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mass transit: Information and Much More from Answers.com

  • ️Wed Jul 01 2015

Bangkok Skytrain.

Early trolley car in Newton, Massachusetts.

Public transport, public transportation, public transit or mass transit comprise all transport systems in which the passengers do not travel in their own vehicles. While the above terms are generally taken to include rail and bus services, wider definitions might include scheduled airline services, ferries, taxicab services etc. — any system that transports members of the general public. A further restriction that is sometimes applied is that transit should occur in continuously shared vehicles, which would exclude taxis that are not shared-ride taxis.


The term public transport is preferred in the British Isles and most Commonwealth countries, whereas public transportation, public transit or mass transit are used most often in North America. The term transit is less likely to include long-distance forms of public transportation, such as long-distance or commuter railroads, inter-city buses, or intercity railways.

Public transport is usually regulated as a common carrier and is usually configured to provide scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis. The majority of transit passengers are traveling within a local area or region between their homes and places of employment, shopping, or schools.[citation needed]

In general

Public transport is the primary form of motor transport. Whilst in the western world private cars dominate, in the developing world, which represents the majority of the global population, private car ownership is prohibitively expensive (for example, in dense urban areas through the high cost of parking), and walking, (motor)cycling, and public transport are often the only practicable options, with only the latter being viable for longer distances. This often takes the form of mini-buses (jitneys) that may follow fixed routes but are usually flexible, including taxi-style door-to-door transportation.

Public conveyances that travel on roads alongside private traffic are often slower than private transport because ordinary vehicular speed of travel is further burdened, in the case of public transit, by service headways (wait times for passenger vehicles), connections, and frequent stops to board additional passengers. Use of some public transport systems may take up to two or even three times longer than an equivalent trip in a private vehicle, especially where transfers are required or headways are long. The challenge of headways, connections, and stops generally cannot be alleviated, so improvements to the speed of public transit often have focused on increases to vehicular speed beyond that of private traffic by means of the use of dedicated or semi-dedicated travel lanes (grade-separated, elevated, or depressed rights-of-way) and traffic light preempts.

Public transport in general has a smaller footprint per rider than private motor transit, and thus has a significant advantage in areas with higher population densities, because land space in such areas is at a premium. Cost is not the only relevant factor. In densely settled areas, traffic congestion frequently slows private motor transit to a crawl.

The term rapid transit, is often used to distinguish modes of transit possessing a dedicated right of way and having frequent, continuous service. Still, rapid transit often fails to live up to the name, as there are no firm guidelines as to how fast transit must be to be rapid.[1] Light rail is another form of public transit, comprising of a tram or trolley operating on a rail line.

History

Conveyances for public hire are as old as the first ferries, and the earliest public transport was water transport, for on land people walked or rode an animal. This form of transport is part of Greek mythology — corpses in ancient Greece were always buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades.

Some historical forms of public transport are the stagecoach, traveling a fixed route from inn to inn, and the horse-drawn boat carrying paying passengers, which was a feature of canals from their 17th-century origins.

The omnibus, the first organized public transit system within a city, appears to have originated in Nantes, France, in 1826.

Funding

A Community Transit bus located in Lynnwood, WA

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A Community Transit bus located in Lynnwood, WA

A Volvo articulated bus in contract service for Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, operated by Virginia Overland Transportation, an urban-suburban bus line, in 2003

Public transport systems generally rely on government subsidy to supplement fare collections, though a few systems are run as unsubsidized commercial enterprises or are entirely paid for by governments. The percentage of revenue from passenger charges is known as the farebox recovery ratio. Transit systems earn incidental revenue from their unused real estate, in the form of parking fees, leasing space to shops and vendors, advertising, and lately, leasing their tunnels and rights-of-way to carry fiber optic communication lines.

Some systems are owned and operated by a government agency; other transportation services may be commercial, but receive greater benefits from the government compared to a normal company, e.g.,

  • direct payments to run unprofitable services.
  • government bailouts if the company is likely to collapse (often applied to airlines).
  • tax advantages, e.g., aviation fuel is typically not taxed.
  • reduction of competition through licensing schemes (often applied to taxi and airline services.)
  • allowing use of state-owned infrastructure without payment or for less than cost-price (may apply for railways).

