MODELS OF TRANSPORT

 MODELS OF TRANSPORT

Transport, is the way people move from place to place. We travel on foot, by bicycle or car. In cities, public transport includes buses, trains, ships, planes and space craft make it possible for people and goods to travel great distance (Raum, 2011). It can also be defined as a movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another.

Transport system, is concerned with movement of freight, people and information, tries to link spatial constraints and attributes with the origin, the destination, the extent, the nature and the purpose of movements.

Models of transport are essential components of transport systems since they are the means by which mobility is supported. A wide range of modes, that may be grouped into three broad categories based on the medium they exploit which are land transport, water transport and air transport. Those modes can be elaborated as follows

Land transport, this involves the movement of goods, services and people on land surface. It involves the following means:-

Human portage, it is the most common type of transport used by the majority of the people in various parts of the world. This is because most of the parts in the world are remote, severely lacking capital and skills to put in place the modern methods of transport (Msabila, 2008).

                                         

                     Figure number 1. A picture showing human portage transport

Road transport, it involves the use of vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles. It is well developed in various part of the world, for example the road network in Germany. In Tanzania and East Africa at large, road transport is the most important and it will continue to play a virtual role in the economic development of the countries (Mzezele and Kibuuka 2009).

           

                                              Figure number 2. Pictures showing road transport.

Animal transport is the form of transport, which involves the use of animals and is not so well development in many parts of the world. It is most useful in those areas which are wild and hostile so that other means of transport are hard or difficult to be used. Animals’ transports which are commonly used may include camels, donkeys, horses and cattle also can be used for riding as well as carrying or pulling loads (Msabila 2008).

 

                              Figure number 3. pictures showing animal transport

Railway transport is the means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicle running on rails, also known as trucks. It is also common referred to as train transport. This means of transport has stimulated industrial development, mining industry, development of towns like Johannesburg, development of market both internal and external since the railway is used in the distribution of goods within the country and carrying goods to the ports for export. Example TAZARA railway running from Tanzania to Zambia.

                               Figure number 4. Pictures showing railway transport

Pipelines transport, it constitute another form of transport system which has gown in importance since the formation of the customs union in Europe. Pipelines carry liquids especially oil. In Tanzania TAZAMA is an example of the pipeline which runs from Dar es Salaam oil refinery (TIPPER) to Ndola in Zambia which is 1700 km. In Kenya the pipeline managed by Kenya pipeline Company extends from oil refinery near Mombasa to Nairobi.

  Figure number 5. Pictures showing pipeline transport.

Land transport consists of advantages and disadvantages, whereby its advantages are as follows:-

It is the cheapest means of transport since it is very affordable means anywhere by anybody like human transport where the owner transports his or her own goods, no costs are incurred.

Flexibility, land transport is flexible such as human transport can be used to transport goods to various places in towns and rural areas. It is also convenient as it is not affected by congestion. On the other hand it can be used to transport different types of goods. Road transport is quite flexible, simply because it connects very many places, at various times and it can be used up to a given destination or very close to the destination.

More loads and a greater number of people can be transported at a single journey for example railway transport has the capacity to carry both heavy and bulky goods as well as many passenger over long distances in a single trip. For instance a boxcar can carry about eighty passengers, where by one train can contain more than ten boxcars.

Land complements other means of transport like air and water transport. This is because in most cases, people and goods have to be ferried to these other means of transport by road, human portage, railways and animals (Mzezele and Kibuuka 2009).

Apart from advantages, the following are the disadvantages of land transport:-

Road transport can be easily affected by weather conditions, for example during heavy trains some roads become impassable.

Heavy rains also affect road transport as flooding can cut off some sections of the road. Also can hinder human transportation to take place due to flooding.

It handles a specific and limited amount of goods. Most of vehicles used in land transport are designed to carry limited weight of goods, particularly those of roads (s) transport like Lorries or vans.

High risks to accidents compared to air and water transport, land transport has more instances of accidents. This is because of the poor state of some roads, over loading, drink driving and reckless driving among other reasons. These accidents result in loss of both valuable goods and human life.

Vehicles and motorcycles emit gases which contribute to air pollution due to their bad state. These automobiles produce a lot of dangerous gas like carbon dioxide which affect both human being and atmosphere.

Time consuming compared to air transport example railway transport except in the case of bullet trains consumes a lot of time due to low speed and too much meanders of rail as well as road transport also consumes times due to low speed, traffic jam, congestion problem and poor state of some roads. (Mzezele and Kibuka 2009).

Water transport this is the movement of goods and people from one place to another over water, using water vessels. (Mzezele and Kibuka 2009). Considering the geographical location of continents water transport is the most convenient means of handling the movement of goods between continents (Msabila, 2008). The oldest method of moving goods over long distances was by water transport, first by river then by coastal water and later by sea routes (Bunnett, 2009).

