Public transport – passenger transport available and demanded for use by the general public.
According to the narrow interpretation of public transport, the vehicles referred to it are designed to carry a sufficiently large number of passengers at a time and run on certain routes (in accordance with the schedule or responding to demand).
A broader interpretation also includes cabs, rickshaws, and similar modes of transportation, as well as some specialized transportation systems.
With a few exceptions, public transport services are provided for a fee. The vehicle is not the property of the passenger.
For example, school and service buses, internal transport of large enterprises and organizations, military echelons, etc. do not fall into the category of public transport, since they are not available to the general public and are not in demand by it. Elevators and escalators in buildings and houses usually do not belong to public transport because of the narrowness of their purpose (transportation of people within the building or house).
In addition, such modes of transport as, for example, airplanes, which formally meet all the requirements, in practice are not always classified as public transport because of the high cost of travel. For the same reason, luxury custom-made limousines and other carriages that are formally identical to cabs are not considered public transportation.
Excursion buses, pleasure boats, etc. are also not considered public transportation because they are not intended to carry passengers.
Relationship of public and individual transport
Public transport received the widest development in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. However, since 1950s, in many countries public transport began to be curtailed due to competition with private cars. In many cities, the streetcar was completely eliminated.
The private car provides a much faster door-to-door journey in high comfort. However, the rapid increase in motorization has also caused a number of problems. First of all, cities suffer from insufficient capacity of the streets (leading to traffic jams) and from a lack of parking spaces. Noise and air pollution are also high. This has led many cities to try to retain even unprofitable public transport lines – the benefits of reducing car traffic are much greater.