A transit pass (North American English) or travel card (British English), often referred to as a bus pass or train pass etc. (in all kinds of English), is a ticket
that allows a passenger of the service to take either a certain number
of pre-purchased trips or unlimited trips within a fixed period of time.
Depending on the transport network and on how much the pass is
used, the pass may offer varying discounts compared with trips that are
purchased individually. While transit passes can generally be purchased
at full price by anyone wishing to use the services (senior citizens, the disabled, students and some others are often able to get them at a reduced price) many employers, colleges, and universities will subsidize the cost of them, or sometimes the full amount.
Some public transport networks will allow certain types of personnel, including police officers, fire fighters,
active military, and their own employees to ride their services free
with proper identification and without the need to purchase a pass.
Types of passes
Some common forms of transit passes are:
Day pass - offers unlimited rides on the day of purchase;
ofttimes, over 24 hours. Usually available for purchase on the bus
being boarded.
Weekly pass - allows unlimited rides in a seven-day period.
While some networks allow the pass to be purchased for any seven-day
period, others offer these passes only for the same range of seven days
(usually either Sunday to Saturday or Monday to Sunday).
Monthly pass - allows unlimited rides for an entire month.
Since months vary in length, the discount for the use of such a pass
varies each month. Some networks allow the pass to be used for a
specified 30-day or 31-day period that does not necessarily have to
start on the first of the month.
Annual pass - allows unlimited rides for the entire year and usually offers a higher discount than the monthly pass.
Multi-trip tickets - allow bulk purchase for a lower fare per trip. Historically, these have often been in the form of tokens, but tokens are being discontinued in many places in favor of more high-tech methods of fare collection.
Europe
Germany
A "semester ticket" is a student transit pass issued by universities and Fachhochschulen in Germany allowing students to travel on the buses, trams, subways, and local trains of the school's home city. The cost of the semester ticket is included in the university's student fees., and it can be used in the state where his university situated. The ticket is valid for transit on the subway (U-Bahn), suburban trains (S-Bahn), street trams, and buses in that state, but is not valid on Intercity-Express trains.
Lithuania
In Vilnius, a travel card is used for the public transport.
A prepaid leap card
is available for transport in the greater Dublin area, providing access
to LUAS, DART and Dublin Bus services. The card may be topped up
online.
In the United Kingdom anyone over the "age of eligibility" and people with certain disabilities travel free on most public buses throughout the country at certain times (typically between 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends and Bank Holidays) through the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme. Some councils also allow these people to travel free on trains, trams or ferries. This scheme was also introduced in Wales in 2002, in Scotland in April 2006, and later in England. Northern Ireland runs a similar scheme but the age limit is 66.
The "age of eligibility" was 60 until 6 June 2010, but it will
increase over ten years to 65, in line with parallel changes to women's
eligibility for state old age pension.
Travel card schemes for general public use are currently operated in the United Kingdom in a number of areas including:
Travel card schemes are often supplemented or replaced by stored value cards.
Hong Kong
With the Octopussmartcard
many transport operators, including bus, minibus and railway companies
provide free transfers or discounts on the second leg of the journey.
Also, the major bus companies, as well as MTR,
the railway operator, offer a discounted flat fare for senior citizens
on certain days of the week, at HK$1 and HK$2 respectively.
Russia
Russia, Saint-Petersburg: paper based 10 trips electronic (RFID) transit pass
Prepaid transit passes are moving toward electronic plastic-based or paper-based contactless cards.
Saint Petersburg
Early
cards are plastic based and limited only for underground railway trips.
For surface transportation they have unlimited trips within a fixed
period of time. A passenger has to pay a security deposit of 30 roubles
for the card itself. When the pass expires, passenger can recharge it
with the same or another type of fare or return the card and get the
security deposit back. The card itself expires 90 days after not being
recharged. In this case, the security deposit cannot be returned.
In 2010 appeared the first non-rechargeable disposable
paper-based electronic transit passes for a certain number amount of
trips on trams, trolleybuses and buses. They are sold with a protective
foil sticker, which should be removed prior to first use. They are not
time-limited except that they expire 30 days after the countrywide or
citywide fare changes, which happens usually each 1–2 years.