One reason many cities spend large sums on their public transport systems is that heavy automobile traffic congests city streets and causes air pollution. It is believed that public transport systems alleviate this, but reducing car traffic is not always assured.

Some city councils fund public transport infrastructure to promote business and economic growth, or to regenerate deprived ares of the city. Examples of public transport planned according to this philosophy are the Docklands Light Rail and Crossrail projects in London.

Some government officials believe that use of taxpayer capital to fund mass transit will ultimately save taxpayer money in other ways, and therefore, state-funded mass transit is a benefit to the taxpayer. Since lack of mass transit results in more traffic, pollution, and road construction to accommodate more vehicles, all costly to taxpayers, providing mass transit will therefore alleviate these costs.

Another reason for subsidies for public transit are the provision of mobility to those who reject its use on convenience, environmental or safety grounds and those who cannot afford or are physically incapable of using an automobile.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, MTR Corporation Limited and KCR Corporation are given the rights to utilise lands near stations, depots or tracks for property development. Profits from land development cover the partial cost of construction, but not operation, of the urban rail systems. Similar arrangements are available to the ferry piers of franchised ferry service providers. Franchised bus operators are exempted from paying tax on diesel.

United States

In the United States, operations of most public transit services are financially subsidized by local and state governments, who provide matching funds to receive up to 80% capital grant aid from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation [citation needed]. This agency administers programs which provide funding and support services to state and local agencies which operate a wide range of public transportation services.

These include local urban and suburban bus and paratransit services, light rail, heritage streetcar systems, cable car, subway, rapid transit, and commuter rail services.

Special rural transportation programs of the FTA and some state governments provide assistance for bus and para-transit services in some areas. New York City has the most extensive transit system in the country, operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in the New York City Metropolitan Area. MTA FactsArlington, Texas (pop. 360,000) is the largest city in the United States without conventional fixed-route public transportation. (Arlington operates a demand responsive paratransit service( Handitran.))

Environmental impact

Emissions from road vehicles account for over 50% of U.S. air pollution. For every passenger mile traveled, public transportation uses less than one half of the fuel of private automobiles, producing 5% as much carbon monoxide and less than 8% as much as the other pollutants that create smog (such as volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides). Scientists estimate that public transportation already reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global climate change, by over 7.4 million tons annually. If Americans were to use public transportation at equivalent rates as Europeans, scientists estimate that U.S. dependence on imported oil would decrease by more than 40% and that carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by more than 25%. [2] [3] However, in almost all cases, public transit systems in the United States have had almost no impact on the number of drivers. [4]

Economic impact

Development generated since 1985, when Alewife station opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transit oriented development attempts to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of public transit investments by encouraging greater development density within walking distance of stations. Few localities have the ability to seize and reassign development rights to a private transit operator, as Hong Kong has done.

Detractors point out that public transit rarely covers its operating costs through fares (though this may be a misleading statement, since part of a freeway's "operating" cost, that of owning and maintaining vehicles, is tacitly covered by its private users). No transit agency in the U.S. has achieved this for several decades [1]; as of 2003, U.S. transit operators obtained only 32.6% of their operating funding from fares, the rest coming primarily from government subsidies [2]. At times, transit unions have staged strikes, which have the potential to bring a public-transit led city to a virtual standstill. However, automobile congestion continues to grow [3] and since 1995, U.S. public transportation ridership has risen 21% – more than the same period's increase in roadway vehicle miles or airline passenger miles. [4] Several U.S. states that were considered bastions of highway-only thinking, such as Colorado and Utah, had approved major public transportation investments by 2005.

