200 years ago we traveled an average of 50 meters per day. Today the average person travels 50 kilometers per day; a 10,000% increase in daily travel. As one historian wrote "throughout history we only seem to be getting faster... at everything".
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Transportation efficiency
Examining the facts about transportation help's us understand which modes lead to the future in efficiency and versatility.
If we speak in Miles per Gallon (MPG), a cruise ship is very inefficent, even if you take in to consideration all of the passengers on board. It takes a cruise ship 121 gallons of equivalent fuel to move 1 mile (a car could travel 2400 miles comparable to the 1 mile the cruise ship moves). Considering that the cruise ship is just floating around for entertainment is quite befuttling as well. Its important to bear in mind how many people are on a ship of this size (up to 2900), The number of people a given mode of transport is moving really must be calculated as to show how efficient a given mode of transportation is.
Passengers per gallon gives a slightly clearer view into the efficiency of any given transportation mode. Motor Coach, or Bus, stands out as one of the best modes of transportation for efficiency, quite surprisingly to me, motorcycle is second to last. I've always thought of a motorcycle as a fairly efficient means of transportation.
However, this last chart has a striking flaw. This shows theoretically the passengers per gallon when the transports are at max capacity, now lets compare the results adjusting for a guess at an average capacity at any given time.
Okay, now this is starting to make sense. The normal automobile transports (SUV, sedan, hybrid) have had their capacity changed to 1.5. This actually still might be too high. I drive around all day and most of the people I come across are alone in their vehicle.
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