48 Examples of Transportation

John Spacey, updated on September 29, 2024

Transportation is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. This is an important element of the quality of life of a city or nation. An efficient transportation system has fundamental economic benefits as it allows people and goods to move freely at low cost with predictable travel times. Transportation also impacts human safety and happiness as people spend much of their time moving from place to place. Pleasant and safe forms of transportation make a place more livable. The following are common elements of transportation.

Aircraft	Autonomous ships
Barges	Bicycles
Boats	Bulk carriers
Bullet trains	Buses
Cable cars	Canoes
Cargo ships	Cars
Cold chain – transport and delivery of things that must remain cool or cold	Container ships
Drones	Electric cars
Elevators	Escalators
Ferries	Forklifts
Freight trains	Hiking
Horse drawn carriages	Horseback riding
Ice skating	Inline skating
Jogging	Last mile – delivery of things to homes and businesses
Maglev trains	Monorails
Motorcycles	Moving walkways
Pipelines	Robotic delivery systems
Sailboats	Scooters
Ships	Skateboards
Skiing	Snowmobiles
Spacecraft	Subways
Taxis	Trains
Trams	Trucks
Unmanned aerial vehicles	Walking

Technically speaking, water pipes deliver water, electrical lines deliver electricity and fiber optic cables delivery signals. These could all be viewed as transportation in a sense.

Transportation Longevity

Transportation longevity is the ability for a transportation technology to remain in use over many decades or centuries. In the history of transportation, there have been innovations such as passenger airships, or aerostats, that emerged as relatively advanced technologies of the day only to quickly become obsolete.

It is also possible for mainstays of the transportation system such as the stream trains and steamships of the 19th century to be supplanted by newer technologies. Other types of transportation, such as the sailboat and bicycle, appear that they can stand the test of time -- remaining in popular use while more technologically advanced vehicles come and go. For example, it is possible or even likely that the bicycle may outlast vehicles based on internal combustion engines such as the car.

Summary

Transportation is the movement of people and goods from origin to destination. This includes transportation technologies such as a train and modes of transportation such as walking.