Transport in The UK

1 Road transport
In Britain, the development of road transport has begun in 1894, Malvern Link, Worcestershire, England. The Santler car is generally recognised by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country. The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Motor Company, founded by Harry Lawson in 1896. The company was purchased by Jaguar Cars in 1960. The total road length in Great Britain in 2009 was estimated to be more than 245,100 miles (394,450 km). Road is the most popular method of transportation in the UK, carrying over 90% of motorised passenger travel and 65% of domestic freight. The major motorways and trunk roads (many of which are dual carriageway) form the trunk network which links all cities and major towns, these carry about one third of the nation's traffic, and occupy about 0,16% of its land area. (Wikipedia: Transport in the United Kingdom)
1.1 Private road transport in the UK - cars

Three-quarters of households in Britain have regular use of a car and a third have more than one car. Part of the widespread enthusiasm for cars is, as elsewhere, a result of people using them to project an image of themselves. Another, more British, possible reason is the opportunity which cars provide to indulge the national passion for privacy. The privacy motive may also be the reason why British drivers are less communicative than the drivers of many other countries. They use their horns very little, are not in the habit of signalling their displeasure at the behaviour of other road users with their gestures and are a little more tolerant of both other drivers and pedestrians. Britain has almost the best road safety record in Europe. The speed limit on motorways is a little lower than in most other countries (70mph = 112kph). The minimum age for driving a car in the UK is 17. British people drive on the left-hand side of the road, so the steering wheel is on the right. However the pedals are in the same position as in lefthanded cars. (O'Driscoll, 2009)
1.2 Private road transport in the UK - bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles

The Government's National Cycling strategy is intended to increase the number of cyclists and the areas where cyclists can ride their bikes. The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans (Sustainable Transport), and aided by a 42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips. Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor traffic, though 70 % of them are on roads. (Fraenkel, Haill, & O'Riordan, 2004)
The British are not very keen on mopeds or motorcycles. They exist, of course, but they are not private enough for British tastes. The minimum age for riding a moped or motorcycle with a maximum engine capacity of 50 cc is 16 years.
1.3 Public transport in towns and cities

Public transport services in urban areas, as elsewhere in Europe, suffer from the fact that there is so much private traffic on the roads, so that they are not as cheap, as frequent or as fast as they otherwise could be and stop running inconveniently early at night. Britain is one of the few countries in Europe where double-decker buses are common sight. Although single-deckers have also been in use since the 1960s, London still has more than 3,000 double-deckers in operation. Another symbol of London is the distinctive black taxi known as the London cab. Normally, these traditional taxis cannot be hired by phone. You simply have to find one on the street. But there are also many companies who get most of their business over the phone known as minicabs (the same taxis like in Slovakia - common car brands). Taxis and minicabs are expensive and most British people rarely use them, except, perhaps, when going home late at night after public transport has stopped running, especially if they have been drinking alcohol. (O'Driscoll, 2009)
2 Other ways of urban public transport

2.1 Trams
An interesting modern development is that trams, which disappeared from the countrys towns during the 1950s and 1960s, are now making a comeback. Trams are operating in almost every bigger British town or city. Research has shown that people seem to have more confidence in the reliability of a service which runs on tracks, and are therefore readier to use a tram than they would be to use an ordinary bus. Tram systems are operating in Greater London, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool, and many others.
2.2 The Tube

The famous London Underground, known as The Tube is feeling the effects of its age (it was first opened in 1863). It is now one of the dirtiest and least efficient of all such systems in European cities.
However, it is still heavily used because it provides excellent connections with the main line train stations and with the suburbs surrounding the city. In general, three cities in the UK have rapid transit systems - outside of London there is the Glasgow Subway and the Tyne and Wear Metro. (Fraenkel, Haill, & O'Riordan, 2004)
3 Rail transport
The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world, with the world's first locomotive-hauled public railway opening on 27 September 1825. As of 2006, it consists of 10,106 miles (16,264 km) of standard gauge lines, of which 3,331 miles (5,361 km) are electrified. In some parts of the country, particularly the south-east of England, there is a dense suburban rail network, but the most commercially successful trains are inter-city services that run between London and the thirty or so largest cities in the country. Inter-city trains are quite fast, but by modern European standards they cannot be called high speed. (The only train that qualifies for this description is the international Eurostar train from London which goes through the Channel tunnel). Pressure for a genuinely high-speed train network is growing, partly for environmental reasons (fast enough service would persuade more people to travel from London to the far north of England and Scotland by train rather than by plane) and partly because trains are getting more and more overcrowded. But at time of writing, no definite plans are in place (except the international Eurostar project).
4 The Channel Tunnel

