Transport/Modes of transport

Air

Air transport is the most modern transport. It was the last to be invented, commercially viable and popularised. An early non-commercial example was Chinese lanterns in antiquity. It is divided between lighter-than-air transport and heavier-than-air transport. Since the twentieth century it is known as aviation. Jet aircraft entered commercial use and replaced predecessors in the postwar era. Cable car transport uses land infrastructure but transportation in the air suspended from a cable. Space transport could also be loosely considered a form of air transport.

Water

Water transport is the oldest vehicular transport. For most of history it was the fastest transport mode especially for freight. It involves the oldest artificial man-made infrastructure in the form of canals first constructed for river transport (as opposed to just irrigation) in Ancient China in the 8th to 5th Centuries BCE. But also, it operates on natural rivers and seas as far back as the canoes constructed by the Austronesian peoples in the 6th millennium BCE. Oceans were first reliably crossed in the Middle Ages technology applied to ships. Seaplanes use water infrastructure for air transport.

Land

Land transport is the oldest form of transport as it includes walking. It includes road transport, rail transport and street infrastructure such as steps and rural infrastructure such as trails.

Questions

Is there a case for a cable-car to be land transport? What mode is a tram, road or rail? What mode is a trackless train, road or rail? What mode is autonomous rail rapid transit? What mode is a hovercraft? What mode is a maglev?

References