportation services efficiently generate enormous data sets about trips. Such data can be helpful to agencies trying to manage system performance. Connected and automated vehicles will add even more information. How can public agencies gain access to these data streams to improve traffic flow while protecting privacy and proprietary information?

System Performance and Management: Improving the Performance of Transportation Networks

Highway congestion costs the nation as much as $300 billion annually in wasted time. Flight delays add at least another $30 billion. Clearly, demand for travel is outpacing growth in supply and the increasing congestion is costing us dearly. As the population grows, demand will only increase. However, expanding or building new roads, airports, and other facilities in urban areas is costly, time consuming, and often controversial. How can we serve growing demand in a financially, socially, and environmentally responsible manner? Transportation officials also need to squeeze more performance out of the existing networks. One way to do this is by managing demand: Charging drivers for peakperiod travel in congested areas, for example, has the potential to increase ride sharing and generate revenues for transit, bike paths, and sidewalks. While pricing is more effective than other approaches, it is also unpopular. How do we build public and political acceptance for demand management strategies that work? In the face of tight budgets, transportation officials must also figure out how to maintain the condition of roads, bridges, airports, and other assets for as long as possible. What research would help increase the durability of construction materials and designs? How do we speed adoption of new information to improve the life-cycle performance of transportation assets?

Funding and Finance: Paying the Tab

Fuel taxes and other user fees have traditionally paid for highways, bridges, airports, ports, and public transit. These user fees are generally fair and efficient ways to pay for the transportation infrastructure, which is valued in trillions of dollars. However, improving fuel efficiency undermines the revenue potential from the motor fuel taxes that have been the chief funding source for highways and transit. Since 1993, federal officials have not raised the fees that fund the federal share of surface transportation and have instead turned to general revenues. In addition, Congress has declined to raise aviation-related user fees, limiting funds for air traffic control and airports. Although most states have raised motor fuel taxes, state and local government officials are also turning to other sources as the revenues from these taxes decline. One is sales taxes, which can unfairly burden the poor. Also, officials are partnering with businesses to build and maintain roads and other assets. This approach has promising features, but relies on tolls or other charges that are controversial. With advances in technology, officials can charge highway users by the mile traveled. They could also charge more during peak periods to manage demand and more to gas-guzzling vehicles to reduce emissions. But the public is not widely aware of these options and is not enthusiastic about them when it is. Clearly, we need to find new ways to maintain and expand the transportation infrastructure. How do we build understanding of the need to invest in transportation assets, identify the best funding options, and reach consensus for action?

Goods Movement: Moving Freight

The economy and our lifestyles depend on an efficient system for moving freight. Although railroads and pipelines are privately owned, funded, and managed, the freight system also requires adequate public infrastructure—roads, airports, ports, and waterways—for private companies to carry the goods needed. Freight movement is expected to grow dramatically in the coming decades to serve the growing population and economy. Without more spending on public infrastructure, this trend could lead to more traffic bottlenecks and capacity problems, especially as overnight and same-day delivery become more popular. How do we provide additional capacity when and where it is needed and ensure that beneficiaries bear the cost? Government officials face the challenges of providing adequate infrastructure for the freight industry while setting a level playing field for competition among private carriers and across transportation modes. In doing so, they need to account and charge for the costs that trucks, aircraft, ships, and other vehicles impose on public infrastructure. This is a process that is both difficult and controversial. How can officials best foster competition and set fair user fees for the freight industry? Another challenge for the freight industry is how to reduce its large and growing share of greenhouse gas emissions. One way to do this is through technology: improving batteries and fuel cells to speed the shift to electric-powered vehicles and moving to automated vehicles. Another is by improving efficiency, such as ensuring more vehicles are carrying freight on return trips. How do we make these improvements effectively and affordably?

