How many types of transportation

The technological evolution in the transport industry aims at adapting transport infrastructures to growing needs and requirements.

When a transport mode becomes more advantageous than another over the same route or market, a modal shift is likely to take place. A modal shift involves the growth in the demand of a transport mode at the expense of another, although a modal shift can involve an absolute growth in both concerned modes. The comparative advantages behind a modal shift can be in terms of costs, convenience, speed, or reliability. For passengers, this involved a transition in modal preferences as incomes went up, such as from collective public transit to individual modes motorbikes, automobiles of transportation.

For freight , this has implied a shift to faster and more flexible modes when possible and cost-effective, namely trucking and air freight. A modal shift can further be nuanced by time shift , for which the use of the same mode takes place at another time period, likely when there is less congestion. In a situation of congestion, it is thus likely that time shift will be preferred to modal shift, particularly if the time shift is relatively marginal e.

An individual may delay travel at a later time while a freight delivery can be rescheduled. There are important geographical variations in modal competition. The availability of transport infrastructures and networks varies enormously, with corridors subject to the highest modal competition level.

Corridors have many different modes that, in combination, provide a range of transport services that ensure an efficient commercial environment. Thus, in contrast to the European Union situation, rail freight transport occupies a more significant market share in North America, but passenger rail has a negligible share.

In many parts of the world, however, there are only limited services, and some important modes such as rail may be absent altogether. This limits the choices for passengers and shippers and acts to limit accessibility. Passengers and freight are forced to use the only available modes that may not be the most effective to support their mobility.

Areas with limited modal choices tend to be among the least developed. On the other hand, advanced economies possess a wide range of modes that can provide services to meet the needs of society and the economy. All modes are affected by fuel price volatility , from the individual car owner to the corporation operating a fleet of hundreds of aircraft or ships.

Different pricing mechanisms are used, namely direct rate adjustments, as in the case of shipping, or indirect adjustments as in the case of airlines, with the reliance on fuel surcharges when energy prices are increasing. In the context of higher energy prices and environmental concerns and therefore, higher input costs for transportation, the following can be expected:.

There is a complementarity between passenger and freight transport systems. With some exceptions, such as buses and pipelines, most transport modes have developed to handle both freight and passenger traffic. In others, different types of vehicles have been developed for freight and passenger traffic, but they both share the same road infrastructure, such as in rail and road traffic.

In shipping, passengers and freight used to share the same vessels and often the same terminals. Since the s, specialization has occurred, and the two are now entirely distinct, except for ferries and some RORO services. Sharing freight and passenger modes is not without difficulties , and indeed some of the major problems confronting transportation occur where the two compete for the use of scarce transport infrastructure. For example, trucks in urban areas are seen as a nuisance and a cause of congestion by passenger transport users.

Daytime deliveries and double-parked trucks are perceived as a particular nuisance. The poor performance of some modes, such as rail, is seen as the outcome of freight and passengers having to share routes. There are also growing interests expressed at using segments of transit systems to move freight, particularly in central areas. This raises the question as to what extent and under which circumstances freight and passengers are compatible.

The main advantages of joint operations are:. The ongoing separation of passengers and freight on specific gateways and corridors is consequently a likely outcome, involving a growing divergence of flows, modes, and terminals. Passengers and freight are increasingly divergent activities as they reflect different transportation markets. In several modes and across many regions, passenger and freight transport are being unbundled. It has already been mentioned that in the maritime sector, passenger services have become separated from freight operations.

The exception is ferry services, where ro-ro ships on high-frequency services adapt to the needs of both passenger and freight market segments. These ferry ships can transport cars, buses, and trucks carrying freight with the respective proportions determined by the demand. Deep-sea passenger travel is dominated by cruise shipping, which has no freight-handling capabilities, and bulk and general cargo ships rarely have an interest or the ability to transport passengers. Most rail systems improved passenger and freight services, where both segments are maintained.

The railways give priority to passengers since rail persists as the dominant mode for inter-city transport in India, China, and much of the developing world. In Europe, national rail systems have prioritized passenger service as a means to expand regional mobility. Significant investments have occurred in improving the comfort of trains and passenger rail stations, but most notable has been the upgrading of track and equipment to achieve higher operational speeds.

Freight transport has tended to lose out because of the emphasis on passengers since such systems were optimized for passenger flows. Because of their lower operational speeds, freight trains are frequently excluded from day-time slots, when passenger trains are most in demand. Overnight journeys may not meet the needs of freight customers. This incompatibility is a factor in the loss of freight business by most rail systems still trying to operate both freight and passenger operations.

It is in North America where the separation between freight and passenger rail business is the most extensive. The private railway companies could not compete against the automobile and airline industry for passenger traffic and consequently withdrew from the passenger business in the s.

