How we move; Transportation in the UK

 The way people move and transports determines the character of people and how they live their lives. Culture, language, social relationships and lifestyles are also modified by the facilities in transportation.

Several transportation systems are used in the UK; road, air, rail, and water networks are quite common. A radial road network of more than 46.000 km of main roads,(3,497 km of motorways and 344,000 km of paved roads. Also the National Rail network carries over 18,000 passenger and 1,000 freight trains daily. Urban rail networks exist in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast, Leeds and Liverpool. There are many regional and international airports, with Heathrow Airport in London being one of the busiest in the world. The UK also has a network of ports which receives over 558 million tons of goods every year.

In the last century the United Kingdom has seen a growth of car use, while the use of buses has declined, and railway use has grown more slowly.

Also in the Second half of the last century 27% of distance travelled was by car or taxi; with 42% being by bus or coach and 18% by rail. A further 11% was by bicycle and 3% by motorcycle. The distance travelled by air was negligible. 

In 2003 85% of distance travelled was by car or taxi; with 6% being by bus and 6% by rail. Air, pedal cycle and motorcycle accounted for roughly 1% each. In terms of journeys, slightly over 1 billion are made per year by main line rail, 1 billion by light rail, 4.5 billion by bus, and 21 million on domestic air flights.

Passenger transport has grown in recent years. Total passenger travel inside the United Kingdom has risen from 403 billion passenger kilometres in 1970 to 797 billion in 2004.

With these impressive numbers it is easy to understand how united has become the whole nation and how multicultural the UK is nowadays.