INGENIEUR
Do You
Know?
TRANSPORTATION
TRENDS
By Pang Soo Mooi
Global Trends – World Bank
Transport accounts for about 64% of global oil
consumption, 27% of all energy use, and 23% of
the world’s energy-related CO 2 emissions. With
motorisation rates on the rise, the environmental
impact of the sector is expected to grow
dramatically.
More than 1.25 million people are killed and
up to 50 million are injured on the world’s roads
every year. Low and middle-income countries
account for 90% of the deaths although they own
just half the world’s motor vehicles.
streetcar combined the low cost, flexibility,
and safety of animal power with the efficiency,
smoothness, and all-weather capability of a rail
right-of-way.
The Tramways Act 1870 was an important
step in the development of urban transport in
United Kingdom. Street tramways had originated
in the United States and were introduced to the
UK by George Francis Train in the 1860s, the
first recorded installation being a short line from
Woodside Ferry to Birkenhead Park in the town
of Birkenhead. However, when Train started laying
lines on top of the highway in London, he was
arrested and fined, although he thought he had
obtained official permission.
Early Public Rail Transport
The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early
form of public rail transport that developed out
of industrial haulage routes that had long been
in existence and from the omnibus routes that
first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the
newly improved iron or steel rails, or 'tramway'.
These were local versions of the stagecoach lines
and picked up and dropped off passengers on a
regular route, without the need to be pre-hired.
Horsecars on tramlines were an improvement over
the omnibus, as the low rolling resistance of metal
wheels on iron or steel rails (usually grooved from
1852 onwards) allowed the animals to haul a
greater load for a given effort than the omnibus
and gave a smoother ride. The horse-drawn
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First Omnibus
On July 4, 1829, the first two omnibuses travelled
between Bank Junction and Princess street,
London. The new service was provided by George
Shillibeer. Many people referred to omnibuses
as Shillibeers and later simply as buses. Later
competition between omnibus companies
became so bad that in 1842, a driver was charged
with manslaughter for running over and killing a
man on City Road while racing another omnibus.
He was going 12 miles an hour, a speed that
was dangerous in a crowded thoroughfare with
horses. The offender was fined only a few shillings
and continued his behaviour.