While previous posts looked at the ways in which goods can be transported from wherever to wherever, I want to take a break from that and look at another side of the transport industry, which is the transportation of people, in other words, public transportation.

Most of us will use this mode of transport at some time or other, while many of us have the dubious pleasure of having to make use of it on a regular basis. This can be for commuting from home to a job where it is inconvenient or uneconomical to use the family car. We also use forms of public transportation to take us on long journeys when again, it is more economical and often faster than using the car.

In this sense, I’m talking about long haul coaches or trains across land. For crossing water we have boats such as cross harbor or cross river ferries and ocean going vessels for those longer trips or pleasure cruises. For long distances that need to be covered in the shortest time, we of course have the airplane.

We often use public transportation for going on vacation, especially when visiting foreign countries which often require a flight and all the additional transfers that go with it. Airports usually have a collection of coaches or minibuses for ferrying holidaymakers between the airport and their hotel, or if this is not an option, then there are always rows of taxi cabs.

Commuting is often a hated chore that many of us have to endure on a daily basis to get to our jobs where they may be situated in the center of town where parking may be restricted or prohibitively expensive. There are commuter trains that are often overcrowded during the rush hour both in the morning and evening and are often referred to as cattle trucks as people are generally squeezed into each carriage like cattle off to market… or slaughter, depending upon how you view it!

Other people take the subway which can be even more stressful than overland trains, as you are usually locked underground where the air quality is usually bad and the ambient temperature is a lottery depending upon the whim of the train driver. Still others take the bus or a tram if your city has them. These are usually not so bad as packed commuter and subway trains, but are slower to get across town as they have to battle their way through the traffic!

But that’s as much as I feel like writing on this subject for now. I’ll maybe re-visit this and talk about public transportation some more in a future post.

Transport