Public Transport

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..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 transport and bus services, wider definitions might include scheduled airline services, ferry, 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 of Nations 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.

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 lights 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 density, 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.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:

Magnetic stripe card — privileges and fare remaining are magnetically encoded on the card after each use.

Paper tickets with magnetic stripes (adopted by a few rapid transit systems like BART before plastic magnetic stripe cards went into widespread use).
ATICard — used in Puerto Rico.
Common Stored Value Tickets — formerly used in Hong Kong.
MetroCard (New York City) — used in New York City.
Metropass — used in Toronto.
Passnet — used in Greater Tokyo Area, gradually replaced by smartcards.

Smartcard — typically credit card sized with an embedded microprocessor. Contactless cards are preferred for transit fare collection because they speed riders through fare gates. Examples include:

Andante ticket — Porto (2002) - first fully contactless system, even for occasional riders
Breeze — Atlanta, Georgia (2006)
CharlieCard — Boston (2006)
Chicago Card — Chicago (2002)
EZ-Link — Singapore (2001)
EasyCard — Taipei (2002)
Go-To Card — Minneapolis-St. Paul (2007)
ICOCA — Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto (2003)
Mybi (2000) — Busan
myki — Melbourne, Australia (2007)
Navigo card — Paris (2001)
OV-Chipkaart — Rotterdam (2006), rest of the Netherlands (2008)
Octopus card — Hong Kong (1997)
Oyster card — London (2004)
Presto card — Greater Toronto Area (to be introduced in 2007, completed in 2010)
Rejsekort — Zealand (2008), rest of Denmark (2009)
SmarTrip — Washington, D.C. (1999)
SmartRider — Perth, Western Australia (2006)
Suica — Greater Tokyo Area (2001)
T-money (2004), Upass (1996) — Seoul Metropolitan Area
Tcard — Sydney (for schoolchildren from 2005, trial only for general public)
Touch n Go — Klang Valley (1997), rest of Malaysia (1998)
TransLink (San Francisco Bay Area) — San Francisco Bay Area (2002)

Mobile payment — uses a passenger's mobile phone as a payment device.

In Europe, it is still considered to be in its early development, but has been implemented as an Short message service based supplementary fare charging system in Zagreb and Helsinki.
SMS Ticket service (2005) for KTX Family Card — South Korea
Mobile Suica (2006) and other Osaifu-Keitai (phones with embedded microprocessors like smartcards) compliant applications, such as IC e-card (2005) — Japan

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.

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

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:

students
elderly persons
children
employees

Transit-for-all Transit-for-all is the name given to a popular movement arguing for the importance of investment in public transportation.http://modeshift.org/?p=79 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. http://publictransportation.org/facts/ http://www.apta.com/media/releases/070312_ten_billion.cfm http://www.enewsbuilder.net/capmet/e_article000117869.cfm

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 car (railway), the Mollibahn 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

Arranging models of public transport
Carsharing
Colectivo
Hackney carriage
International Union of Public Transport
New Mobility Agenda
Paratransit
Public transport route planner
Quality Assurance in Public Transport
Shared transport
Timetable
Transit-oriented development
Transit planner
Transit fares
Travel class
Utility cycling
Urban economics

References

External links

UITP | International Association of Public Transport

GMPTE - Public Transport for Greater Manchester, UK
Public transport service. Maps, timetables, a point-to-point trip planner, tickets and fares, help and advice and system news.

Traveline - Public Transport Info
Timetables and journey planner for public transport (including bus, coach, train and ferry) in the region.

Public Transport
Public Transport ... Contacts. Transport Integration Commercial Services Gibson Drive West Malling

Travelinedata
Information and support for local authorities and transport operators who maintain data for Traveline, the UK public transport information service www.traveline.info 0871 200 22 33

Traveline - Public Transport Info
Provides a public transport journey planner for the region, covering bus, coach and rail journeys.

Cornwall County Council - Public Transport
Welcome to Cornwall County Council's transport information section. Our aim is to provide full timetable information on all bus services operating in Cornwall, as well as ...

Essex Travel Information - Public Transport
Travel ... Public Transport. The following links provide on-line information about public transport in Essex:

Public Transport: Haringey Council
Public Transport Travelling around Haringey. Whether you're travelling in and around the borough or much further afield, why not check out the Journey Planner on the Transport for ...

Cumbria County Council : Roads and Transport : Public Transport ...
This page sets out the objectives of Cumbria County Council as part of the local transport plan. ... Cumbria County Council has various public transport objectives as part of its ...

Home | Transport for London
Information on all forms of public transport in London, routes, maps, journey planner and online tickets sales. Includes guide to what to see and do and realtime information on ...