Encyclopedia
Transport or
transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another. The term is derived from the
Latin trans and
portare .
Aspects of transport
The field of transport has several aspects: loosely they can be divided into a triad of infrastructure,
vehicles, and operations. Infrastructure includes the transport networks that are used, as well as the nodes or terminals . The vehicles generally ride on the networks, such as
automobiles,
bicycles,
buses,
trains,
airplanes. The operations deal with the control of the system, such as
traffic signals and
ramp meters,
railroad switches,
air traffic control, etc, as well as policies, such as how to
finance the system .
Broadly speaking, the design of networks are the domain of
civil engineering and
urban planning, the design of vehicles of
mechanical engineering and specialized subfields such as
nautical engineering and aerospace engineering, and the operations are usually specialized, though might appropriately belong to operations research or systems engineering.
Modes and categories
Modes are combinations of networks,
vehicles, and operations, and include
walking, the
road transport system,
rail transport, ship transport and modern
aviation.
;Categories of transport
...
- Hybrid transport
- New Mobility Agenda
- Ship transport
- Space transport
- Sustainable transportation
- Transport on other planets
- Proposed future transport
animal-powered transport is a broad category of the
human use of non-human working animals for the movement of people and goods. Humans may ride some of the larger of these animals directly, use them as pack animals for carrying goods, or harness them, singly or in teams, to pull
sleds or wheeled
vehicles.
Vehicle
Vehicles are non-living means of transportation. They are most often man-made , although some other means of
transportation which are not made by man can also be called vehicles; examples include
icebergs and floating tree trunks.
Vehicles may be propelled by animals, e.g. a
chariot or an ox-cart. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transportation, are not called vehicles. This includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person.
Most land vehicles have
wheels. Please see the
wheel article for examples of vehicles with and without wheels.
Movement without the help of a vehicle or an animal is called locomotion. The word
vehicle itself comes from the Latin
vehiculum.
A
fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air craft where movement of the wings in relation to the aircraft is not used to generate lift. The term is used to distinguish from rotary-wing aircraft, where the movement of the lift surfaces relative to the aircraft generates lift. A more rare type of aircraft that is neither
fixed-wing nor
rotary-wing is an
ornithopter. A
heliplane is both fixed-wing and rotary-wing.
Fixed-wing aircraft include a large range of craft from small trainers and recreational aircraft to large
airliners and military
cargo aircraft. Some aircraft use fixed wings to provide lift only part of the time and may or may not be referred to as fixed-wing.
The current term also embraces
aircraft with folding wings that are intended to fold when on the ground. This is usually to ease storage or facilitate transport on, for example, a vehicle trailer or the powered lift connecting the hangar deck of an
aircraft carrier to its flight deck. It also embraces aircraft, such as the
General Dynamics F-111,
Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the
Panavia Tornado, which can vary the
sweep angle of their wings during flight. These aircraft are termed "variable geometry" aircraft. When the wings of these aircraft are fully swept, usually for high speed cruise, the trailing edges of their wings about the leading edges of their tailplanes, giving an impression of a single
delta wing if viewed in plan. There are also rare examples of aircraft which can vary the
angle of incidence of their wings in flight, such the
F-8 Crusader, which are also considered to be "fixed-wing".
Two necessities for all fixed-wing aircraft are air flow over the wings for lifting of the aircraft, and an open area for landing. The majority of aircraft, however, also need an airport with the infrastructure to receive maintenance, restocking, refueling and for the loading and unloading of crew, cargo and/or passengers. While the vast majority of aircraft land and take off on land, some are capable of take off and landing on ice, snow and calm water.
The aircraft is the second fastest method of transport, after the
rocket. Commercial jet aircraft can reach up to 875 km/h. Single-engined aircraft are capable of reaching 175 km/h or more at cruise speed. Supersonic aircraft can reach speeds faster than sound. The record is currently held by the
SR-71 with a speed of 3,529.56 km/h.
Rail
Rail transport is the transport of passengers and goods along
railways or
railroads. A typical railway track consists of two parallel
steel rails, generally anchored
perpendicular to beams
In rail transport, a
train consists of rail vehicles that move along guides to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The guideway usually consists of conventional
rail tracks, but might also be
monorail or
maglev. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate
locomotive, or from individual motors in self-propelled
multiple units. Most trains are powered by
diesel engines or by
electricity supplied by
trackside systems. Historically the
steam engine was the dominant form of locomotive power through the mid-
20th century, but other sources of power are possible.