In 2011 the "Podorozhnik" ("Plantago")
cards came to the stage. Their difference from early plastic cards is
that they have a conventional area where a fare for specific amount of
time (15 days, one month) could be written (the unit is a single ride)
and an "electronic wallet" which could be charged with any amount of
roubles (the unit is Rouble) with an ability to get a discount - the
more rides the cheaper a single ride is. Electronic wallet gets unlocked
when a fixed period fare expires. Also they have bigger expiration
period after not being recharged (3 years).
United States and Canada
Chicago
Unlimited
Ride passes allow travel on all CTA buses and trains with a 1-Day Fun
Pass, or 3-day, 7-day or 30-day unlimited-ride passes. The pass, via Ventra, activates the first time the rider uses it and is good for the number of consecutive days shown on the front of the pass.
1-Day($10), 3-Day($20), 7-Day($33), 30-Day($100).
Greyhound
Greyhound Lines:
As from September 30, 2012, the Discovery Pass is no longer available
for purchase. The company is thought to feel that 'board-anytime
go-anywhere' passes complicate their new business model of "guaranteed
reserved seats".
Martha's Vineyard
In Martha's Vineyard it is rare to offer an annual pass
in addition to passes valid for one, three, seven, or thirty-one days.
The cost of an annual pass is $100 for adults and $50 for students. All
other types of passes are available at adult prices only.
New Orleans
On NORTA,
both transfers and day passes are available. A transfer may be
purchased for 25¢ in addition to the $1.25 base fare (seniors &
disabled get it for free although they pay just the $0.40 fare). Day
passes can be purchased for $3 when boarding any bus or streetcar.
Additionally, passes valid for a 3-day period can be purchased for $9,
or for 31 days for $55, at a limited number of locations.
In the Portland, Oregon area there are multiple Trimet
day pass options. Prices range from $2–5 for anywhere all day with as
many transfers as one wants. There are also 7, 14, and 30-day passes
(which range from roughly $7–100). There are student discounts and
"honored citizen" AKA 65+ discount as well.
see for more info on passes in TriMet.
San Francisco
CityPASS Muni and Cable Car 7-day Passport tickets include unlimited
transportation on Muni for seven consecutive days beginning day of first
CityPASS use. The price is ($64) Adults ($39) Kids 5-12.
Seattle region
Sound Transit, Everett Transit, Community Transit, King County Metro, Pierce Transit and Kitsap Transit offer free transfers via the ORCA Card
only, and these transfers are good for two hours after the user taps
the card against the reader. When using ORCA, users get full credit for
the fare paid on the original trip on any trip on any of the mentioned
systems. Kitsap Transit, King County Metro and Pierce Transit also issue
paper transfers. These transfers are valid only on the system which
issued them. Commuter rail and light rail tickets are valid for one trip
only, and no free paper transfers to or from rail are issued or
accepted. The agency also issues universal passes, which can be loaded
onto the user's ORCA card. Also, ORCA also provides services to
organizations wishing to purchase transit services on behalf of their
employees or students.
Toronto
The Toronto Transit Commission
offers free transfers with all base fares, and they are valid until the
time shown at the bottom, which may vary depending on the driver.
Transfers may be used only on lines connecting to the one from which the
transfer was obtained. Also, passengers can pay with a Presto card which offers a discount in fare.
Vancouver
TransLink
offers several types of fare cards priced by the number of zones the
user will be in. They are currently priced $91 for 1 Zone, $124 for 2
Zones, and $170 for three zones.
Concession and student passes are also available. Books of individual
fares (FareSavers) can also be purchased at a slight discount.
Individual fares, whether purchased from a ticket machine or a FareSaver
dealer, are valid for 90 minutes after either purchase or validation.
TransLink currently relies on proof of payment. In the fall of
2013, the system started the transition to Compass Card, which intends
to provide all the same benefits in a reusable, stored value card.
Washington, D.C. area
While fares for individual trips vary, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority offers various passes for riding Metrobus and Metrorail.
