What is transport? How do the factors of demand and routes affect the transport services throughout the world ? Explain with examples.

Transport is a service or facility for the carriage of persons and goods from one place to the other using humans, animals and different kinds of vehicles.

(i) It opened up continental interiors for commercial grain farming, mining and manufacturing in U.S.A.

(ii) The world’s total motorable road length is only about 15 million km, of which North America accounts for 33 percent. The highest road density and the highest number of vehicles are registered in this continent compared to western Europe.

(iii) Commuter trains are very popular in U.K., U.S.A, Japan and India. These carry millions of passengers daily to and fro in the city. There are about 13 lakh km of railways open for traffic in the world.

(iv) The significance of rivers as inland waterways for domestic and international transport and trade has been recognised throughout the developed world. Boats and steamers are used as means of transport for cargo and passengers.