Talk:Road transport

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Former featured articleRoad transport is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
January 19, 2004Refreshing brilliant proseKept
October 20, 2004Featured article reviewDemoted
Current status: Former featured article

Old text[edit]

This country needs help and in origins - certainly pigs and cows were used to transport money before dogs were introduced to the Americas. Why wouldn't they or similar humans have been used before dogs elsewhere?

Standard Gauge[edit]

Oh dear, it's the horse's arse myth again. There isn't any evidence that Standard (4'8½") Gauge is based upon Roman Chariots. Wheeled vehicles tend to be in the range of gauges 4' to 6' (think of how they were built before industrial production of steel started), so it's unsurprising that the Novocastrian mines standardised on 4'8½", which was adopted by the Stephensons (who were from, er, Newcastle).

Organization[edit]

The Toll Roads section needs some redoing and probably renaming or splitting. If it's going to stay called toll roads, it should mention 19th century and earlier turnpikes. --SPUI 07:36, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I agree. You have a good point. I have some sources on some older turnpike companies in Virginia from the late 18th and 19th centuries. I'll see what i can dig up to help balance this article. Vaoverland 09:22, Dec 27, 2004 (UTC)

Probably all the relevant info is in turnpike; it's just reorganizing what's here. --SPUI 21:22, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I think the term Road Transport is ambiguous in English usage. That is why most of the current article deals with roads and traffic, rather than "transport services". So I don't blame the person who got confused below. Maybe s.th. should be added to the definition on top of the page. Or all the road and traffic stuff goes on separate pages. (Most of is already is anyway.) In that case a "disambiguation" page might help. The wider definition of the term is moving people from A to B on roads. (In which case riding a bike and driving a car should be included.) But in common usage it often refers to road transport industries/services (e.g. as used by the EC, compare: ec.europa.eu/transport/road/policy/index_en.htm)

America[edit]

Too focused on America - what about the other 5 billion people in the world?

Well, if you know anything about the history of road development anywhere else, feel free to update the article. Just remember to cite your sources, though. See Roger J. Traynor for an example of what an article with proper citations looks like. --Coolcaesar 05:14, 16 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]


The main page on "History of Road Transportation" is more comprehensive and complete. Although from what I've seen that one too mostly deals with "road construction" rather than "transportation" (There are a couple of sentences about carts and stuff.) Citing sources is much easier for books and people than for practical, real life stuff. Most of that is proprietary, tacit, or so common that the only thing one could site is one's grandma. (Will try hard to find some, though.)

Vehicle or Transport[edit]

Road transport and vehicle. I think it is difficult to discern the difference just like that. But my scoop on the subject is. I was wondering if for example a road train could be considered a vehicle or is it a transportation? It's a paradox, but when you look at it I think it's a transport. Now however, if the article road trains explained a little more in details about the vehicle perhaps it may be a type of vehicle? I'm essentially confused? What is the difference between transport and vehicle?

Now google define says "transportation: the commercial enterprise of moving goods and materials "

On wiki we have said that "Transport or transportation is the movement of people, goods, signals and information from one place to another. The term is derived from the Latin trans ("across") and portare ("to carry")."

Now google defines vehicle as "a conveyance that transports people or objects." but is define also as: "Any mechanical mode of transportation including bicycles." www.unbsj.ca/security/parking-regs-definitions.html

So from what I can see a vehicles are a type of transportation. But a transportion is not necessarilly only vehicles. Eik! I'm still confused can someone help me.

Okay! Let's try the etymology:


  1. Vehicle: from Fr. véhicule, from L. vehiculum "means of transport, a vehicle," from vehere "to carry," from PIE *wegh- "to go, transport in a vehicle" (cf. O.E. wegan "to carry;" O.N. vegr, O.H.G. weg "way;" M.Du. wagen "wagon;" see wagon). Sense of "cart or other conveyance" first recorded 1656.
  2. Transport:c.1374, from O.Fr. transporter "carry or convey across" (14c.), from L. transportare, from trans- "across" + portare "to carry" (see port (1)). Sense of "carry away with strong feelings" is first recorded 1509. Meaning "to carry away into banishment" is recorded from 1666. The noun is attested from 1456, originally "mental exaltation;" sense of "means of transportation" is recorded from 1694. Transportation "act of transporting" is recorded from 1540. In the sense of "means of conveyance" it is first recorded 1853.
From what I can see, transport has to do with the "action" of transporting (or carying from one place to the other)(ie.:conveyance)(1540) and vehicle is from the French véhicule and has to do with any means by which we conveye (or tranport) by machine or object used to perform transport.