Institutional and Workforce Capacity: Providing a Capable and Diverse Workforce

Government transportation agencies face huge challenges and tight budgets. Their ability to rise to these challenges depends on having capable workers with the tools they need to do their jobs. These agencies have difficulty competing for and keeping talented workers. They simply cannot pay as much as private industry. How can officials attract and retain the best employees despite the pay disparities between the public and private sectors? Also, the changing nature of transportation is creating different requirements for the workforce. As a result, transportation organizations struggle to keep workers up to date in the skills they need. This problem is especially acute at the local government level in dealing with complex issues such as climate change and revolutionary new transportation services. How do we address these challenges? Automated trucks, trains, vessels, and aircraft will disrupt the transportation workforce in both the public and private sectors. What are the likely impacts of these technological changes on transportation jobs? What are the best ways to help displaced workers? With a growing, changing, and aging population, transportation organizations will need to hire new and diverse employees. How can managers attract more members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups into the transportation field? How can they minimize the loss of expertise and experience when Baby Boomers retire?

Research and Innovation: Preparing for the Future

America is known for innovation. Our discovery and embrace of the new is fueled in large part by public investments in education and research. The revolutionary breakthroughs in transportation-related technology happened because of decades of public spending on basic research. In addition, steady improvements in the design, construction, operation, and management of transportation infrastructures have been spurred by research funded by government agencies. Public funding for research and education has never been more important, nor more uncertain. Many experiments are taking place in transportation across the country to meet the challenges of technological innovation and climate change. How do we record, evaluate, and share the results of these experiences and adopt innovations more quickly into standards and practices? Demands on transportation are growing as public spending on transportation research is declining. At the same time, public officials are often discouraged from taking risks. How do we encourage innovation in transportation agencies? How do we speed the pace of research to keep up with the major challenges transportation faces?

Modern civilization would not be possible without extensive, reliable transportation systems. Technology is poised to transform transportation and impact society and the environment in ways we cannot fully predict but must be prepared to manage. In addition to coping with a technological revolution, we also face hard questions about how to reduce transportation’s greenhouse gas emissions; make it more resilient, efficient, safe, and equitable; and pay the staggering costs of doing so. TRB framed what it thinks are the most important transportation questions to address in the next few years. It hopes this document will help spur and inform an urgently needed national debate about the future of transportation and help researchers frame and inform choices about the most promising paths forward. Join the debate. Analyze the options. Find new solutions. Our future depends on it. For a more thorough discussion of these issues go to https://www.nap.edu/download/25314 .

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Essay on Importance of Transportation (900 Words)

February 18, 2018 by Study Mentor 2 Comments

Transport or transportation is the means for movement of humans, animals, goods, etc. for one place to another for some purpose.

It is transportation that enables communication, trade, exchange, etc. between societies and localities and therefore, it is extremely important for the development of it.

Transportation contributes to the development of economic, social, political and cultural fields of a civilization and leads to the betterment of their conditions.

The revolutions that happened throughout history, such as the Industrial Revolution, or the Russian Revolutions, etc. would have been incomplete and ineffective without good means of transportation’s.

It may also be said that having better and more effective means and lines of transportation than other countries, makes a country more powerful or prosperous. Thus, it becomes a criterion to assess the development of a country.

Table of Contents

Functions of transportation

There are various functions of transportation, because of which it is important. These are:

Physical Supply of Products

Transportation becomes a means to carry necessary raw materials from raw material providers to factories where it is used to for production of goods.

From there, these products are carried to wholesalers and then markets, when it finally reaches in the hands of consumers.

In this process, it is transportation that plays the primary role. Without it, this process of supply of product to the market would not have been possible.

In fact, transport is such a key of marketing, which helps in carrying goods to the scattered consumers in different places, narrows the gap between producers and consumers and facilitates to distribute goods to the consumers at minimum cost and time.

Specialization: Transportation leads to specialization or division of labor. It leads to commercial prosperity of those involved in it, and proved an alternative opportunity for employment for those looking for it.

Stabilization in Price

Transportation helps to bring stability in prices of different commodities. It helps in relocation of goods from more supplied places to scarcely supplied areas.

This results in coherence between demand and supply, and thus brings stability in prices of the commodities. Transportation also encourages healthy competition amongst suppliers, which results in the ultimate development of the society and community.

Modes of transportation

There are various modes of transportation that are employed in its process. These are:

Land Transport System

Land transport is the oldest and most practiced system. The means, which are used to carry people and goods through land transport are called land transportation.

