Public transport has become an indispensable part of the modern world. These vehicles, which facilitate transportation and make life more sustainable for people living in big cities around the world, have undergone a significant change in the development process in the past.
The origins of public transportation date back to the time people moved from one place to another in large numbers. People first used horse-drawn carriages, and then they had the opportunity to travel faster and more effectively by rail transport such as trains and trams. Later, vehicles such as buses, metro lines, and light rail systems were developed and the public transportation network was expanded.
Public vehicles have become a critical need today. Density and traffic problems in big cities made it difficult to reach destinations by individual cars and increased the demand for public vehicles. Public transport makes the daily life of many people easier.
It meets people's basic transportation needs, such as going to work, going to school, and performing other daily activities. These vehicles are a more viable option for many people to benefit economically, as well as reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution. Public transport networks also help cities become more sustainable.
Also, public transport offers people the opportunity to explore different regions and have a variety of cultural experiences. At the same time, stations, stops, etc. other functional structures make it easier for disabled and elderly people to move around the city alone.
Let’s take a look at a list of some commonly used public vehicles to facilitate urban and intercity transportation.
The bus is one of the most widely used public vehicles in urban and intercity transportation. It carries passengers by stopping at designated stops on certain lines.
Buses can have a capacity of up to 300 passengers, with an average bus usually carrying between 30 and 100 passengers.
The most common types include double-decker buses, articulated buses carrying larger loads, midwibuses, minibusses carrying smaller loads, and single-decker buses. The intercity bus is used for longer-distance services.
Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, and electric trolleybuses in 1882. They used the first motorized buses in 1895.
Recently, there has been growing interest in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, and electric buses, as well as buses powered by compressed natural gas or biodiesel. Since the 2010s, bus production is increasingly global and new designs are popping up all over the world.
The metro is a type of high-capacity public transport usually found in urban areas. Unlike buses or trams, usually, subway systems are railways running on a private right of way, inaccessible by pedestrians or other vehicles, and located in tunnels. It is a rail system serving underground or high-speed lines for urban transportation. Metro lines often host a large crowd.
Various private companies opened the first lines of the London Underground. Besides the main railway lines, it started to be used as a part of public transportation in 1933.
Trams, which are among the rail systems, carry a high number of passengers. There are both high-speed trams and low-speed trams. Unlike trains, rails can be laid on the streets and other vehicles can pass through these roads. Most trams run on electric power. There are also horse or petrol-powered trams.
The train is a public vehicle that is widely used in intercity and intercontinental travel. Trains run on certain lines on the rail system and usually cover longer distances. The train was first used in England in the early 1800s. The train was born because of an argument between an engineer named Richard Trevithick and a mine owner in Pennydarran, U.K.
The ferry or car ferry is the general name of the ferries used to transport vehicles. It is a transport mode used in the sea or lakes. It is used to transport passengers and vehicles between cities and the islands. Western Mediterranean, Adriatic, Aegean, English Channel, North Sea, and Baltic Sea are some regions where ferry lines operate frequently. In some regions, both road vehicles and ships built for railway vehicles operate.
The cable car is a system in which cabins are suspended that provide transportation to high points in mountainous regions or in the city. A ropeway is a transportation system with a suspended vehicle that travels between two distant places, connected by one or several steel ropes stretched in the air. Cable cars work with the principle of the elevator, but they can rise to very high points from the ground, just like a helicopter, especially at valley crossings. The world's longest cable car, Norsjö Cable Car, runs between Örtrask and Menstrask settlements in Norsjö, Sweden. The length of this line, which was established in 1942, is 13.2 kilometers (8.2 miles) long. The journey time is 1.5 hours.