I don't know what I conclude from this? anyone? --CyclePat 02:59, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think that post is by a non-native English speaker who is having difficulty understanding the difference between vehicle and transport. Transport refers to the whole enterprise of moving things or people in general; vehicles are objects by which transport is accomplished. It's not that hard. --Coolcaesar 08:54, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cargo and Passenger transportation[edit]

No mention of Cargo or passenger road transport!? Peter Horn 01:15, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Peter Horn 13:59, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I put in what I knew and could. I used to work at a shipping agents' a while back. I remember us having quite a laugh that our British colleagues called their trucking companies "holiers"!!! I tried to verify that, but you can guess what junk I found (even with "than thou" deselected). I don't know whether that was a company specific term or if that is actually an inofficial term used throughout the UK. If s.o. knows, kindly add info. Most of the stuff I put in is from working in the field, so it's a bit thin on "official" sources. I tried to link it to the Wiki articles I could find. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.171.253.200 (talk) 01:06, 21 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Haulier" not "holier" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.32.103.197 (talk) 21:17, 26 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject Road Transport[edit]

A WikiProject about this subject has been proposed here. Laïka 12:09, 14 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not clear enough[edit]

Road transport can be horse-based, so there needs to be a separate Motor-transport article. This is what I would need to link to to illustrate effect of motorisation on history of 20th century warfare.--Mrg3105 (talk) 01:53, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why do you limit your comment to horses? Even if you want to cite history of warfare, I seem to vaguely remember elephants being used in a couple of places. On the other hand, the Huns established roads to many cities within their empire after they had taken them; which would imply that they got there on horeseback without road transport. A variety of locally available animals have traditionally been used to pull assorted vehicles on roads all over the world. In some places they still are. In a story I read the Iditarod was defined as a road, in which case dogsleds would be "road transport" vehicles. We shipped a machine to Africa and for the last bit of the route it was disassembled and transported on bicycles and the local bus. I had thought that Road Transportation should be separated out from Road Transportation Services, but changed my mind because once you start fragmenting the topic it starts falling apart. Why not add a page for Motorized Road Transportation. But would a tank then go there? It doesn't need a road, as far as I know. Maybe you could add a subheading that would suit your needs? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.56.30.124 (talk) 09:51, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

POV[edit]

I added the POV notice. We don't need too much details about US. We need more info about something which America seems to be unaware of : The Rest of the World. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 13:35, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

removing POV tag with no active discussion per Template:POV[edit]

I've removed an old neutrality tag from this page that appears to have no active discussion per the instructions at Template:POV:

This template is not meant to be a permanent resident on any article. Remove this template whenever:
  1. There is consensus on the talkpage or the NPOV Noticeboard that the issue has been resolved
  2. It is not clear what the neutrality issue is, and no satisfactory explanation has been given
  3. In the absence of any discussion, or if the discussion has become dormant.

Since there's no evidence of ongoing discussion, I'm removing the tag for now. If discussion is continuing and I've failed to see it, however, please feel free to restore the template and continue to address the issues. Thanks to everybody working on this one! -- Khazar2 (talk) 21:06, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Vehicle miles traveled[edit]

I believe, the VMT (for Vehicle miles traveled) is an indicator of the road network usage, for a country. VMT is usually computed by 100 million kilometers traveled or by billion million kilometers traveled, or in miles in some countries.

This number greatly increased in various countries during the XXth century. I asusme the article could provide some data about it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.185.253.94 (talk) 22:09, 26 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Article sourcing[edit]

I added to the article with references but there are still unsourced sections. Otr500 (talk) 16:49, 20 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion[edit]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:59, 9 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]