A seven-day regular fare pass for unlimited Metrorail rides is $47, but
this cannot be used on buses. A one-day rail-only pass is available for
$9.00, but on weekdays, this is not valid until after 9:30 AM. A weekly
Metrobus pass is available for $15 at regular fare, and it cannot be used on Metrorail.
Riders of Metrorail and Metrobus can transfer between the two services and enjoy a $0.50 discount if they use an electronic SmarTrip
card. Those transferring between any two Metrorail lines can change
trains without exiting the faregate, thereby incurring no additional
fare or requiring a transfer slip.
Transfers are honored both ways between Metrobus and Montgomery County'sRide-on bus service.
Ride-on accepts transfers from Metrorail for an additional 35¢ (waived
for senior citizens), but there are no transfers from Ride-on buses to
Metrorail.
For $102 more than the price of a MARC train
monthly ticket, a Transit Link Card granting unlimited Metrorail and
Metrobus trips for the month of the MARC ticket can be purchased. MARC
monthly passes are also honored as fare payment for all Maryland Transit Administration bus, Metro and Light Rail services in the Baltimore area at no extra cost.
The Maryland Transit Administration within the Baltimore area
generally charges $1.70 for a single trip on one local bus or train. The
agency abolished transfers in 1996 in favor of day passes, which at the
time were $3.00 and are currently $4.00. Those taking multi-bus/train
trips are encouraged to purchase day passes, which at regular fare, are
the cost of two one-way trips plus 30¢. Weekly and monthly passes are
also available, and all such passes since 2005 have been called
"GO-passes." The only transfers that are allowed in the system without
additional fare payment are between the various lines of the light rail.
Winnipeg
Winnipeg Transit
also offers free transfers with all base fares, and these transfers are
valid for up to 60 min from the time of fare payment in what is termed power hour
by the agency. The transfer is honoured on any line in the system, but
the agency allows the transfer to be used even for a return trip on the
same line within that time. The agency also offers weekly and monthly
passes and 10-trip tickets.
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, or mass transit) is a system of transport, in contrast to private transport, for passengers
by group travel systems available for use by the general public,
typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and
that charge a posted fee for each trip. Examples of public transport include city buses, trolleybuses, trams (or light rail) and passenger trains, rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.) and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world.
Most public transport systems run along fixed routes with set
embarkation/disembarkation points to a prearranged timetable, with the
most frequent services running to a headway
(e.g.: "every 15 minutes" as opposed to being scheduled for any
specific time of the day). However, most public transport trips include
other modes of travel, such as passengers walking or catching bus
services to access train stations. Share taxis
offer on-demand services in many parts of the world, which may compete
with fixed public transport lines, or complement them, by bringing
passengers to interchanges. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service.
Urban public transit differs distinctly among Asia, North
America, and Europe. In Asia, profit-driven, privately-owned and
publicly traded mass transit and real estate conglomerates predominantly operate public transit systems. In North America, municipal transit authorities
most commonly run mass transit operations. In Europe, both state-owned
and private companies predominantly operate mass transit systems, Public
transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares
or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged
to each passenger. Services can be fully profitable through high
usership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated and possibly subsidised from local or national tax revenue. Fully subsidised, free of charge services operate in some towns and cities.
For geographical, historical and economic reasons, differences
exist internationally regarding use and extent of public transport.
While countries in the Old World tend to have extensive and frequent systems serving their old and dense cities, many cities of the New World have more sprawl and much less comprehensive public transport. The International Association of Public Transport
(UITP) is the international network for public transport authorities
and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific institutes and the
public transport supply and service industry. It has 3,400 members from
92 countries from all over the globe.
Conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferries, and the earliest public transport was water transport: on land people walked (sometimes in groups and on pilgrimages, as noted in sources such as the Bible and The Canterbury Tales) or (at least in Eurasia and Africa) rode an animal. Ferries appear in Greek mythology—corpses in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades.
