Mid-Term Paper: passenger or frieght?

Transportation modes whether it is by land, air, or water, are essential components of how people and cargo move all over the world. Each mode has its own requisites and features, and has adapted to accommodate the specific demands of freight and passenger traffic. These fundamental differences occur in each entity since passengers and freight generally move in separate modes. In 2013, Americans alone took an estimated 10.7 billion trips on public transportation. This was the highest annual ridership in fifty-seven years. From 1995 to 2013, the amount of public transportation riders increased by thirty-seven percent (Facts at a Glance). Looking at the freight statistics, the Nation’s freight transport system moves approximately fifty-seven tons of freight per year in the United States (2012 Transportation Annual Statistics Report) Basing the data solely on statistics, it is apparent that the spatial dynamics between the transportation of passengers and freight appear to be different and alike in many ways. “This gives rise to marked differences in the ways the modes are deployed and utilized in different parts of the world” (Rodrigue). Recently, a trend has been shown to integrate passenger and freight modes by linking them into distribution networks, however, passenger and freight activity is becoming increasingly separated across most modes. This essay will compare and contrast the passenger and freight transportation modes in relation to their economic impacts.