Land transportation is divided in two modes as road transport and railway transport. Road transport has been used since ancient time and it is very useful and important.

The means of road transport are: a). men and labors, b). animals such as mule, horse, sheep, goat, camel etc. c). cart, lorry etc. d). the modern automobile such as motor, bus, truck, tractor, tempo, trolley bus, jeep etc. are also used to transport people and goods.

People, cloths, paper materials, books, machines and machinery, animals, fresh fruits and other goods are transported from one place to another.

On the other hand, railways are used to transport goods and people from one place to another much faster and more efficiently than by road.

Development of railway transport helps much to develop industry, commerce and whole economy of any country.

It is very useful in transporting big and heavy goods and materials such as big machines, coal, food grain, chemicals, automobiles, iron, steel etc.

Water Transport System

Water transport is as an ancient means of transport, it was developed and used to transport goods and people from one country to another before the development of air transport.

It is also operated to transport goods from one part to another of any country through big canals, rivers or sea.

Water transport is a system of transporting goods and people from one place to another by ship, boat, steamer, motorboat etc. through canals, rivers, lake, sea, ocean etc.

Air Transport System

Air transport is a much more modern and faster means of transport. The importance of air transport has gradually growing.

This is the fastest speed means for transporting passengers and goods to different parts within a country and different countries of the world.

Pipeline Transport System

Pipeline is another important means of transport. Raw oil, Petroleum products, processed coal, drinking water, natural gas etc. are transported from one place to another place.

Pipeline transport may be constructed underground or underwater.

Rope-way Transport System

Rope-way is another means of transport. It can transport people and goods. It can be operated in the places where road construction is impractical and costly.

Certain limit of goods or people can be transported with the help of electricity. In the hilly remote countries, rope-way transport system may be suitable means.

Thus, the means of efficient transportation are an indispensable component of modern civilization. The economic development of a country depends largely on an efficient and adequate system of transport.

They form a very important way of gaining instrumental wealth.

No country in the world today can build up its prosperity unless it has a highly developed system of communication and transport. Development of an efficient transport system is a pre-condition of our economic development.

Transportation and Communication have an important bearing on the development of exchange and markets.

It results in increase land values, breaking of economic circles, and thus tend to equalize prices, making labor more mobile, enabling a greater division of labor among different industries and countries, determining the geographical distribution of industries, playing a very important part in relieving distress in the famine-stricken areas by rapid distribution of food-stuffs, resulting in the effectiveness of administration and national defense are inseparably connected with the advancement of transport system.

Thus, importance of transport cannot be denied. Therefore, it is the need of modern times to enhance, innovate, develop and make effective the modes of transportation mentioned above.

Reader Interactions

March 14, 2021 at 7:01 am

Other things are good but its too hard to understand.

February 1, 2022 at 5:13 pm

great writeup. .i have a view to adding up here. transport is one of the most lucrative businesses for any country and for people of that country as well. But looking at the future of automatic cars I believe transportation will going to see a massive change in their way of working. many drivers will get unemployed due to driveless trucks and would help decrease accidents as well on top of the cake.

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Building a transport system that works: Five insights from our 25-city report

Elements of success: Urban transportation systems of 25 global cities

A city’s transportation network is its cardiovascular system—a multifaceted structure that enables the continuous flow of people and goods through its arteries. Municipal authorities, city councils, urban planners, and transport-infrastructure owners and operators around the world are well aware that its quality and efficiency are crucial for the economy and for the well-being of citizens.

The research methodology

Our analysis of the performance and efficiency of transport systems uses a methodology similar to the one we used for our 2018 report , but we should not draw direct comparisons between the two. We tweaked our metrics and drew from different sources of information to derive this year’s results.

Instead of providing one general ranking for all the cities, we found it more useful to rank the cities according to specific indicators, such as public-transport efficiency and affordability (exhibit). We ranked the cities and grouped them into three categories: leading (first to tenth place), contending (11th through 18th), and emerging (19th through 25th). We assessed the transportation network of each city for availability, affordability, efficiency, convenience, and safety and sustainable development, with separate ratings for public and personal transport use.

