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Line 21: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + − === Advantages ===+ − Public transport provides transport to almost anybody, including people too young to drive or with disabilities that prevent them driving or make it difficult to drive. It also has environmental benefits, as cutting down on the number of drivers on the road cuts down on the amount of pollution.
→Advantages and disadvantages of public transport: Expand. Still more to come. (Edit conflict: Override DanH's edit: I'll come to that)
In the late 1990s, the government contracted with private operators to operate the railway and tram systems, although these remained under government ownership and control.
In the late 1990s, the government contracted with private operators to operate the railway and tram systems, although these remained under government ownership and control.
== Advantages and disadvantages of public transport ==
== Public versus private transport ==
Public transport offers a number of advantages over private transport (mainly cars), but private transport also has some advantages over public transport.
Public transport offers a number of advantages over private transport (mainly cars), but private transport also has some advantages over public transport.
Whether one form of transport is better than another form frequently depends on circumstances specific to the location and the user.
Private transport mainly comprises [[automobile|cars (US: automobiles)]], but can include motorbikes, [[bicycle]]s and walking
=== Universality ===
Public transport provides transport to almost anybody, whereas private transport is limited to people able and licensed to drive or able to ride a bicycle or walk.
Therefore people too young to drive, people with disabilities that prevent or make it difficult to use private transport, including many older people, are often not able to use private transport, except by having someone else drive them.
Many people dislike this lack of freedom to get around.
The ability of public transport to carry people with disabilities, particularly people confined to [[wheelchair]]s, varies, but many governments now require that public transport be able to carry such people.
This can be helped by low-floor buses and trams, "kneeling" buses (that lower themselves to the ground to allow people to board), floor-height platforms, lifts at [[railway stations]], and the like.
=== Freedom of travel ===
Public transport cannot achieve the degree of freedom that private transport allows to travel wherever and whenever a person wishes to.
This is because public transport almost always operate on fixed routes and fixed schedules, and operation is often limited to specific times of the day and days of the week.
However, in places where public transport networks provide a good geographical coverage and operate frequent services for most or all hours of the day, seven days per week, this limitation of public transport can be minimised.
Of course, many people are not restricted to one or the other, but can use public transport where and when it is available and private transport for other journeys.
=== Cost ===
Relative costs vary enormously from system to system and circumstance to circumstance.
Walking and cycling are almost always cheaper than using public transport.
Travel by car can be cheaper than public transport when several people are travelling together, or where public transport charges by distance but doesn't provide a direct route or requires more than one fare to complete a journey.
Public transport can be cheaper than travel by car when one fare can be used across several modes or for several journeys, when [[gasoline|petrol (US: gasoline)]] is expensive, when other charges, such as parking fees or [[congestion charge]]s are taken into account, or when the fixed costs of running a car, such as maintenance, registration, [[insurance]], and loan repayments are included, particularly if the car can be disposed of and public transport used exclusively.
=== Speed ===
Travel by car or motorbike, and sometimes bicycle, is often faster than a public transport service which makes many stops and might follow a circuitous route.
However, where public transport operates on its own [[easement|right of way]] (easement) and therefore avoids [[traffic congestion]], or where it operates [[express]] (non-stop) services, it can often be faster than travel by car in peak periods.
Over longer distances, railways sometimes operate at speeds higher than any other land-based transport, with high-speed trains in various countries regularly operating at speeds over 300 kph (180 mph).