What are the 7 Types of Transportation?

All of us have studied transportation in school and we are well aware of the basic definition of transportation. It is the movement of people, animals, or goods from one place to another using different modes of transport. You must have also studied its various categories. Can you recall the types of transportation? Or what the oldest type of transportation was? Or what is the most common type of transportation? Do you know any active transport examples? Let us get going with this article and help you recollect.

1. What is Transportation and its Types?

Transportation is a way for people, animals, and non-living goods to commute from point A to point B using different modes of transport. Further, let’s discuss what are the types of transportation. Looking from a broader perspective, transportation can be divided into four major types: 

• Roadways
• Railways
• Airways
• Waterways

Going deeper into each category, there can be further classifications in the types of transportation. (See What is the importance of Transportation in your life?)

2. How many Transport are there?

In the previous question, we discussed the broad types of transportation. In this question let’s get into specifications and talk about how many more transports are there. They are as follows: 

• Road transportation
• Railway transportation
• Water transportation
• Air transportation
• Pipeline transport
• Space transport
• Human powered transport
• Animal powered transport

3. What are the 7 Types of Transportation?

In the previous question, we named the seven types of transportation, in this one let’s dive into some details:

• Road transportation: The most common type of transportation which easily exists in every part of the world. This includes trucks, vans, cars, bikes, and even walking.
• Railway transportation: Railways were built to be able to carry heavy, bulky goods to different regions and for traveling across the nation and cities. These include trains and metros.
• Water transportation: Considered to be the cheapest mode of transportation, water transportation is further divided into Inland water transport and Ocean waterways. Both of these use ships and barges for their commute.
• Air transportation: Air transportation these days is one of the most common types of transportation. It uses aircraft, helicopters, and drones as its means of transport.
• Pipeline transportation: This system of transportation uses pipes for the transportation of crude oil, gas, water, etc.
• Space transportation: This means of transport goes beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. This mode of transportation is functional because of spacecraft as its transportation.
• Human powered transportation– This is again the most common type of transportation as it makes use of human muscle power to transport people or goods by walking, running, swimming, etc.

4. What is the Most Common Type of Transportation?

The answer to this might vary from place to place but we’ve managed to come to a common ground while answering about the most common type of transportation. It is believed that roadways, cars specifically are the most common type of transportation for people to commute to their work, and also all the other technological developments have been done keeping in mind the automobiles. (See How do Toll Roads Work?)

5. What is the Example of Transport?

There can be innumerable examples of transport. Taking a local city bus to go to school; taking a taxi to go to a party; traveling to another country via airplanes; transporting goods to another country by ships and cargoes; providing gas connections through the pipeline; sending researchers on the moon through spacecraft; walking to a grocery store, and many more such examples. (See How has Technology changed work?) 

6. What are Two Active Transport Examples?

Active transportation includes travel in all human-powered forms. If we look at the concept of active transportation from a health perspective, it is a cost-effective way of keeping the mind and the body healthy. Some active transport examples include activities like walking, cycling, skating, skateboarding, skiing, and many more. The initiative of active transport also improves environmental issues like improved quality of air and less climate change. (See Who invented Skateboarding?)

7. What is the Oldest Type of Transportation?

After learning about various types of transportation, the obvious question that would pop up in anybody’s head is what is the oldest type of transportation? Well, the answer to this is that animal-powered transport is the oldest type of transportation. Horse carts, bullock carts, elephants, and camels were used to transport people and goods in earlier times much before ships, ferries, and other technological developments. (See How has the invention of cars affected the economy?)

8. What is Traditional Transportation?

We know that transport is fairly possible through the land, air, and water. Traditional transport is a type of transportation that happens on the ground and not in the air. Transportation done in old days was relatively slow because it was animal or human-powered transportation and did not use fuel. These were donkey-pulled carts, bullock carts, or just people walking or pulling carts. (See What is a Chuckwagon?)

9. What is Modern Transportation?

Modern transportation is basically the technological advancements that happened over time to traditional transportation. The transportation done in today’s time is fast and uses a fair share of fuel. This type of transportation is known as modern traditional transportation. Must see Which is the Closest Airport to Andorra?

10. What are the Two Types of Road Transport?

Road transport is one of the most preferred modes of transportation used for the commute of passengers and goods. As the name suggests, road transport vehicles function on the road. The broad classification is road transport and the two types of road transport are- buses and bikes. In modern days, new advancements such as electric cars and bikes have also made their way into the present-day commute. (See What does 70 Per Cent Travel mean?)

11. What are the Major Types of Transport in India?

There are four major means of transport in India. These include Rail transport, Roadways transport, Air transport, and Water transport. India is known to have one of the largest road networks in the world, the largest railway system in entire Asia, and also the second largest in the world. The transportation infrastructure heavily depends on these four pillars. The most important of these are the railways and the roadways as these serve as the primary source of transportation for the Indian citizens. (Also See 15 reasons it’s extremely stressful to drive a car in Egypt)

12. What Type of Transport do you Use Most?

The answer to this question depends heavily on a person’s preferences. But worldwide, the average human uses the automobile or the cars the most, which is followed by buses, airways, and then railways. People prefer cars because it gives you the freedom to be at any place at any time unlike the other means of transport which are time bound. 

This article is about the 7 types of transportation, and we have discussed them in detail. Key takeaways from the article are that technological advancements have proved to be a boon for mankind. The article also talked about traditional and modern transportation and the major type of transport used in India. We hope this article could help you get better insights into the transportation system and prove to be new learning for you. (Read How Fast does the Fastest Car go?)