Question

Other than transport of goods and materials, how has transportation impacted society as a whole?

Answer 1

Transportation has impacted humans heavily since the inception of the wheel. Apart from moving goods and materials, below are its impacts on the society.

1. The speed of life: The life pace has increased in the urban areas since the advent of metro rail and subways. Especially in metro cities, where time is considered as money, facilities like rapid trains have supported the life by reducing the time to commute from one place to another to a very large extent. Today, you can commute from one corner of the city to another within a small time span of 2 hours.

2. Supporting business: A nation's economy is heavily dependent on its logistics. By increasing the flexibility and speed of movement it has supported many businesses who are working in this domain. Many start-ups have been able to work on the asset-light model and provide valuable services in the competitive market of today. Because of this, firms like FedEx and Amazon have become the giant they are today.

3. Buying time: The transportation of people, goods, and materials in a small span of time lets the user buy time and increase its efficiency of working. In big cities, where time is money, one can not afford to lose on a big business meeting because of reaching late. Similarly, sending goods on time helps many tech and food startups serving a lot of customers.

4. Environmental impact: The transportation has some negative impacts too. It has resulted in degradation of air quality by using a lot of fuel through running vehicles. It also produces noise pollution, land consumption & degradation.