Some historical forms of public transport include the stagecoach, traveling a fixed route between coaching inns, and the horse-drawn boat carrying paying passengers, which was a feature of European canals from their 17th-century origins. The canal itself as a form of infrastructure dates back to antiquity – ancient Egyptians certainly used a canal for freight transportation to bypass the Aswan cataract – and the Chinese also built canals for water transportation as far back as the Warring States period which began in the 5th century BCE. Whether or not those canals were used for for-hire public transport remains unknown; the Grand Canal in China (begun in 486 BCE) served primarily for shipping grain.
The omnibus, the first organized public transit system within a city, appears to have originated in Paris, France, in 1662, although the service in question, Carrosses à cinq sols, failed a few months after its founder, Blaise Pascal, died in August 1662; omnibuses are next known to have appeared in Nantes, France, in 1826. The omnibus was introduced to London in July 1829.
The first successful electric streetcar
was built for 12 miles of track for the Union Passenger Railway in
Richmond, Virginia in 1888. Electric streetcars could carry heavier
passenger loads than predecessors, which reduced fares and stimulated
greater transit use.
Two years after the Richmond success, over thirty two thousand electric
streetcars were operating in America. Electric streetcars also paved the
way for the first subway
system in America. Before electric streetcars, steam powered subways
were considered. However, most people believed that riders would avoid
the smoke filled subway tunnels from the steam engines. In 1894, Boston
built the first subway in the United States, an electric streetcar line
in a 1.5 mile tunnel under Tremont Street’s retail district. Other
cities such as New York quickly followed, constructing hundreds of miles
of subway in the following decades.
Seven
criteria measure the usability of different types of public transport
and its overall appeal. The criteria are speed, comfort, safety, cost,
proximity, timeliness and directness.
Speed is calculated from total journey time including transfers.
Proximity means how far passengers must walk or otherwise travel before
they can begin the public transport leg of their journey and how close
it leaves them to their desired destination. Timeliness is how long they
must wait for the vehicle. Directness records how far a journey using
public transport deviates from the route.
In selecting between competing modes of transport, many individuals are strongly motivated by direct cost (travel fare/ ticket price to them) and convenience, as well as being informed by habit. The same individual may accept the lost time and statistically higher risk of accident in private transport, together with the initial, running and parking costs. Loss of control, spatial constriction, overcrowding, high speeds/accelerations, height and other phobias may discourage use of public transport.
Actual travel time on public transport becomes a lesser consideration when predictable and when travel itself is reasonably comfortable
(seats, toilets, services), and can thus be scheduled and used
pleasurably, productively or for (overnight) rest. Chauffeured movement
is enjoyed by many people when it is relaxing, safe but not too
monotonous. Waiting, interchanging, stops and holdups, for example due
to traffic or for security, are discomforting. Jet lag
is a human constraint discouraging frequent rapid long-distance
East-West commuting, favoring modern telecommunications and VR
technologies.
Airline
An airline provides scheduled service with aircraft between airports.
Air travel has high speeds, but incurs large waiting times prior to and
after travel, and is therefore often only feasible over longer
distances or in areas where a lack of ground infrastructure makes other
modes of transport impossible. Bush airlines work more similarly to bus
stops; an aircraft waits for passengers and takes off when the aircraft
is full.
Two Oxford Tube body on chassis vehicles at the Buckingham Palace Road terminus
Bus services use buses
on conventional roads to carry numerous passengers on shorter journeys.
Buses operate with low capacity (compared with trams or trains), and
can operate on conventional roads, with relatively inexpensive bus stops
to serve passengers. Therefore, buses are commonly used in smaller
cities, towns, and rural areas, and for shuttle services supplementing other means of transit in large cities. Bus rapid transit is an ambiguous term used for buses operating on dedicated right-of-way, much like a light rail. Trolleybuses are electric buses that receive power from overhead wires for mobility. Online Electric Vehicles are buses that run on a conventional battery, but are recharged frequently at certain points via underground wires.
Coach services use coaches
(long-distance buses) for suburb-to-CBD or longer-distance
transportation. The vehicles are normally equipped with more comfortable
seating, a separate luggage compartment, video and possibly also a
toilet. They have higher standards than city buses, but a limited
stopping pattern.
