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Transport

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Engineering

   The Ximen station, one of the stations of Metro Taipei.
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   The Ximen station, one of the stations of Metro Taipei.

   Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from
   one place to another. The term is derived from the Latin trans
   ("across") and portare ("to carry").

Aspects of transport

   The field of transport has several aspects: loosely they can be divided
   into a triad of [[ .) that are used, as well as the nodes or terminals
   (such as airports, railway stations, bus stations and seaports). 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 (for example, the use of tolls or gasoline taxes).

   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.

   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 r

   An

   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 crefined 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

     * Water taxi

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 (FAR), 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 (from home to work to
   shop back to home for instance). 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 (e.g.
   housing and food shopping), and places higher-density development
   closer to transportation lines and hubs. Poor land use concentrates
   activities (such as jobs) far from other destinations (such as housing
   and shopping).

   There are economies of agglomeration. Beyond transportation some land
   uses are more efficient when clustered. Transportation facilities
   consume land, and in cities, pavement (devoted to streets and parking)
   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 (including
   two wheeled vehicles and especially in the countries of the developing
   world) 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.

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 (soot).
   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 (including Denmark, Netherlands, Japan and parts of
   Germany, Finland and Belgium) where bicycling comprises a significant
   share of trips. Some cities with particularly high modal shares of
   cycling are Oulu (25%), Copenhagen (33%) and Groningen (50%). 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 utility cycling is
   highly controversial.

Research

   Transport research facilities are mainly attached to universities or
   are steered by the state. In most countries (not in France and Spain)
   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:
     * CEDEX ES
     * CERTU FR
     * CRF IT
     * Centre for Transport Studies Imperial College UK
     * Delft University of Technology NL
     * DLR DE
     * Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule CH

     * LCPC FR
     * INRETS FR
     * TNO NL
     * Transport Research Laboratory TRL UK
     * VTT FI

     * Joint OECD-ECMT Transport Research Centre
     * European Conference of Ministers of Transport

   USA:
     * http://www.its.berkeley.edu Institute of Transportation Studies,
       University of California, Berkeley
     * National Transportation Research Centre
     * Transportation Research Board

   The European Commission supports the co-operation and collaboration
   amongst the transport laboratories by funding projects like EXTR@Web
   and Intransnet. 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 etra.ccis
   coping with those problems.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