Automobile
An
automobile is a
wheeled passenger
vehicle that carries its own
motor. Different types of automobiles include cars,
buses,
trucks, and
vans. Some include
motorcycles in the category, but cars are the most typical automobiles. The term
automobile is derived from Greek
auto- and Latin
mobilis , referring to the fact that it "moves by itself". Earlier terms for automobile include
motorwagen, and
horseless carriage. Although the term "car" is presumed to be derived through the shortening of the term "carriage", the word has its origin before 1300 A.D. in English as, "carr"—derived from similar words in French and much earlier Greek words—for a vehicle that moves, especially on wheels, that was applied to
chariots, small carts, and later—to
carriages that carried more people and larger loads. As of 2002 there were 590 million passenger cars worldwide , of which 140 million in the
U.S. .
The automobile was thought of as an environmental improvement over horses when it was first introduced in the 1880s. Before its introduction, in
New York City alone, more than 1,800 tons of
manure had to be removed from the streets daily, although the manure was used as natural
fertilizer for crops and to build top soil. In 2006, the automobile is recognized as one of the primary sources of world-wide
air pollution and a cause of substantial
noise pollution and adverse health effects.
See also
Bicycle
A
bicycle, or
bike, is a
pedal-driven
human-powered vehicle with two
wheels attached to a
frame, one behind the other. First introduced in
19th-century Europe, bicycles evolved quickly into their familiar, current design. Numbering over 1,000,000,000 in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of
transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreational transport in others.
The bicycle is one of the most notable of human inventions. The basic shape and configuration of the frame, wheels, pedals, saddle and handlebars has hardly changed since the first
chain-driven model was developed around 1885, although many important detail improvements have been made since, especially in recent years using modern materials and
computer-aided design.
A remarkable aspect of the bicycle is its widespread adoption in many different fields of human activity, e.g. as a child's toy, in adult recreation and fitness, as a means of everyday transport, in cyclo-touring, for use in many cycle sports, and as a basis for static gymnasium or home fitness versions.
The bicycle has affected history considerably in both the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle construction drew on pre-existing technologies; more recently, bicycle technology has contributed, in turn, to other, newer areas. Beyond recreation and transportation, bicycles have been adapted for use in many occupations, including the military, local policing, courier services, and sports. A recurrent theme in bicycling has been the tension between bicyclists and drivers of motor vehicles, each group arguing for its fair share of the world's roadways.
Water transport
Watercraft
A
watercraft is a
vehicle designed to float on and move across
water for pleasure, physical exercise , transporting people and/or goods, or military missions.
The common need for buoyancy unites all watercraft, and makes each one's hull a dominant aspect of its construction, maintenance, and appearance.
Most watercraft would be described as either
ships or
boats; although nearly all ships are larger than nearly all boats, the distinction between those two categories is not one of size per se.
- A rule of thumb says "a boat can fit on a ship, but a ship can't fit on a boat", and a ship usually has sufficient size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts.
- Often local law and regulation will define the exact size that distinguishes a ship from boats.
- Traditionally submarines were called "boats", perhaps reflecting their cramped conditions: small size reduces the need for power, and thus the need to surface or snorkel for a supply of the air that running diesel engines requires; in contrast, nuclear-powered submarines' reactors supply abundant power without consuming air, and such craft are large, much roomier, and classed as ships.
Another definition says a ship is any floating craft that transports cargo for the purpose of earning revenue; in that context, passenger ships transport "supercargo", another name for passengers or persons not working on board. However, neither fishing boats nor
ferries are considered ships, though both carry cargo .
English seldom uses the term "watercraft" to describe any specific individual object : rather the term serves to unify the category that ranges from small
boats to the largest
ships, and also includes the diverse watercraft for which some term even more specific than
ship or
boat comes to mind first.
Ship transport
Ship transport is the process of moving people, goods, etc. by
barge,
boat,
ship or
sailboat over a
sea,
ocean,
lake,
canal or
river. This is frequently undertaken for purposes of commerce,
recreation or
military objectives.