Cities at the bottom of the ratings table need to improve the availability of their transport infrastructure and expand electronic services, which have already become part and parcel of living in most of the examined cities (highlighted chart areas marked “a”). These aspects should be a top-priority task for any city that is improving its transport system.

To rise from the middle to the top of the ratings table, cities need to improve their efficiency and safety and sustainable-development performance. These aspects differentiate the leading cities from all others (highlighted chart areas marked “b”).

The ratings table used 50 different metrics for comparison, including road and rail networks, ticketing, airport flight routes, bicycle lanes, public transport, electronic-service availability, and environmental safety. The geospatial data collected are supplemented by opinions gathered from interviews with more than 30 transport-system-development experts, plus survey responses from 10,000 residents across 25 cities to gauge current satisfaction with existing transport systems and any changes that have been implemented. We have presented the findings in a series of easy-to-digest graphics alongside summaries of the individual transportation projects and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in all 25 cities. The report covers Buenos Aires, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, São Paulo, and Toronto in the Americas; Berlin, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and Saint Petersburg in Europe; Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, and Sydney in the Asia –Pacific (APAC) region, and Johannesburg in Africa.

To help stakeholders make informed decisions, we benchmarked the transport systems in 25 cities around the world in our latest report, Key elements of success in urban transportation systems (see sidebar “The research methodology”). We ranked the cities and grouped them into three categories: leading (first through tenth place), contending (11th through 18th), and emerging (19th through 25th).

All 25 cities have expanded projects to enhance their transport systems since 2018 (Exhibit 1). Leading cities invested more in improving the availability of their public-transport infrastructure, while emerging cities invested relatively less in safety and sustainability than in the other categories. As this article explains, such factors could have implications on residents’ willingness to use public transport.

While decision makers should delve into the full report for the complete rankings and details (see sidebar “Rankings at a glance: Top five cities by category”), this article distills the report’s findings into five key insights that stakeholders should pay attention to and highlights best-in-class practices in cities around the world.

Rankings at a glance: Top five cities by category

Here are the top-performing cities in each of the five categories:.

Availability—the variety of travel-mode options for residents

Affordability—the relative weight of costs associated with various transport modes

Efficiency—the speed and predictability of getting around the city

Johannesburg

Convenience—the ease of transferring from one mode of transport to another

Safe and sustainable development—the level of safety of city travel and the environmental impact of the transport system

1. Keeping service and safety standards high assuages pandemic-related fears of using public transport

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions clearly had an impact on lifestyles and commuting patterns in 2020. Many people stopped traveling to work completely. People who relied on private cars, as well as those who used public transport, actually increased their use of private cars, even as the overall number of trips dipped (Exhibit 2). And in some cities, staff shortages and declining revenue from lower passenger usage led to reductions in service frequencies to avoid fare increases.

If these trends persist postpandemic, they are likely to exacerbate traffic congestion, pollution, and the number of traffic accidents. As such, public-transport operators and authorities will need to find ways to restore confidence in shared modes of getting around and reduce reliance on private cars. Our research found that the safer people feel about using public transport, the more they’ll use it (Exhibit 3), which suggests that the visibility of pandemic-related safety measures has a significant influence on perceived risks.

In Chinese cities, there is a lower perceived risk of infection on public-transport systems, thanks to a mandatory mask mandate, physical-distancing mandate, regular disinfection, and other epidemiological safety measures that citizens visibly adhere to. These measures are stepped up as needed (for instance, when sporadic outbreaks occur), and commuters may have to present a green health code and have their temperatures taken before entering public-transport areas. As a result, Chinese cities also experienced higher-than-average levels of public-transport mobility during the pandemic.

2. Expanding transport networks and infrastructure, as well as smart policies, keep travel options available and affordable

The top-scoring cities in transport availability—London, Madrid, and Paris—share some common characteristics: they are major railway hubs and offer good road networks, bike lanes, and pedestrian infrastructure. Beijing, Madrid, and Moscow jumped up in the transport-availability rankings by expanding their metro and rail lines. These cities also improved their road infrastructure, increased the number of bicycle lanes and pedestrian streets, and invested heavily in shared-transport schemes such as rental-bike and ride-sharing services (Exhibit 4).

