Social effects of transportation

Transportation in general is not a value on its own, but serves primary economic, social or private interests. Transport provides access to markets and production sites and thus helps to foster productivity and economic development of production, retail and service industries. Providing the possibility for people to move quickly and safely, modern transport systems furthermore help to use human capital more effectively and to create and develop cultural surroundings. Additionally, efficient transport networks and systems give all people access to high-level education facilities and to the health system. By that, transport helps to increase the quality of life. 

But transportation also constitutes an industry in itself, providing jobs and actively contributing to economic growth. In the USA, transport industries contributed roughly 4% to employment and 6% to production in 2002. In Europe, the figures are somewhat higher a contribution of 6.5% to employment and 10% to production is 

Unfortunately, positive trends could not be seen for the megacities in developing countries. The very low income of people only allows for the purchase and use of old vehicles with low technical standards (Nakamura et al., 2004). This is of major concern, in so far as half of the world population (48% in 2003) live in urban areas. 

The effects of transport on economy, people and on the environment are manifold. They include the consequences of transport accidents and fatalities, nuisance and health effects caused by steady noise exposure, air emissions and the exhaust and resuspension of particles, climate impacts by the emission of greenhouse gases, soil and water contamination, and the deterioration of natural habitats. Moreover, the financial burden of infrastructure provision and the additional travel and production costs caused by congestion should be mentioned but these items are mainly borne by transport users themselves and thus are only partly imposed on society as a whole. Not all of these effects are equally relevant for all means of transport. While accidents constitute the major problem of car travel, the railways definitely face a noise problem and air transport contributes most to the emission of climate gases. 

Concentrations of particulate matter and S02, accordingly, are the highest in cities with extremely high population densities, low technical standards and an excessive use of two wheelers, as is the case for Asian agglomerations. The worst conditions are observed in Delhi, Beijing, Tehran and Mumbai. But Western European cities also 

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