A hybrid of ship transport and
road transport is the historic horse-drawn boat. Hybrids of ship transport and
air transport are
kite surfing and
parasailing.
The first craft were probably types of
canoes cut out from
tree trunks. The colonization of
Australia by
Indigenous Australians provides indirect but conclusive evidence for the latest date for the invention of ocean-going craft; land bridges linked southeast Asia through most of the
Malay Archipelago but a
strait had to be crossed to arrive at
New Guinea, which was then linked to Australia. Ocean-going craft were required for the
colonization to happen.
Early sea transport was accomplished with ships that were either rowed or used the
wind for propulsion, and often, in earlier times with smaller vessels, a combination of the two.
Also there have been horse-powered boats, with horses on the deck providing power .
Ship transport was frequently used as a mechanism for conducting
warfare. Military use of the seas and waterways is covered in greater detail under
navy.
In the 1800s the first
steam ships were developed, using a
steam engine to drive a
paddle wheel or
propeller to move the ship. The
steam was produced using wood or
coal. Now most ships have an
engine using a slightly refined type of
petroleum called bunker fuel. Some specialized ships, such as
submarines, use
nuclear power to produce the steam.
Recreational or
educational craft still use wind power, while some smaller craft use
internal combustion engines to drive one or more
propellers, or in the case of jet boats, an inboard water jet. In shallow draft areas, such as the
Everglades, some craft, such as the
hovercraft, are propelled by large pusher-prop fans.
Although relatively slow, modern sea transport is a highly effective method of transporting large quantities of non-perishable goods. Transport by water is significantly less costly than
transport by air for trans-continental
shipping.
In the context of sea transport, a
road is an
anchorage.
See also
Transport and communications
Transport and communication are both substitutes and complements. Though it might be possible that sufficiently advanced communication could substitute for transport, one could telegraph, telephone, fax, or email a customer rather than visiting them in person, it has been found that those modes of communication in fact generate more total interactions, including interpersonal interactions. The growth in transport would be impossible without communication, which is vital for advanced transportation systems, from railroads which want to run trains in two directions on a single track, to air traffic control which requires knowing the location of aircraft in the sky. Thus, it has been found that the increase of one generally leads to more of the other.
Transport and land use
There is a well-known relationship between the density of development, and types of transportation. Intensity of development is often measured by area of floor area ratio , the ratio of useable floorspace to area of land. As a rule of thumb, FARs of 1.5 or less are well suited to automobiles, those of six and above are well suited to trains. The range of densities from about two up to about four is not well served by conventional
public or private transport. Many cities have grown into these densities, and are suffering traffic problems.
Land uses support activities. Those activities are spatially separated. People need transport to go from one to the other . Transport is a "derived demand," in that transport is unnecessary but for the activities pursued at the ends of trips.
Good land use keeps common activities close , and places higher-density development closer to transportation lines and hubs. Poor land use concentrates activities far from other destinations .
There are economies of agglomeration. Beyond transportation some land uses are more efficient when clustered. Transportation facilities consume land, and in cities, pavement can easily exceed 20 percent of the total land use. An efficient transport system can reduce land waste.
Transport in cities
Transport in cities, the ways that people and goods move through and serve the complex physical, economic and social metabolism of these living organisms, presents a special case.
The city presents an unusual context for transport, mobility and policy choices because of the much higher densities of people and activities relative to the rest. This leads to a situation where environmental,
economic, public health, social and quality of life considerations and constraints become at least equi-important to pure mobility objectives and requirements.
Traditionally, however, urban transport analysis, policies and the investments that follow have been lead by professional transport planners and traffic experts, who have by and large made use of the same forecasting and response tools that they have used to good effect in other transport sectors. The result of relying on these narrowly conceived, highly focused technical tools has led in most cities to a substantial overbuilding of the road and supporting infrastructure, which has purposely maximized throughput in terms of the numbers of vehicles and the speeds with which they pass through and move around in the built-up areas.
Too much infrastructure and too much smoothing of it for maximum vehicle throughput and speeds has created situations in which in many cities of the world there is not only too much traffic but also many - if not all - of the negative impacts that go with it. This is the dilemma of transport policy and practice in our cities today, with the negative results that can be clearly observed in all too many places.