Public transport vs. car in different countries

In western world, public transport and car advocates have been debating, which mode of transport is the best. In United States car have been the norm after 1960s. Public transport is almost unexistent in many, even bigger cities. There are only a few cities, where public transport have been reserved in a good condition. New York City is one of them. Intercity transport works in United States mainly by car or airplane. In Northeast Corridor, which is densely populated string of cities, there is the most busiest train line in USA. Amtrak operates popular Acela Express train in this route. Outside this city chain, cars and airplanes dominate and trains and buses users are a minority. In 2000s in many places in US cities have noticed, that wide car usage is a problem. Many expressway haven't been built and public transport has been restored or improved many places. New projects of rail transit are under construction. This is a beginning, but decades of wide usage of car has been caused urban sprawl. In response of this, cities have began to make their city centres more enticing to discourage sprawl.

In Europe the situation has been better all the time. Denser urban structure has forced the countries to have working public transport. Cities have encountered their fastest growth before car were invented and/or widespread, so they are designed for walking, cycling and tram or bus usage. Tradition of public transport and light transport culture remains even today, when living standards have escalated in Europe and other Western world. There are many countries, which have made substantial efforts to encourage people to use public transport. France has built a wide TGV network, built light rail, took lanes from cars to light transport in city centres and car usage and its social status has even decreased there [5]. Nordic Countries are known for high status and high quality of public transport there, for example Sweden has created Länstrafik system by state's subsidy to offer good transport services to even those places, where it isn't profitable by business terms. In Finland public transport usage tradition is living quite well in Helsinki, but other cities, towns and municipalities haven't been as interested to keep the public transport up and working, so its use has decreased year by year and same time city centres have weakened because of shopping centres of ringroads. Urban sprawl and growing car usage has been problem of Helsinki region also in 2000s, however. Train services are popular and good working in Europe. There are even high speed trains and night trains crossing many countries. In Germany AIRail Service has even replaced some airline routes.

In Asia the population density is so high, that wide use of car usage is very hard to sustain. In Japan, which is rich country, they have known this for decades and people there use very much rail transit. It is very costly and hard to use car there. Same is true for Singapore. In China they have before used a lot bicycle and moped, but car usage is growing fast and is causing a lot of problems, traffic jams and pollution.

In Africa people haven't in most cases other options than public transport, animal transport or by foot. Traffic problems aren't huge there, yet. Things can change, when people have more money and governments in Africa must react this someway then.

Social issues

Critics of public transportation systems often claim they attract "undesirable elements" and tell of violent criminals preying on passengers and homeless people sleeping on trains and relieving themselves in public areas.[5] On a few occasions, passengers have reacted by taking the law into their own hands (as in the notorious 1984 case of the "subway vigilante", Bernhard Goetz).

Despite the occasional highly publicized incident, the vast majority of modern public transport systems are well-patrolled and generally have low crime rates.[citation needed] Most transit operators have developed methods to discourage people from using their facilities for overnight shelter. Well designed transit systems are used by many social classes and new systems have a major positive impact on real estate prices. The Hong Kong metro MTR generates a profit by redeveloping land around its stations. Much public opposition to new transit construction protests the impact on neighbourhoods of the new economic development public transportation attracts.

By contrast, car accidents cause an estimated 1 million fatalities per year world wide. In the United States alone there were 42,643 automobile accident fatalities in 2003, almost three times the total number of murders (14,408). Over 9 in 10 commuters in North America travel to work by car.

Food & drink

No Food Or Drink On Metro, Washington, D.C.

Some transport systems forbid (the consumption of) food or drink when riding on public transport. Sometimes only types of food are forbidden with more risk of making the vehicles dirty, e.g. ice creams and French fries.

Rules tend to be more strict in metros, trams, and buses than in non-metro trains (also in other regards, see sitting). In fact, the latter sometimes sell food and drink on board, or even have a dedicated buffet car and/or dining car. Also consuming brought-along food and drinks is allowed, except in these special carriages.

Smoking is prohibited in all or some parts of most public transportation systems due to safety and health issues. Generally smoking isn't allowed on the actual buses and trains, while rules concerning stations and waiting platforms differ from system to system.

