Comparison of means of transport
A mode of transport comparison is the process of comparing prices and times of different modes of transport on the same route , often also in the form of weighing combinations of several different modes of transport against each other.
history
In German usage, the term “comparison of modes of transport” was initially only used by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace . What was meant here was the comparison of pollutant emissions from various modes of transport converted to the number of passengers carried. This weighed up the environmental compatibility of these modes of transport. In most cases, the best long-distance means of transport appeared to be the electrically operated liner trains of the German railways, as there were practically no direct pollutant emissions due to the independence from internal combustion engines.
Deutsche Bahn offers the first approaches to a comparison of modes of transport in today's sense in the context of its mobile check, implemented in 2002, which allows a direct comparison between the train and one's own car in terms of travel time and travel costs. The Ecopassenger portal of the International Union of Railways also determines connections and compares the environmental effects of a journey with different means of transport.
The first complete online comparison of modes of transport went online in 2003 with the British portal Transport Direct , a cooperation between the British Ministry of Transport and a large number of tour operators and nationwide transport companies. Transport Direct ceased operations in 2014, according to which other travel information services were now available.
criticism
Often, when comparing modes of transport, only the obvious operating costs are compared. A comprehensive comparison of modes of transport as a basis for choosing a mode of transport should, however, include all cost factors. These include:
- Acquisition costs, such as vehicle purchase, registration, etc.
- Ongoing costs such as insurance, taxes, garage costs, etc.
- Operating costs such as fuel, repairs, wearing parts, etc.
- Environmental costs, such as costs for road construction, noise protection measures, accident costs, etc.
Much of the environmental costs are not pays basis charged, but borne by the public.
Types of means of transport comparison
Manual comparison of modes of transport
In order to carry out a comparison of modes of transport by hand, the Internet portals or other documents of all important tour operators and transport service providers must first be worked through separately. A search with the same initial data must then be started on every portal and for every offer available offline.
In the last step, all usable search results must be weighed against each other according to costs, travel time and comfort in order to work out an individual travel route that is as sensible as possible. In particular, the final price comparison is usually extremely complicated due to the many hidden costs that only become apparent immediately at the time of booking and is therefore very time-consuming.
Automated comparison of modes of transport
Internet portals offer the possibility of door-to-door travel planning ( door-to-door journey ), which includes buses, trains and flight connections in the calculations of the best possible travel route. In a second step, the results are put together directly with the help of a complex combination algorithm to form the shortest, fastest or cheapest travel options.
Some portals take into account and compare different modes of transport as well as their CO 2 emissions. This means that route planning is not limited to a single country, but offers a comparison of the means of transport that covers the whole of Europe and the ability to query flight information from all major airports around the world.
Since 2008 exists with VerkehrsmittelVergleich.de one by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology funded project, which is now under the name fromAtoB offers a settlement of aircraft, remote bus, train and carpool for the whole of Germany.
Web links
Portals of the International Union of Railways with a comparison of environmental impacts:
- ecopassenger.org - for personal travel
- ecotransit.org - for freight transport
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comparison of modes of transport in the Greenpeace online portal - comparison of different modes of transport according to their environmental impact
- ↑ MobilCheck on Bahn.de ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - "MobilCheck" enables the cost comparison between the train ticket and the full car costs on the desired route
- ^ Collection Transport Direct. Department for Transport, September 27, 2012, accessed July 5, 2017 .
- ↑ FromAtoB - Conveyor cooperation of the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Chair "Entrepreneurship" of the RWTH Aachen
