Cycling and walking within cities can be encouraged by providing wide sidewalks and comprehensive networks of bicycle paths or lanes. Long-Haul Passenger Transportation Walking and cycling are not viable alternatives for long distance travel. The options left are the automobile, trains, buses, ships and airplanes. An examination of Figure 2 indicates that buses, trains and high occupancy automobiles are the mostefficient modes of long distance transportation. These trains may be able to travel at speeds of up to 480 kilometers per hour, thus competing with air travel for trips of up to 1000 km.
Air travel is generally an inefficient mode of intercity transportation.
The convenience of the reduced travel time is paid for by increased energy use. All fossil fuel based transportation results in the emission of nitrous oxides. NO x , which contribute to acid rain, also have a minor role in stratospheric ozone depletion when they are released high up in the atmosphere by airplanes. A well organized and efficient transportation can reduce the number of empty seats on any type of vehicle, reducing the energy consumed per person per trip. Freight Transportation Anybody who has travelled on the highways in North America has seen that a large proportion of our freight is transported by heavy trucks.