Sound and noise

In addition to talking to each other, many passengers use their cell phone in public transport. Although usually not allowed, sometimes music is played aloud. Some rail operators provide "quiet cars" where also talking is not allowed.

Sleeping

Bus shelter with seats designed to deter sleeping.

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Bus shelter with seats designed to deter sleeping.

In the era when long distance trips took several days, sleeping accommodations were an essential part of transportation. Today, most airlines and long-distance trains offer reclining seats and many provide pillows and blankets for overnight travelers. Better sleeping arrangements are commonly offered for a premium fare (e.g. first class, business class, etc.) and include sleeping cars on overnight trains, larger private cabins on ships and airplane seats that convert into beds. Budget-conscious tourists sometimes plan their trips using overnight train or bus trips in lieu of paying for an hotel.

The ability to get additional sleep on the way to work is attractive to many commuters using public transportation. Occasionally, a local transit route with a long overnight segment and which accepts inexpensive multi-use passes will acquire a reputation as a "moving hotel" for people with limited funds. Most transportation agencies actively discourage this. For this and other reasons passengers are often required to exit the vehicle at the end of the line; they can board again in the same or another vehicle, after some waiting. Also, even a low fare often deters the poorest individuals, including homeless people.

One example of the moving homeless shelter phenomenon is the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus line 22 [6] between Palo Alto, California and San Jose, California in the United States. It is often called "Hotel 22" or "Motel 22" by the homeless of Silicon Valley.[6][7]A pass for a night costs US$5.25 and $61.25 for a month, much less than a hotel, house or apartment.

Another example is the interurban rail services operated by CityRail out of Sydney, Australia. Fairly comfortable trains operate between Sydney and Lithgow or Newcastle during the night, trips of approximately 2½ hours. Age, Disability and Sole Parent pensioner excursion fares are AU$2.50 for an all-day ticket.

The New York City Subway, which operates 24 hours per day, also sees its share of homeless people who sleep in the subway system, both in stations and on trains.

Modern public transport

Public transportation comes in many forms:

Road

Bush taxi

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Bush taxi

A motorway interchange at Faizabad (Islamabad, Pakistan)

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A motorway interchange at Faizabad (Islamabad, Pakistan)

Further information: Bus rapid transit  and  Dual-mode bus

Rail

London Underground Jubilee Line.

San Diego Trolley (light rail) at San Diego State University Transit Center in San Diego, California.

Further information: Funicular

Water

Metro Transit ferry, Halifax. Fare is $2.00 CAD. Each vessel carries 400 people.

Air

Sloped or vertical

Portland Aerial Tram car descends towards the growing South Waterfront district in Portland, Oregon.

Some of these types are often not for use by the general public, e.g. elevators in offices and apartment buildings, buses for personnel or school children, etc.

Emerging technologies

Intermodal transport

In recent years, an increasing emphasis has been placed on intermodal transport facilities. These are intended to help passengers move from one mode (or form) of transportation to another. An intermodal station may service air, rail, and highway transportation for example.

Nodes and stops

Gare du Nord, Paris.

Stations are an important aspect of any public transportation system. Specific types include:

In addition one can alight from and usually board a taxi at any road where stopping is allowed. Some fixed-route buses allow getting on and off at suitable unmarked locations along that route, typically called a hail-and-ride section.

Ticket systems

Octopus fare card used in Hong Kong.

Commuter tickets of Japanese railways.

New York City subway token, now obsolete.

See also: Fare and Category:Fare collection systems

Different arrangements for fare collection are in use. Depending on the type, fares:

  • must be bought in advance, one cannot physically enter the railway platform, vehicle, etc. without passing a turnstile, fare gate or ticket inspector (usually found in a metro).
  • must be bought in advance as a voucher for a user-determined amount of money, which is encoded on a ticket or smartcard by electronic, magnetic, or optical means. A fare is deducted automatically each time the ticket is used — either just upon system entry, or at both entry and exit where the fare is variable by distance. The latter is often found in newer systems.
  • must be bought in advance, checked by a conductor or Revenue Protection Inspector etc., upon entry (usually found on buses in North America and Western Europe, and on commuter rail systems).
  • must be bought in advance, checked randomly by a ticket controller (proof-of-payment system, usually found in Europe and occasionally the United States).
  • can be bought both in advance or during the ride, with the fare sometimes being higher in the latter case, see also Conductor; in this case purchase in advance is often possible at major stations, but usually not at a typical tram or bus stop.