Train
3 different types of trains (U-Bahn, S-Bahn and regional/long distance trains) in Hamburg, Germany
Commuter rail
is part of an urban area's public transport; it provides faster
services to outer suburbs and neighboring towns and villages. Trains
stop at stations that are located to serve a smaller suburban or town center. The stations are often combined with shuttle bus or park and ride
systems. Frequency may be up to several times per hour, and commuter
rail systems may either be part of the national railway or operated by
local transit agencies.
Intercity rail
is long-haul passenger services that connect multiple urban areas. They
have few stops, and aim at high average speeds, typically only making
one of a few stops per city. These services may also be international.
High-speed rail
is passenger trains operating significantly faster than conventional
rail—typically defined as at least 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph).
The most predominant systems have been built in Europe and East Asia,
and compared with air travel, offer long-distance rail journeys as quick
as air services, have lower prices to compete more effectively and use
electricity instead of combustion.
Rapid transit
The SkyTrain in Vancouver is the longest rapid transit system in Canada.
A rapid transit railway system (also called a metro, underground, or
subway) operates in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic.
Systems are able to transport large numbers of people quickly
over short distances with little land use. Variations of rapid transit
include people movers, small-scale light metro and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn.
More than 160 cities have rapid transit systems, totalling more than
8,000 km (4,971 mi) of track and 7,000 stations. Twenty-five cities have
systems under construction.
Trams are railborne vehicles that run in city streets or dedicated
tracks. They have higher capacity than buses, but must follow dedicated
infrastructure with rails and wires either above or below the track,
limiting their flexibility.
Light rail
Light rail is a modern development (and use) of the tram, with
dedicated right-of-way not shared with other traffic, (often) step-free
access and increased speed. Light rail lines are, thus, essentially
modernized interurbans.
Personal rapid transit is an automated cab service that runs on rails or a guideway. This is an uncommon mode of transportation (excluding elevators)
due to the complexity of automation. A fully implemented system might
provide most of the convenience of individual automobiles with the
efficiency of public transit. The crucial innovation is that the
automated vehicles carry just a few passengers, turn off the guideway to
pick up passengers (permitting other PRT vehicles to continue at full
speed), and drop them off to the location of their choice (rather than
at a stop). Conventional transit simulations show that PRT might attract
many auto users in problematic medium-density urban areas. A number of
experimental systems are in progress. One might compare personal rapid
transit to the more labor-intensive taxi or paratransit modes of transportation, or to the (by now automated) elevators common in many publicly accessible areas.
Cable-propelled transit
Cable-propelled transit (CPT) is a transit technology that moves
people in motor-less, engine-less vehicles that are propelled by a steel
cable. There are two sub-groups of CPT – gondola lifts and cable cars (railway).
Gondola lifts are supported and propelled from above by cables, whereas
cable cars are supported and propelled from below by cables.
While historically associated with usage in ski resorts,
gondola lifts are now finding increased consumption and utilization in
many urban areas – built specifically for the purposes of mass transit.
Many, if not all, of these systems are implemented and fully integrated
within existing public transportation networks. Examples include Metrocable (Medellín), Metrocable (Caracas), Portland Aerial Tram, Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York City, and London's Emirates Air Line.
A ferry is a boat used to carry (or ferry) passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, across a body of water. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops is sometimes called a water bus.
Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside
cities and islands, allowing direct transit between points at a capital
cost much lower than bridges or tunnels, though at a lower speed. Ship
connections of much larger distances (such as over long distances in
water bodies like the Mediterranean Sea) may also be called ferry services.
Cycleway network
A report published by the UK National Infrastructure Commission in 2018
states that "cycling is mass transit and must be treated as such."
Cycling infrastructure is normally provided without charge to users
because it is cheaper to operate than mechanised transit systems that
use sophisticated equipment and do not use human power.
Cycle Superhighway CS6 is part of Central London's Cycle Network mass transit infrastructure
All
public transport runs on infrastructure, either on roads, rail, airways
or seaways. The infrastructure can be shared with other modes, freight
and private transport, or it can be dedicated to public transport. The
latter is especially valuable in cases where there are capacity problems
for private transport. Investments in infrastructure are expensive and
make up a substantial part of the total costs in systems that are new or
expanding. Once built, the infrastructure will require operating and
maintenance costs, adding to the total cost of public transport.
