W2: A look into the transportation industry.

In this modern era, the transportation industry is undeniably the backbone of the modern society. Without the help of modern transportation, remarkable feats made in this era is definitely not possible. The roles transportation plays in the current day and age ranges from transporting a person from a location to another by car to cargo planes carrying tons of load all around the globe. Even though the transportation industry is one of the most advanced industries, there are still many challenges that are still present since the beginning of the industry. Other than that, as the transportation industry continues to advance, more hurdles will continue to be discovered and to be overcame.

 

One of the main challenges the transportation faces in the modern day is the power source of transportation vehicles. These days, most vehicles regardless of size operates using fuel such as fossil fuel and natural gas such as cars, ships and planes. Although there are a variety of alternatives such as electric and nuclear power, they are not as advances to be used practically at a large scale in its current technological stage. Moreover, specific infrastructures have to be created in order to cater for respective types of vehicles just to use them effectively. For example, roads have to be created to be able to use cars and trucks and train tracks has to be made to utilize trains. This poses a challenge to governments as they require a huge budget and they would have to plan effectively and efficiently when expanding their countries transportation infrastructure. This causes places that are not deemed economically useful to the government to be left out when planning for infrastructure expansion. Other than that, some places are just not cut out for using modern transportation due to geological circumstances or harsh environmental conditions. Furthermore, modern transportation industry is not as environmentally friendly and efficient as what it could have been due to bad planning from the past and lobbying.

In an ideal future, in terms of land vehicles, electric powered vehicles would be the most common type of vehicles to be found on the roads. As power plants shift to using renewable energy and nuclear energy to combat pollution from fossil fuels, more emphasis will be put into the research of battery technology which in conjunction aids in the advancement of electric vehicles. Moreover, there would be less cars on the roads as public transportation becomes the norm to combat traffic issues and pollution as the public transportation model is the most effective way of transportation for humans. Traffic jams would be eliminated in the future era as vehicles become self-driving and follow pre-determined paths for maximum efficiency. As technology advances, transportation infrastructures can be developed in geographically challenging places on Earth due to improvements in construction technology, allowing people from those areas to travel freely to other places. In terms of sea vehicles, traditional sails may be seeing a return as ships move away from using fossil fuel. Sea vehicles can also use routes that are determined to be the best and most efficient by artificial intelligence that analyze the movement of the wind and the sea. In terms of air vehicles, not much may change except the shapes of planes that use artificial intelligence to generate to maximize aerodynamic performance.

To solve the modern problems in the transportation industry, many norms and boundaries must be broken. Firstly, public transportation has to be made the primary mode of transportation for the masses. Other than that, governments and companies must be willing to invest in the research and development of electric based vehicles. Moreover, technology in the development of transportation infrastructure should also be prioritized by the governing bodies.

 

Public transportation should be the primary mode of transportation for the masses because it can help reduce carbon emissions and time spent on the road. On average, a bus can fit up to 42 people. Therefore, assuming if 1 person drives 1 car, this reduces 42 cars moving in the road to only 1 bus. This significantly reduces the carbon emissions produced per person. To implement public transportation as the primary means of transportation, the government should increase the taxes related in the use and ownership of personal cars and improve the public transportation infrastructure in places with high population density. Electric vehicles are much superior to vehicles using fossil fuel because they produce less noise and can source electric energy from renewable sources. Therefore, governments should also subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles to encourage its use. Companies and governments should be eager to invest money in the research and development of electric vehicle technology and not be swayed by the lobbying of fossil fuel companies. Furthermore, expansion of transportation infrastructure grants people living in rural areas such as mountainous areas the freedom to be able to travel around without risking their own well-being using unsafe transportation methods. This enables them to be more active in participating in the countries economy and increasing their quality of life. To achieve this, the government should research in methods of building bridges and tunnels for transportation systems such a trains, cable cars and highways. The governments can also seek guidance or aid from other countries with more developed technologies.

In retrospect, the solutions that I came up with were inspired by the communities that are advocating for an eco-friendly approach to transportation and the methods of transportation in harsh geographical areas. This exercise was able to help me have an in-depth look at transportation industry from multiple perspectives such as the people using transportation systems and the people creating and maintaining transport systems. It also allowed me to think about the possible futures of the transportation industry whether it will end up in a more positive state or a worse state.

 

 

 

References

 

Patel, P. (2024). The Case for Nuclear Cargo Ships [Photograph]. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/nuclear-powered-cargo-ship

 

Modeshift. (2023). Why Is Public Transportation Better Than Cars? [Photograph]. Modeshift.

https://www.modeshift.com/why-is-public-transportation-better-than-cars/