   Figure number 6. Pictures showing water transport.

Means of transport in water are categorized into two categories, inland and sea transport.

Inland water transport involves the movement of people and goods over inland water bodies such as rivers, lakes and canals. Example lakes that are major water ways in East Africa include Lake Victoria, Tanganyika and Albert. These are deep and wide enough for water vessels like ships and boats to sail on.

Sea transport involves the movement of people and goods over the oceans and sea. It enables countries and continents to connect with sea parts in all parts of the world. Passenger and cargo liners are used in ocean or sea transport.

The following are the advantages of water transport:-

Water transport is the most suitable means for transporting heavy and bulky goods over long distance

Minimal construction costs in incurred in this means of transport. This includes the construction of the ports as well as the loading and unloading equipment.

There is minimal congestion in water transport; this is unlike other means of transport like road transport, in water transport congestion only occurs at ports.

Some cargo ships are specially designed to transport certain specific types of cargo. Example petroleum or oil, food stuffs, or animals. As such the safety of goods transported is assured.

Apart from advantages of water transport, the following are the disadvantages of water transport:-

Water transport is one of the slowest means of transport, it takes a lot of time to travel or move goods from one place to another and are thus unsuitable when urgency is required.

Modern shipping vessels are expensive, port construction as well as purchase of the necessary loading and unloading equipment is also expensive. Therefore a lot of capital is required to effectively operate water transport systems.

Water transport is greatly affected by changes in climatic conditions. For example during droughts, water levels in lakes and rivers go down and during cold condition in some seas and oceans water freeze.  This hampers the movement of water vessels. During heavy rains, water ports are destructed by water hence hinder ship anchored.

Air transport is the movement of goods and people from one place to another through air. It involves the use of aircraft such as airplanes, helicopters and hot air balloons. It is the most modern and fastest means of transport globally. There are two types of air transport; Domestic air transport involves the movement of people and goods within a country. International air transport involve movement from one country to another. Air transport is not very well developed in many developing countries because of the high cost of setting it up, operating and maintaining it most of these developing countries therefore, they on foreign aid and loans to develop their air transport infrastructure. The countries of Eastern Africa are well connected through air transport. These countries are further linked to the rest of the world trough a network of airways example international air transport like Nyerere International air port in Dar es Salaam, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

                          

Figure number 7. Pictures showing air transport.

The following are the advantages of air transport:-

Air transport is fast and therefore suitable for use in the transportation of goods that are perishable as well as sick people and animals.

Air transport is not affected by physical barriers like mountains, rivers and lakes.

Air transport use strict time schedules, enabling travelers to plan their journeys well before trip, this also makes it reliable.

Air transport provides emergency services. It can operate even when all other means of transport cannot be operated due to the floods or other natural calamities. Thus, at that time, it is the only mode of transport which can be employed to do the relief work and provide the essential commodities of life.

Air transport used as national defense, air transport plays a very important role in the defenses of the country. Modern wars have been fought mainly by airplanes. It has upper hand in destroying the enemy in a very short period of time, it also support over wings of defense of a country.

Apart from advantages of air transport, the following are the disadvantages of air transport:-

Air transport is expensive. It is the most expensive means of transport; this is because of the high costs in setting it up, operating and maintain. Fuel costs are also quite high in air transport than other mode of transport.

The personnel working in the air transport sector need to be well trained. This is very expensive and most developing countries are not able to train a sufficient number of personnel to keep up with demand.

Air transport is heavily affected by weather when storms and signs of unfavorable weather are detected; the take off of planes is delayed, routed changes or flights cancelled.

In case of accidents, a lot of damage and loss are experienced. Goods are usually destroyed completely and the number of people who die is very high.

It highly depends on other forms of transport. This is because many airports and airstrips’ are located far from settlements and productive areas.  

Simply, there is no model of transport which can end up on its self; instead all models depend on each other. Land transport is used to transport the goods or passengers from the air port or harbours to the corresponding destination, air transport can transport the goods or passengers from airport to the corresponding destination but land or water transport is the one used to transport such goods or passengers to airport, while goods, passengers or services can be transported to the corresponding destination after either air or land transport has transported them to the harbour.

REFERENCE

Bunnett, R.B (2009). General Geography in Diagrams: Singapore Pearson Education South                     Asia Pte Ltd.

Raum Elizabeth (2011). Timeline History Transport from Working to High Speed Railway:                        Britain. British Library Cataloguing in Publication data.

Msabila D.T. (2008). An Integrated Regional Study on Human & Economic Geography:                            Advanced level paper two. Dar es Salaam Tanzania, Nyambari Nyangwine Publishers.

Mzezele S. & Kibuuka P. (2009). Geography in Focus, Form Two: Tanzania Ltd, Published by                Oxford University Press.