Sometimes governments subsidize infrastructure by providing it free of
charge, just as is common with roads for automobiles.
Interchanges
Interchanges are locations where passengers can switch from one
public transport route to another. This may be between vehicles of the
same mode (like a bus interchange), or e.g. between bus and train. It
can be between local and intercity transport (such as at a central station or airport).
Timetables (or 'schedules' in North American English) are provided by the transport operator to allow users to plan their journeys. They are often supplemented by maps and fare schemes to help travelers coordinate their travel. Online public transport route planners help make planning easier. Mobile apps
are available for multiple transit systems that provide timetables and
other service information and, in some cases, allow ticket purchase,
some allowing to plan your journey, with time fares zones e.g.
Services are often arranged to operate at regular intervals throughout the day or part of the day (known as clock-face scheduling). Often, more frequent services or even extra routes are operated during the morning and evening rush hours.
Coordination between services at interchange points is important to
reduce the total travel time for passengers. This can be done by
coordinating shuttle services with main routes, or by creating a fixed
time (for instance twice per hour) when all bus and rail routes meet at a
station and exchange passengers. There is often a potential conflict
between this objective and optimising the utilisation of vehicles and
drivers.
Financing
The
main sources of financing are ticket revenue, government subsidies and
advertising. The percentage of revenue from passenger charges is known
as the farebox recovery ratio. A limited amount of income may come from land development and rental income from stores and vendors, parking fees, and leasing tunnels and rights-of-way to carry fiber optic communication lines.
Fare and ticketing
A contactless ticket validator used in Moscow, Russia
Most—but not all—public transport requires the purchase of a ticket to generate revenue
for the operators. Tickets may be bought either in advance, or at the
time of the journey, or the carrier may allow both methods. Passengers
may be issued with a paper ticket, a metal or plastic token, or a magnetic or electronic card (smart card, contactless smart card). Sometimes a ticket has to be validated, e.g. a paper ticket has to be stamped, or an electronic ticket has to be checked in.
Tickets may be valid for a single (or return) trip, or valid within a certain area for a period of time (see transit pass). The fare is based on the travel class, either depending on the traveled distance, or based on zone pricing.
The tickets may have to be shown or checked automatically at the station platform or when boarding, or during the ride by a conductor. Operators may choose to control all riders, allowing sale of the ticket at the time of ride. Alternatively, a proof-of-payment system allows riders to enter the vehicles without showing the ticket, but riders may or may not be controlled by a ticket controller; if the rider fails to show proof of payment, the operator may fine the rider at the magnitude of the fare.
Multi-use tickets allow travel more than once. In addition to
return tickets, this includes period cards allowing travel within a
certain area (for instance month cards), or during a given number of
days that can be chosen within a longer period of time (for instance
eight days within a month). Passes aimed at tourists, allowing free or
discounted entry at many tourist attractions, typically include zero-fare public transport within the city. Period tickets may be for a particular route (in both directions), or for a whole network. A free travel pass
allowing free and unlimited travel within a system is sometimes granted
to particular social sectors, for example students, elderly, children,
employees (job ticket) and the physically or mentally disabled.
Zero-fare public transport services are funded in full by means other than collecting a fare from passengers, normally through heavy subsidy or commercial sponsorship
by businesses. Several mid-size European cities and many smaller towns
around the world have converted their entire bus networks to zero-fare.
The only European capital with free public transport is Tallinn.
Local zero-fare shuttles or inner-city loops are far more common than
city-wide systems. There are also zero-fare airport circulators and
university transportation systems.
Revenue, profit and subsidies
Governments
frequently opt to subsidize public transport for social, environmental
or economic reasons. Common motivations include the desire to provide
transport to people who are unable to use an automobile and to reduce congestion, land use and automobile emissions.
Subsidies may take the form of direct payments for financially
unprofitable services, but support may also include indirect subsidies.