Madrid’s bike-share system consists of 3,000 bicycles and 250 rental stations, with 50 rental stations added in 2020 alone. Since our last urban-transport report, in 2018, Moscow added 3,000 two-wheelers to its bike-share program. It also opened new underground lines, resulting in 700,000 more people gaining access to the Moscow Metro, while Beijing opened three new underground lines over the past several years.

Public policies play a critical role in keeping transport affordable, whether it’s by regulating low bus and subway fares or by encouraging competition between legacy transport operators and ride-sharing companies. High rates of private-car ownership tend to constrict revenue flows for the public-transport system because fewer people use public transport. Thus, policies that discourage private-car ownership tend to prevent public-transport operators from either raising fares or reducing service standards.

The Asian cities of Seoul, Shenzhen, and Singapore, for example, top the rankings for public-transport affordability, and to offset the environmental and societal costs of personal car use, these cities actively make car ownership a more expensive choice.

Public-transport systems in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Shanghai are also becoming much more affordable because of government policies stimulating economic competition and technology. Cars registered outside Shanghai are barred from certain districts, and technologies for self-driving taxis are being piloted, which may lead to lower costs in the future. Commuters enjoy the benefit of lower fares, the result of competition among multiple ride-share providers. The widespread implementation of paid parking systems in Buenos Aires and Mexico City is making private-car ownership more expensive. With more people turning to public transport or ride-sharing over private cars to avoid incurring parking costs, there are fewer vehicles on the road, which eases traffic congestion.

3. Dedicated public-transport lanes and digitalization can make the commuter experience more efficient and convenient

Efficiency refers to how quickly and predictably one can move around the city, while convenience measures how easily commuters can switch from one mode of transport to another. Increasing the number of dedicated public-transport lanes, optimizing bus routes, completing road construction or modernization projects, and implementing digital upgrades all help improve the commuter experience.

Moscow, Shenzhen, and Singapore all scored high on transport efficiency. The Russian capital’s transport system has low underground waiting times, high speeds during rush hour, and a significantly above-average proportion of dedicated bus lanes. Shenzhen, too, has a high share of dedicated bus lanes, which helps with rush-hour predictability. Singapore’s electronic road-pricing system is powered by a digital device that automatically charges the driver the road toll when the car passes through a gantry, enabling frictionless road travel for both private and public vehicles, even during peak times.

Our convenience index assesses the ease of switching from one transport mode to another. High performers have invested in upgrading their ticketing systems, increasing internet access, and increasing the number of wheelchair-accessible buses and underground stations. Some offer convenient mobility-as-a-service applications (MaaS) to plan routes and to verify and pay fines and penalties.

Toronto delivers high levels of travel comfort, courtesy of a $934 million upgrade of its bus fleet, which is now 100 percent wheelchair friendly and located closer to subway stations. Hong Kong has also revamped its public-transport system. Ninety out of 93 metro stations have been outfitted with elevators and wheelchair ramps, making it easier and quicker for wheelchair-bound passengers to board and disembark. Meanwhile, Istanbul has risen in the convenience rankings with a significantly improved ticketing system using QR-code payments. The city has also introduced the Ulasim Asistani app, which helps travelers plan journeys across multiple forms of transport, leading to a considerable improvement in satisfaction ratings among its citizens.

4. Sustainability matters—in both investment and policy

Both commuter safety and the environment cannot be neglected in a city’s efforts to improve its transport system. In both our 2018 and 2021 surveys, respondents cited safety as their number-one priority, so it’s imperative that city planners and authorities constantly look to minimize accidents and fatalities while reducing the city’s carbon footprint. As mentioned earlier, leading cities tend to invest more in sustainable mobility options than contending and emerging cities do, which has resulted in greater use of their public-transport systems (Exhibit 5).

Initiatives to ensure compliance with safety requirements matter, as do the implementation of more stringent restrictions on the use of petrol and diesel engines, measures to reduce pollution, and incentives to switch to electric vehicles.