Passengers may be issued with a paper ticket, metal or plastic token, or an electronic card.

Multi-use tickets

Special tickets (other than for a single ride at the regular price) include:

  • passes for unlimited travel within a period of time.
  • passes for unlimited travel during a given number of days that can be chosen within a longer period of time (e.g. 8 days within a month).
  • multi-ride tickets.
  • discount tickets valid for someone with a discount pass, etc.
  • season tickets.
  • Citycards and Sightseeing Passes. Free public transport tickets are included.

Passes may be for a particular route (in both directions), or for a whole network.

Electronic fare card

Electronic fare cards are designed to be read by a computer input device and include:

Free systems

Free or Zero-fare public transport services are funded in full by means other than collecting a fare from passengers.

Zero-fare services may be funded by national, regional or local government through taxation or by commercial sponsorship by businesses.They usually use relatively small vehicles such as buses and trams.

Several mid-size European cities and many smaller towns around the world have converted their entire bus networks to zero-fare.

See also: Category:towns and cities with zero-fare transport

Local zero-fare shuttles or inner-city loops are far more common than city-wide systems.

See also: Category:towns and cities with limited zero-fare transport

Free travel pass

A Free travel pass is the right of a certain class of passengers to use a public transport service without paying a fare or presenting a ticket. They may need to present an identification card.

The following types of passenger often receive free travel on transport services:

Transit-for-all

Transit-for-all is the name given to a popular movement arguing for the importance of investment in public transportation.[8] Advocates of transit-for-all initiatives argue that the approximately 70 billion dollars currently assigned to subsidizing cheap oil should be reinvested in public transportation. Supporters of transit-for-all initiatives claim there are three main benefits to such a strategic realignment of resources: first, it will benefit the environment and, therefore, the nation’s health; second, it will increase the economic mobility of citizens currently marginalized because of their geographic isolation and revitalize neighborhoods by reconnecting them to their surroundings; third, it will decrease American dependence on foreign oil, thereby improving U.S. national security. [9] [10]

Cultural importance

Tourist attraction

Some means of rail-based public transport are also tourist attractions and/or well known landmarks in their own right. These include San Francisco's famous cable cars, the Molli steam powered train in Bad Doberan, the kusttram along the whole Flemish coast, the Schwebebahn Wuppertal, the Seattle Monorail, The Enoshima Electric Railway in Kamakura, Japan, and the Christchurch Tram

See also

References

  1. ^ Discussion of speeds of bus rapid transit tunnel in Boston
  2. ^ www.fypower.org/pdf/RES171664_shapiro.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.apta.com/media/releases/earth_day.cfm
  4. ^ http://www.heritage.org/Research/UrbanIssues/bg1721.cfm
  5. ^ Achs, Nicole. "Roadblocks to public transit: for reasons ranging from prejudice to pragmatism, many suburbanites are fighting tooth and nail to keep mass transit out of their neighborhoods." American City & County 106, no. 1 (January 1991): 28-32.
  6. ^ Jane Lii, "Refuge On The Road: Homeless Find Nighttime Haven — The No. 22 Bus From Menlo Park To San Jose", San Jose Mercury News, 9 January 2000, 1A.
  7. ^ Cathy Newman, "Silicon Valley: Inside the Dream Incubator", National Geographic 200, no. 6 (December 2001): 52-76.
  8. ^ http://modeshift.org/?p=79
  9. ^ http://publictransportation.org/facts/
  10. ^ http://www.apta.com/media/releases/070312_ten_billion.cfm http://www.enewsbuilder.net/capmet/e_article000117869.cfm

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