FUNDAMENTALS OF TRANSPORT – CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1:
FUNCTIONS OF TRANSPORT
1.1 DEFINITION OF TRANSPORT

➢ Transport is “an act of movement of people, goods and animal from the point of origin to
the point of consumption”.

➢ Transport as a means for increasing human satisfaction by the movement of goods and
passengers, so that inaccessible goods may be moved to those points where consumers
require them or consumers may be moved to those points where service facilities such as
health care, education, entertainment and recreation may be enjoyed.

1.2 TRANSPORT AND ITS ROLES IN THE SOCIETY

a) Generate Economic Activities

b) Employment
c) Reduce Travelling Time
d) Generate Income
e) Accessibility
f) Bridging Consumer-Producer Gaps

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a) Generate Economic Activities

> Economics normally involves production, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services. The term economic activities refer to the business activities that can be
generated through the role of transportation, either in supplying items or movement
of goods and passengers from one place to another.
> There are different requirements of transport and resources from one society to
another. Resources can range from material things to knowledge and skills, like
movements of doctor and technicians to places where there is a need; or raw material
movements from one place to another.
> Without transport, nothing moves and if that happens, there are no economic
activities taking place.

b) Employment

> Transportation has also created employment opportunities. Transport civilized

humans, in the way human work and travel to their workplace.
> Travelling distances are made shorter now for employment opportunities. Nowadays,
people from Sabah and Sarawak can work in Kuala Lumpur due to the accessibility of
air, road and water transport infrastructure.

c) Reduce Travelling Time

> Travelling time refer to total journey time taken to travel from one point to another.
Travelling time has reduced drastically since the existence of highways in Malaysia.
With today’s technology, an executive in Chicago can leave home early on a Monday
morning, catch a flight to Los Angeles, and attend an early afternoon meeting. At the
end of the afternoon that same executive can board a flight to Australia with a
continuation to London later in the week. This global workweek is possible because of
the speed and effectiveness of air transportation, and such travel has become
commonplace in the global economy.

d) Generate Income

> According to the 9th Malaysian Plan, commuter, LRT and Monorail systems have
proven to be effective investments for the Malaysian Government and its population.
> A complete feeder system, on time services, increase in frequencies and less waiting
times will enable passengers to travel using public transport and thus generate
income for their households.

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e) Accessibility

> The development of highways not only in Kuala Lumpur, but also links to other states,
people are free to travel anywhere and anytime they want.

f) Bridging Consumer-Producer Gaps

> Economist recognizes two producer-consumer gaps, the ‘time gap’ and the
‘geographical gap’.
> The time gap arises because goods produced today may not be required until
tomorrow or next month or next year. This gap is bridged by the warehousing process.
> Many goods coming off production-lines are simply warehoused until required. They
may need to be treated with preservatives or various sort. Additives are added to
foods, beverages, engines are inhibited to prevent rust, goods may need to be
refrigerated and these activities have nothing to do with transport.

> The geographical gap arises because producers and consumers are rarely in the same
place. For example, I-phones are sold all over the world. It is the function of transport
to bridge the geographical gap between producers and consumers, so that goods and
services may be exchanged to their mutual benefit.
> The geographical gap, which is obviously bridged by our motor vehicles, railway trains,
ships, aircraft and pipelines.

> Today, special car carrying vessel/ship serves the Japanese and Korean car industries
which bridged the producer-consumer gaps.

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1.3 FUNCTIONS OF TRANSPORT

1) THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION

2) ECONOMIC FUNCTION
3) SOCIAL FUNCTION
4) POLITICAL FUNCTION
5) MILITARY FUNCTION

1) The development of civilization

To appreciate the part played by transport in the development of civilization, it is

necessary to imagine life before the advent of the way and the wheel or, in other words, before
the gap between the producer and the consumer had been bridged. They produced their own
weapons with which to hunt and to provide food and clothing in the form of meat and skins. They
dig their land, again for food, and built their dwelling places with material immediately available
and with the simple tools that they manufactured themselves. People lived at that time either on
their own resources or on the combined resources of a small, self-contained community.

The development of the road and the wheeled vehicle, although not mechanically
forced, permitted a limited mixing of the people and, in consequence, an exchange of ideas
and commodities. As communities became larger, so individuals began to specialize in certain
crafts and hence the division of labour evolved. Specialist worked in a single trade in which
they became skilled and thus stimulated a demands for their products.

People were by this time no longer dependant entirely upon themselves but
collectively upon each other, specialization improved workmanship in the form of better
clothes, better habitations, better food, and hence an improved quality of life. Such
development is synonymous with the development of communications and it is necessary
only to reflect on our present-day economic system to realize the part played by transport in
the fulfilment of the standard of living that we now expect.

2) The Economic Function

Transportation touches the lives of all U.S. citizens and citizens in other areas of the
world. It affects their economic wellbeing, their safety, their access to other people and
places, and the quality of their environment. When the transportation system does not
function well, it is a source of great personal frustration and perhaps economic loss. But when
the transportation system performs well it provides opportunities and rewards for everyone.