It is only in recent years that these traditional practices have started to be questioned in many places, and as a result of new types of analysis which bring in a much broader range of skills than those traditionally relied on – spanning such areas as environmental impact analysis, public health, sociologists as well as economists who increasingly are questioning the viability of the old mobility solutions -- we are today at a turn in the road as far as transport in cities is concerned. It is relevant to note that by and large European cities and local government are leading the way in this transition in process.
It is critically important that analytic procedures and practices in the sector are radically revised and rendered more appropriate for the emerging and very different circumstances presented by 21st century cities. First, because that’s where half of the earth’s population already is. Second because these are the areas with by far the highest growth rates. Third, most of this growth is now taking place in the Global South, whose cities are growing at rates out of control. And hand in had with this because the number of motor vehicles is exploding, leading to levels of traffic and problems which far exceed anything ever seen in the past.
The field of transport planning and policy in cities is under enormous pressure for change, but despite this the traditional approaches continue to dominate in most places. This is certainly the main battle ground for transport policy in the years immediately ahead.
You can find more on this topic here in the sections on Sustainable Transportation and the New Mobility Agenda.
See also
Transport, energy, and the environment
Transport is a major use of
energy, and transport burns most of the world's
petroleum.
Hydrocarbon fuels produce
carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas widely thought to be the chief cause of
global climate change, and petroleum-powered engines, especially inefficient ones, create air pollution, including
nitrous oxides and
particulates . Although vehicles in
developed countries have been getting cleaner because of environmental regulations, this has been offset by an increase in the number of vehicles and more use of each vehicle.
Other
environmental impacts of transport systems include traffic congestion, toxic runoff from roads and parking lots that can pollute water supplies and aquatic ecosystems, and automobile-oriented urban sprawl, which can consume natural habitat and agricultural lands.
Low-pollution fuels can reduce pollution. Low pollution fuels may have a reduced
carbon content, and thereby contribute less in the way of carbon dioxide emissions, and generally have reduced
sulfur, since sulfur exhaust is a cause of
acid rain. The most popular low-pollution fuel at this time is
liquefied natural gas.
Hydrogen is an even lower-pollution fuel that produces no carbon dioxide, but producing and storing it economically is currently not feasible. Other alternative
renewable energy sources such as
biodiesel are being researched heavily.
Another strategy is to make vehicles more efficient, which reduces pollution and waste by reducing the energy use.
Electric vehicles use efficient electric motors, but their range is limited by either the extent of the electric transmission system or by the storage capacity of batteries. Electrified public transport generally uses overhead wires or third rails to transmit electricity to vehicles, and is used for both rail and bus transport.
Battery electric vehicles store their electric fuel onboard in a battery pack. Another method is to generate energy using
fuel cells, which may eventually be two to five times as efficient as the
internal combustion engines currently used in most vehicles. Another effective method is to streamline ground vehicles, which spend up to 75% of their energy on air-resistance, and to reduce their weight. Regenerative braking is possible in all electric vehicles and recaptures the energy normally lost to braking, and is becoming
common in rail vehicles. In internal combustion automobiles and buses, regenerative braking is not possible, unless electric vehicle components are also a part of the powertrain, these are called
hybrid electric vehicles.
Shifting travel from automobiles to well-utilized public transport can reduce energy consumption and traffic congestion.
Walking and
bicycling instead of traveling by motorized means also reduces the consumption of fossil fuels. While the use of these two modes generally declines as a given area becomes wealthier, there are some countries where bicycling comprises a significant share of trips. Some cities with particularly high modal shares of cycling are
Oulu ,
Copenhagen and Groningen . A number of other cities, including
London,
Paris,
New York,
Sydney,
Bogotá,
Chicago and
San Francisco are creating networks of
bicycle lanes and bicycle paths, but the value of such devices for is highly controversial.
Research
Transport research facilities are mainly attached to universities or are steered by the state. In most countries one can see now how laboratories are brought into PPP-operation, where industry takes over part of the share.
Some major research centres in Europe:
- Transport Research Laboratory
USA:
- Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley
- National Transportation Research Center
The European Commission supports the co-operation and collaboration amongst the transport laboratories by funding projects like EXTR@Web and . Especially the transition from planned economy to achieving a stable position on the market will be a challenge for laboratories in the new member states. Another EU-project is coping with those problems.
See also