For example, the government may allow free or reduced-cost use of
state-owned infrastructure such as railways and roads, to stimulate
public transport's economic competitiveness over private transport, that
normally also has free infrastructure (subsidized through such things
as gas taxes). Other subsidies include tax advantages (for instance aviation fuel
is typically not taxed), bailouts if companies that are likely to
collapse (often applied to airlines) and reduction of competition
through licensing schemes (often applied to taxis and airlines). Private
transport is normally subsidized indirectly through free roads and
infrastructure, as well as incentives to build car factories and, on occasion, directly via bailouts of automakers.
Land development schemes may be initialized, where operators are
given the rights to use lands near stations, depots, or tracks for
property development. For instance, in Hong Kong, MTR Corporation Limited and KCR Corporation generate additional profits from land development to partially cover the cost of the construction of the urban rail system.
Some supporters of mass transit 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. Some research has supported this position, but the measurement of benefits and costs is a complex and controversial issue. A 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. (Although right-wing think tanks disagree.)
Relative to other forms of transportation, public transit is safe (with a low crash risk) and secure (with low rates of crime). The injury and death rate for public transit is roughly one-tenth that of automobile travel.
A 2014 study noted that "residents of transit-oriented communities have
about one-fifth the per capita crash casualty rate as in
automobile-oriented communities" and that "Transit also tends to have
lower overall crime rates than automobile travel, and transit
improvements can help reduce overall crime risk by improving
surveillance and economic opportunities for at-risk populations."
Although relatively safe and secure, public perceptions that transit systems are dangerous endure.
A 2014 study stated that "Various factors contribute to the
under-appreciation of transit safety benefits, including the nature of
transit travel, dramatic news coverage of transit crashes and crimes,
transit agency messages that unintentionally emphasize risks without
providing information on its overall safety, and biased traffic safety
analysis."
Some systems attract vagrants who use the stations or trains as
sleeping shelters, though most operators have practices that discourage
this.
Although there is continuing debate as to the true efficiency of
different modes of transportation, mass transit is generally regarded as
significantly more energy efficient than other forms of travel. A 2002
study by the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute
found that public transportation in the U.S uses approximately half the
fuel required by cars, SUV's and light trucks. In addition, the study
noted that "private vehicles emit about 95 percent more carbon monoxide,
92 percent more volatile organic compounds and about twice as much
carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide than public vehicles for every
passenger mile traveled".
Studies have shown that there is a strong inverse correlation between urban population density and energy consumption per capita,
and that public transport could facilitate increased urban population
densities, and thus reduce travel distances and fossil fuel consumption.
Supporters of the green movement usually advocate public transportation, because it offers decreased airborne pollution
compared to automobiles. A study conducted in Milan, Italy, in 2004
during and after a transportation strike serves to illustrate the impact
that mass transportation has on the environment. Air samples were taken
between 2 and 9 January, and then tested for methane, carbon monoxide,
non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), and other gases identified as harmful
to the environment. The figure below is a computer simulation showing
the results of the study "with 2 January showing the lowest
concentrations as a result of decreased activity in the city during the
holiday season. 9 January showed the highest NMHC concentrations because
of increased vehicular activity in the city due to a public
transportation strike."
Based on the benefits of public transport, the green movement has
affected public policy. For example, the state of New Jersey released Getting to Work: Reconnecting Jobs with Transit.
This initiative attempts to relocate new jobs into areas with higher
public transportation accessibility. The initiative cites the use of
public transportation as being a means of reducing traffic congestion,
providing an economic boost to the areas of job relocation, and most
importantly, contributing to a green environment by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Using public transportation can result in a reduction of an
individual's carbon footprint. A single person, 20-mile (32 km) round
trip by car can be replaced using public transportation and result in a
net CO2 emissions reduction of 4,800 pounds (2,200 kg) per year. Using public transportation saves CO2
emissions in more ways than simply travel as public transportation can
help to alleviate traffic congestion as well as promote more efficient
land use. When all three of these are considered, it is estimated that
37 million metric tons of CO2 will be saved annually. Another study claims that using public transit instead of private in the U.S. in 2005 would have reduced CO2
emissions by 3.9 million metric tons and that the resulting traffic
congestion reduction accounts for an additional 3.0 million metric tons
of CO2 saved. This is a total savings of about 6.9 million metric tons per year given the 2005 values.
