Public transport

Public transport (Commonwealth English) comprises all transport systems in which the passengers do not travel in their own vehicles. It is also called public transportation, public transit or mass transit (US English). While it is generally taken to include rail and bus services, wider definitions would include scheduled airline services, ferries, taxicab services etc. - any system that transports members of the general public. A further restriction that is sometimes applied is that it should take place in shared vehicles, which would exclude taxis insofar as they're not shared.

Modern forms of public transport

Public transportation comes in many forms:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Road

• Auto rickshaw
• Bus normally serving a regular fixed route but could include a variable route, divert-on-demand service, see Bus rapid transit and Dual-mode bus
• Bush taxi of West and Central Africa
• Coach
• Trolleybus
• Jitney
• Limousine
• Matatu, of East Africa
• Rickshaw
• Taxicab
• Transit bus
• Vanpool
• Vehicle for hire
• Velotaxi

Rail

• Automated guideway transit (AGT), also called Peoplemover
• Cable car on rails, used in cities, a streetcar (tram} pulled by a cable
• Cable car on rails, used in mountains, see Funicular
• Cable car suspended on a cable, see Aerial tramway
• Cog railway (or rack and pinion railway)
• Elevated Railroad, such as the Chicago 'L'
• Light rail a tram-like system with no significant sections of the route shared with cars or pedestrians
• Magnetic levitation train (Maglev)
• Metro (also known as 'subway' or 'underground')
• Rubber-tired metro
• Advanced Rapid Transit
• Monorail
• Train, including commuter train and high-speed rail
• Tram (or tramway, trolley, streetcar)

Water

• Ferry, including hydrofoil and Hovercraft
• Water taxi

Air

• Airliner
• Helicopter

Sloped or vertical

• Aerial tramway also called cable car or cableway, vehicle suspended on aerial cables
• Chairlift
• Conveyor transport (term includes escalators and horizontal or slightly inclined moving sidewalk - "Travolator")
• Escalator
• Elevator or Lift
• Funicular, used in mountains, tram-like vehicle on rails pulled by a cable up and down a very steep slope.
• Gondola lift

Some of these types are often not for use by the general public, e.g. elevators in offices and apartment buildings, buses for personnel or school children, etc.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emerging transportation technologies

• Group rapid transit
• Dual mode transit
• Personal rapid transit
• Automated highway systems
• Bus rapid transit