Tokyo boasts one of the world’s lowest road-fatality levels—9.6 deaths per 1 million people. Over the past several years, the government has deployed the data-driven smart-transport system to monitor and analyze information on people’s commuting patterns and traffic violations to inform decision making. As a result, road fatalities have decreased and more people are complying with traffic rules. The government is also using new toll-management technology to decrease vehicle traffic and improve road safety.

In China, Beijing and Shanghai are aggressively curbing the negative environmental impact of their transport systems. Both cities mandated in 2021 that only vehicles that adhere to the China 6 emissions standards (roughly equivalent to the Euro 6 standard in the European Union) can be sold.

5. In some cases, better communication is needed to bridge gaps between perception and reality

We tracked how satisfied residents were with how their transport system is doing according to specific metrics and based on changes implemented since 2018. Residents appear to appreciate the hard work urban authorities have put into transport projects, but in a few cases, their perceptions may not be aligned with reality. For instance, most citizens feel that public transport is too expensive in their cities (Exhibit 6). So even though Seoul, for example, stands out as a leader in public-transport affordability based on objective metrics, its citizens remain dissatisfied.

This suggests that authorities need to keep the residents informed of all positive changes and continue their efforts to improve public perceptions. It is highly likely that additional restrictions on personal motor vehicles will be introduced in the coming years and that environmental regulations will become more stringent. To improve the public perception of such efforts, city authorities must not only score tangible successes but also clearly articulate them.

Our full progress report benchmarking the transport systems in 25 cities around the world investigates the five themes outlined in this article in greater depth, and includes other findings that are relevant to key stakeholders. Overall, while there’s reason to celebrate the many improvements in the majority of our metrics in cities around the world, there’s still much work to be done. Making informed decisions about the further development of city transport systems will help.

Dmitry Chechulin is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Moscow office, where Vadim Pokotilo is a partner. Detlev Mohr is a senior partner in the Tokyo office, and Lola Woetzel is a senior partner in the Shanghai office.

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Elements of success: Urban transportation systems of 24 global cities

Bored? San Francisco Public Transit Now Has Short Story Dispensers

I ’m a huge fan of short stories. I love reading fiction, printed on old school paper. With ink. It’s one of my favorite ways to wind down at the end of the day or pass a few hours of travel. I’m certainly not alone, and now San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system is giving us bibliophiles another reason to take the train.

If you get to one of four pioneering BART stations and realize it will be a few minutes before your train arrives, you can walk up to a blue kiosk and punch one of three buttons: “1 minute,” “3 minutes,” or “5 minutes.” The machine will print a random short story–of your requested reading time–on a receipt-sized scroll. You can take it on the train with you or read it right there in the station before trying your luck again.

So what kind of stories can you expect? They may be timeless classics in the public domain. Or they may be recently written contest winners. BART actually hosts a contest for stories with a “movement” theme. Competitors may include Bay Area residents, BART employees, or even award-winning writers from around the globe. You’ll just have to visit a kiosk to find out.

Who in the world thought of an automatic story dispenser? The French. Shocking, I know: the adopted home of writers such as James Joyces, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, and Ernest Hemingway values literature.

The startup responsible for these short story dispensers is called “Short Edition.” The first one in San Francisco actually popped up in Francis Ford Coppola’s North Beach restaurant: Zoetrope Cafe. They are also popular in universities and libraries across the country (including San Jose libraries and the Fletcher Middle School in Palo Alto). But BART is the first transportation network to hop on the growing trend.

So next time you’re taking the train, aim to arrive a few minutes early and enjoy a surprise piece of literature.

Next, see how pretend driving stations are amusing children on London public transit , or see BART’s story dispensers for yourself in the video below:

Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac: United By Parallel Road Trips

The post Bored? San Francisco Public Transit Now Has Short Story Dispensers appeared first on MotorBiscuit .

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Bored? San Francisco Public Transit Now Has Short Story Dispensers
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Essay on Bus Transportation

What Are the Major Benefits of Public Transportation Essay?

Public Transportation Mitigates Air Pollution

Better Fuel Consumption

Improves Traffic Management

Reduction in Financial Cost

Best Alternative of Personal Transport

Public Transportation is Much Safer

It Promotes Healthy Environment

Mitigating Global Warming

Best Topics for Essay on Transportation

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Essay on Transport in 500 Words

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