Transport Mode Report:

Transport mode report:

This reports analysis the changes that have occurred in the modes of transport in the UK, these modes are subdivided into road, rail and air. Road transport is further subdivided into car and vans, bicycle and motorcycles.

 Road transport:

The number of billion passenger kilometres travelled via road has increased at an increasing rate for the period 1952 to 1991. The following chart shows the changes that have occurred in the road transport mode:

This increase has been highly contributed by the increase in the passenger kilometres for car and vans including taxis given that the kilometres travelled for bicycles and motorcycles have declined for the period.

 Rail transport:

The passenger kilometres travelled via rail has fluctuated and slightly increased for the period 1952 to 1999, there was a slight decline in the number of kilometres for the period 1952 to 1972 followed by a slight increase for the period 1972 to 1999.

  The above chart shows the decline in kilometres for the period 1952 to 1972 and the increase in the period 1972 to 1999.

 Air transport:

The passenger kilometres travelled via air transport has increased significantly over the period; the following chart shows this change:

From the chart it is evident that air transport kilometres have increased at an increasing rate.

From the above analysis it is evident that there has been three main changes in the mode of transport, one of the finding is that the road mode of transport has recorded an increase in the number of kilometres travelled and this has been contributed by the increase in the number of kilometres travelled using cars and vans given that the number of kilometres travelled using motorcycles and bicycles has declined.

The other finding is that railway transport declined in the period 1952 to 1972 and for the period 1972 there was an increase in the number of kilometres, the other finding is that the number of kilometres for air transport has increased at an increasing rate for the period 1961 to 1952.

 Possible reasons:

Air transport:

Technological advancement has contributed to the changes evident in the transport modes, in 1952 the number of kilometres travelled via air mode of transport was zero and this is due to underdevelopment of commercial airlines, with advanced technology it is evident that the development of commercial airlines has contributed to the increased in the number of kilometres travelled.

Air transport has in the recent past become relatively cheap and because it is a fast and reliable mode of transport the decline in prices has increased its demand and therefore the number of kilometres travelled has increased at an increasing rate.

Rail transport:

for the period 1952 to 1971 rail transport declined and this can be attributed to the advancement in technology that led to faster and cheaper modes of transports and therefore rail transport kilometres declined, however for the period 1972 to 1999 the advancement in the rail transport through introduction of electric trains increased the speed and reliability of rail transport resulting into an increase in the number of kilometres travelled.

Road transport:

Road transport comprises cars and vans, bicycle and motorcycles, for the bicycle and motorcycle modes use has declined and this can be associated with improved standards of living and the lower costs of other forms of road transport, as a result people have more often used the cars and vans more and therefore the number of kilometres have increased.

The other reason is improved road network which has enabled more area to be accessible by cars and vans, as a result the number of kilometres has increased and bicycle and motorcycle use has declined.

All modes:

The number of kilometres travelled via all the modes of transport has increased and the other reasons to explain this is an increase in population, the population size has increased and this has increased the demand for transport increasing number of kilometres travelled.

 References:

UK Statistics (2009) Passenger Transport by mode, retrieved on 2nd November, from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7229&Pos=2&ColRank=2&Rank=1000