They were left to operate a freight-only system, which has generally been successful, especially with the introduction of intermodality. Both are struggling to survive. The major problem is that they have to lease trackage from the freight railways, and thus slower freight trains have priority. Freight and passenger vehicles still share the roads. The growth of freight traffic is increasing road congestion, and in many cities, concerns are being raised about the presence of trucks.

Already, restrictions are in place on truck dimensions and weights in certain parts of cities, and there are growing pressures to limiting truck access to non-daylight hours. Certain highways exclude truck traffic — the parkways in the US, for example.

These are examples of what is likely to become a growing trend; the need to separate trucks from passenger vehicle traffic.

Facing chronic congestion around the access points to the port of Rotterdam and at the freight terminals at Schiphol airport, Dutch engineers have worked on feasibility studies of developing underground road networks only for freight vehicles. Air transport is the mode where freight and passengers are the most integrated. First, they share the same terminal facilities, although there is a specialization with some airports focusing on freight activity. Yet, even here, a divergence is being noted.

The growth of all-freight airlines and the freight-only planes operated by some major carriers, such as Singapore Airlines, are heralding a trend. The interests of the shippers, including the timing of the shipments and the destinations, are sometimes better served than in passenger aircraft. Their interest in freight is minimal, especially when their business is oriented towards tourism since tourist destinations tend to be lean freight generating locations.

Skip to content Author: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue Transport modes are the means of supporting the mobility of passengers and freight. A Diversity of Modes Transport modes are designed to either carry passengers or freight , but most modes can carry a combination of both.

Road transportation Road infrastructures are large consumers of space with the lowest level of physical constraints among transportation modes. International capacity corresponds to lakh ton-kilo meters of which lakh ton-kilo meters are used.

India has 4 international airports, 92 aerodromes with 50 intermediate and 40 minor aerodromes. Air transport provides the speediest movement of cargo over the distant places by eliminating practically spatial barriers.

It is known for its dependable service during the times of floods, wars, earth-quakes. It is all weather means, of transport though flights are cancelled due to bad weather conditions. The level of consumer service and, hence satisfaction is of high order as it is known for immediacy, speed and least damage to cargo.

As it provides fastest and uninterrupted service, capital investments in the form of stocks of goods is less. This is of particular importance in case of highly perishable items. The cost of air transport is very high and there is limit of weight of cargo. Hence, it is suitable for light weight, high grade and costly items only. The planes cannot land at all the places of our choice. It connects metropolis and some important cities only. The cargo capacity of a plane is much smaller because of its size as it works against the force of gravity.

Waterways of the nation provide other alternative means of transport. Unfortunately, in India, waterways are not fully developed though she has a great potentiality. Though India has 7, kilo meters of navigable river waterways, only 2, kilometrers are used. Again, we have 4, kilo metres of canals of only kilo metres are navigable but hardly kilo meters are actually used. Inland waterways tariffs are much lower and, therefore it works cheaper for both short and long distances.

The sender of cargo has the facilities of loading and unloading from boats and wharves on and from steamers and barges. Even the receiver has the similar facilities.

Waterways provide an independent movement unlike road system where road is meant for all kinds of vehicles creating the problem of congestion. The speed of the boats and steamers is badly limited in case of canals and rivers. Goods needing quick movement as perishable can be hardly transported.

Changing seasons create problems. Winter may freeze the rivers and canals and summer eats the depth of rivers and canals. Again, the rivers are known for changing their course of flow. The inland waterways are connecting the given places. Again, the cargo capacity is quite limited.

Pipe-lines are the specialized means of transportation designed to move the items like crude-oil, petroleum, chemicals, coal, lime-stone, iron-ore, copper concentrates and gas.

India has made a late beginning in this regard unlike U. The total pipe length in India, at present is of the order of 8, kilo metres owned by private and public undertakings such as Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation and Oil and Natural Gas Commission. Biggest Pipeline is planned between Iran and India. Pipe-line transportation presents all weather system to move the products.

Sea transportation may not always be the most economical or accessible choice, depending on the location of your warehouse. However, the most significant factor to consider about maritime transit is how long it takes to move a shipment:.

Since the invention of the railway, trains have played an important part in trade and logistics around the world. Rail transport is ideal for companies who require fast, scheduled ground freight. Air transport is the newest shipping method, but it is often the best choice if you want fast, uncompromising delivery.

Air transport is accessible across most of the world and is ideal for shipments that need to be moved quickly across long distances, including overseas. Air transportation also has a vast scope compared to rail and ship freight, as it is an ever-expanding industry with several thousand airports and landing strips in operation across the globe. Intermodal transportation is when a shipment requires two or more types of transportation to reach its final destination.

This is typically used with rail and ship transport, which often require trucks to carry shipments from the railway or port. Intermodal transportation is ideal for shipments that are not of immediate value that have to travel a long distance.

In most cases, products remain inside the same shipping container throughout the entire process. In other cases, however, your products might be transferred from one shipping container to another.