On Friday 6 May 1994, Queen Elizabeth II and President Mirterrand of France travelled ceremonially under the sea that separates their two countries and officially opened the channel tunnel (for a while it was known as The Chunnel) between Calais and Folkestone. For the first time in about 8,000 years people were able to travel between Britain and mainland Europe without taking their feet off solid ground. At first the public did not show much enthusiasm for the tunnel, perhaps because it was only available to those travelling by private transport. For them, the small saving in time did not compensate for the discomfort of a train with no windows and no facilities other than toilets, especially as the competing ferry companies had made their ships more attractive. In addition, some people felt it was unnatural and frightening to travel under all that water. (Gourvish, 2006)
3
5 Air transport
A small but increasing minority, of mostly business people, travel within Britain by air. International air travel, however, is very economically important for Britain. As measured by numbers of international passengers, it has four airports in the worlds top 30. They are Gatwick Airport (to the S of London), Stansted Airport (to the N of London), Manchester, and, pre-eminently, Heathrow (on the W edge of London). (O'Driscoll, 2009)
5.1 The Heathrow Airport

The Heathrow Airport is the worlds fourth busiest passenger airport (measured by number of total passengers) it dealt with over 65 million passengers in 2010. Although the opening of a fifth terminal in 2008 increased capacity on the ground, but it has only two runways and these are operating at maximum capacity. There are plans for a third runway, but this will take a long time to build or may not be built at all. While some British people are proud of Heathrows status, others are not. First of all, people living close to the airport are worried about the destruction of their communities. Second, Londoners in general are worried about the noise. And finally, green campaigners are against the idea on principle. (Norburry, 2003)
6 Water transport
Due to the UK's island nature, before the Channel Tunnel and the appearing of air travel the only way to enter or leave the country was on water (except at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). Approximately 95% of freight enters the UK by sea. Three major ports handle most freight traffic: Port of Felixstowe on the east coast (the fourth largest seaport in Europe) Port of Tilbury, on the River Thames. Southampton on the south coast. (O'Driscoll, 2009)
6.1 Ferries
Ferries (both passenger only OR passengers and vehicles) operate within the UK across rivers and stretches of water. Some of the ferry lines in the UK:
Gosport Ferry is linking Gosport and Portsmouth in the county of Hampshire in Southern England, Shields Ferry is linking North Shields and South Shields in conurbation Tyne and Wear - North East England. Mersey Ferry is operating on the river Mersey, located in North West England, Orkney Ferries provide services within the Orkney Islands, Northlink Ferries provide services from the Scottish mainland to Orkney and Shetland, mainly from Aberdeen, Stena Line & Irish Ferries provide services between Wales and Ireland.
Passenger ferries operate internationally to nearby countries such as France, the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain. (Wikipedia: Transport in the United Kingdom)
7 Bibliography
Fraenkel, A., Haill, R., & O'Riordan, S. (2004). Teach Yourself World Cultures: England. London: Hodder Arnold. Gourvish, T. (2006). The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel. London: Routledge. Norburry, P. (2003). Culture Smart! Britain: Customs & Etiquette. London: Kuperard. O'Driscoll, J. (2009). Britain For Learners Of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wikipedia: Transport in the United Kingdom. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Great_Britain

Transport in The UK

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Transport in The UK

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1 Road transport

1.1 Private road transport in the UK - cars

1.2 Private road transport in the UK - bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles

1.3 Public transport in towns and cities

2 Other ways of urban public transport

2.2 The Tube

4 The Channel Tunnel

5.1 The Heathrow Airport

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