Economics involves production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

People depend upon the natural resources to satisfy the needs of life but due to non-uniform

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surface of earth and due to difference in local resources, there is a lot of difference in
standard of living in different societies.

a) The place, time, quality and utility of goods

If goods is produced at point A and wanted by people of another community at any point B
distant x from A, then the price of the goods is dependent on the distance between two centres
and the system of transportation between two points. With improved system the goods will be
made less costly at B.

b) Changes in location of activities

The reduction of cost of transport does not have same effect on all locations. Let at any
point B the goods are to be consumed. This product is supplied by two stations A and K
which are at two different distances from B. Let at present the goods are supplied by A
since it is at a lesser distance but after wards due to improvement in road network
between B and K, the point K becomes the supply point of product.

The demand for transport arises from an uneven distribution of raw materials, skills
and labour. To meet their material needs, manufacturer requires the movement of raw
materials from their place of origin to the processing plant or factory and the movement of
the finished product from where it produced to where it is consumed. Consumer demand
must be backed by the necessary purchasing power and the recipients must, therefore, in turn
be able to distribute their own product. The circle is then complete and in the process
transport is in demand by trade and industry.

The demand for transport and travels also depend on demand elasticity. Demand
elasticity refers to the sensitivity of customers to changes in price. If customers are sensitive
to price, a price reduction will increase the demand for the item and the total revenue will
also usually increase. An increase in price will have the opposite effect—less revenue and a
reduction in sales.

Transport as a Derived Demand

> The demand for transporting a product from a given location depends on the existence of
demand to consume or use that product in the distant location. Freight/good is not usually
transported to another location unless there is a need for the product.
> Thus, the demand for transportation is generally referred to as a derived demand, as opposed
to customer demand for a product. Sometimes it is also referred to as a secondary demand as
opposed to a primary demand. Derived demand is not unique to transportation since the
demand for many raw materials is dependent upon the demand for the finished products that
are produced from these raw materials.

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Figure 1-1

It illustrates the derived demand nature of freight transportation. An oversupply of widgets is

available at the production site, City A, but widgets will not be moved or transported to City C
because there is no demand for widgets at City C. However, there is a demand for widgets at
City B. Because of the demand for 100 widgets in City B, there is a demand for the
transportation of 100 widgets from City A to City B.

3) The Social Function

Transportation has always played an important role in influencing the formation of urban societies.
Although other facilities like availability of food and water played a major role, the contribution of
transportation can be seen clearly from the formation, size and pattern, and the development of
societies, especially urban centers
i. Formation of settlements
From the beginning of civilization, the man is living in settlements which existed near banks of
major river junctions, a port, or an intersection of trade routes. Cities like New York, Mumbai
and Moscow are good examples.

ii. Size and pattern of settlements

The initial settlements were relatively small developments but with due course of time, they
grew in population and developed into big cities and major trade centers. The size of
settlements is not only limited by the size of the area by which the settlement can obtain food
and other necessities, but also by considerations of personal travels especially the journey to
and from work. The increased speeds of transport and reduction in the cost of transport have
resulted in variety of spatial patterns.

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iii. Growth of urban centers

The development of automobiles, and other factors like increase in personal income, and
construction of paved road network, the settlements were transformed into urban centers of intense
travel activity.

4) The Political Function

> The world is divided into numerous political units which are formed for mutual
protection, economic advantages and development of common culture. Transportation
plays an important role in the functioning of such political units.

> The government of an area must be able to send/get information to/about its people.
It may include laws to be followed, security and other needful information needed to
generate awareness.

> An efficient administration of a country largely depends on how effectively government

could communicate these information to all the country. However, with the advent of
communications, its importance is slightly reduced. The political decision of construction
and maintenance of roads has also resulted in the development of transportation system.

5) The Military Function

> These choices may be classified as communication, military movement, travel of

persons and movement of freight. One of the functions of transportation is to transfer
messages and information during critical times such as war or natural disaster. It is also
needed for rapid movement of troop in case of emergency and finally movement of
persons and goods. For example, sending troopers to warzone and using helicopters to
send medicine supply to earthquake victims.

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1.4 SUMMARY

As it is the function of transport to move people from where they are to where they would
prefer to be and to move goods to where it should be, it follows that the object or the end product
of transport as an industry is “the arrival”. Clearly this must be a safe arrival. Passenger and goods
must be taken must be taken to their destination in safety and without damage. This is the primary
objective of “transport”. The qualities vary according to the modes of transportation or class of
service selected and different standards should be reflected in the rates that are charged.

Hence, transport has become crucial in our society and serves as important role in managing
the distribution of goods and the movement of people. Some of the contributions include:

> Transport contributes in Growth of industries whose product requires quick marketing.
Perishable goods like fish and green vegetables are carried to various consumers
quickly even in distant markets through transport.
> Transport helps in increase in the demand for goods. Through transport newer
customers in newer places can be easily contacted and products can be introduced to
them. Today markets have become national or international only because of transport.
> Transport creates place utility. Geographical and climatic factors force industries to be
located in particular places far away from the markets and places where there may not
be any demand for the products. Transport bridges the gap between production and
consumption centers.
> Transport creates time utility. It has been made possible by virtue of the improvements
in the speed of transport. It helps the product to be distributed in the minimum
possible time.
> Transport enables the consumers to enjoy the benefits of goods not produced locally.
This increases the standard of living, an essential factor for further development of
marketing and economy.