In order to compare energy impact of public transportation to
private transportation, the amount of energy per passenger mile must be
calculated. The reason that comparing the energy expenditure per person
is necessary is to normalize the data for easy comparison. Here, the
units are in per 100 p-km (read as person kilometer or passenger
kilometer). In terms of energy consumption, public transportation is
better than individual transport in a personal vehicle.
In England, bus and rail are popular methods of public transportation,
especially in London. Rail provides rapid movement into and out of the
city of London while busing helps to provide transport within the city
itself. As of 2006–2007, the total energy cost of London's trains was 15
kWh per 100 p-km, about 5 times better than a personal car. For busing in London, it was 32 kWh per 100 p-km, or about 2.5 times that of a personal car.
This includes lighting, depots, inefficiencies due to capacity (i.e.,
the train or bus may not be operating at full capacity at all times),
and other inefficiencies. Efficiencies of transport in Japan in 1999
were 68 kWh per 100 p-km for a personal car, 19 kWh per 100 p-km for a
bus, 6 kWh per 100 p-km for rail, 51 kWh per 100 p-km for air, and 57
kWh per 100 p-km for sea. These numbers from either country can be used in energy comparison calculations or life cycle assessment calculations.
Public transportation also provides an arena to test
environmentally friendly fuel alternatives, such as hydrogen-powered
vehicles. Swapping out materials to create lighter public transportation
vehicles with the same or better performance will increase
environmental friendliness of public transportation vehicles while
maintaining current standards or improving them. Informing the public
about the positive environmental effects of using public transportation
in addition to pointing out the potential economic benefit is an
important first step towards making a difference.
Urban space is a precious commodity and public transport utilises it
more efficiently than a car dominant society, allowing cities to be
built more compactly than if they were dependent on automobile
transport. If public transport planning is at the core of urban planning, it will also force cities to be built more compactly to create efficient feeds into the stations and stops of transport.
This will at the same time allow the creation of centers around the
hubs, serving passengers' daily commercial needs and public services.
This approach significantly reduces urban sprawl.
Public land planning for public transportation can be difficult but it
is the State and Regional organizations that are responsible to planning
and improving public transportation roads and routes. With public land
prices booming, there must be a plan to using the land most efficiently
for public transportation in order to create better transportation
systems. Inefficient land use and poor planning leads to a decrease in
accessibility to jobs, education, and health care.
Social
"A
developed country is not a place where the poor have cars; it's where
the rich use public transport" —Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogotá
An important social role played by public transport is to ensure that
all members of society are able to travel, not just those with a
driving license and access to an automobile—which include groups such as
the young, the old, the poor, those with medical conditions, and people
banned from driving. Automobile dependency
is a name given by policy makers to places where those without access
to a private vehicle do not have access to independent mobility.
Above that, public transportation opens to its users the
possibility of meeting other people, as no concentration is diverted
from interacting with fellow-travelers due to any steering activities.
Adding to the above-said, public transport becomes a location of
inter-social encounters across all boundaries of social, ethnic and
other types of affiliation.
Economic
Tram tunnel in Bratislava, Slovakia - a connection of embankment with a city centre
Investment in public transport has secondary positive effects on the local economy, with between $4 and $9 of economic activity resulting from every dollar spent.
Many businesses rely on access to a transit system, in particular in
cities and countries where access to cars is less widespread, businesses
which require large numbers of people going to a same place may not be
able to accommodate a large number of cars (concert venues, sport
stadia, airports, exhibitions centres,...), or businesses where people
are not able to use a car (bars, hospitals, or industries in the tourism
sector whose customers may not have their cars). Transit systems also
have an effect on derived businesses: commercial websites have been
founded, such as Hopstop.com,
that give directions through mass transit systems; in some cities, such
as London, products themed on the local transport system are a popular
tourist souvenir. Research in the Washington, DC area shows that public
transport does a better job of providing high-skill residents with
access to high-skill jobs than it does mid-skill residents to mid-skill
jobs and low-skill residents to low-skill jobs.
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