how has travel and transport changed over time

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What Travel Looked Like Through the Decades

Getting from point A to point B has not always been as easy as online booking, Global Entry , and Uber. It was a surprisingly recent event when the average American traded in the old horse-and-carriage look for a car, plane, or even private jet .

What was it like to travel at the turn of the century? If you were heading out for a trans-Atlantic trip at the very beginning of the 20th century, there was one option: boat. Travelers planning a cross-country trip had something akin to options: carriage, car (for those who could afford one), rail, or electric trolley lines — especially as people moved from rural areas to cities.

At the beginning of the 1900s, leisure travel in general was something experienced exclusively by the wealthy and elite population. In the early-to-mid-20th century, trains were steadily a popular way to get around, as were cars. The debut regional airlines welcomed their first passengers in the 1920s, but the airline business didn't see its boom until several decades later. During the '50s, a huge portion of the American population purchased a set of wheels, giving them the opportunity to hit the open road and live the American dream.

Come 1960, airports had expanded globally to provide both international and domestic flights to passengers. Air travel became a luxury industry, and a transcontinental trip soon became nothing but a short journey.

So, what's next? The leisure travel industry has quite a legacy to fulfill — fancy a trip up to Mars , anyone? Here, we've outlined how travel (and specifically, transportation) has evolved over every decade of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The 1900s was all about that horse-and-carriage travel life. Horse-drawn carriages were the most popular mode of transport, as it was before cars came onto the scene. In fact, roadways were not plentiful in the 1900s, so most travelers would follow the waterways (primarily rivers) to reach their destinations. The 1900s is the last decade before the canals, roads, and railway plans really took hold in the U.S., and as such, it represents a much slower and antiquated form of travel than the traditions we associate with the rest of the 20th century.

Cross-continental travel became more prevalent in the 1910s as ocean liners surged in popularity. In the '10s, sailing via steam ship was the only way to get to Europe. The most famous ocean liner of this decade, of course, was the Titanic. The largest ship in service at the time of its 1912 sailing, the Titanic departed Southampton, England on April 10 (for its maiden voyage) and was due to arrive in New York City on April 17. At 11:40 p.m. on the evening of April 14, it collided with an iceberg and sank beneath the North Atlantic three hours later. Still, when the Titanic was constructed, it was the largest human-made moving object on the planet and the pinnacle of '10s travel.

The roaring '20s really opened our eyes up to the romance and excitement of travel. Railroads in the U.S. were expanded in World War II, and travelers were encouraged to hop on the train to visit out-of-state resorts. It was also a decade of prosperity and economic growth, and the first time middle-class families could afford one of the most crucial travel luxuries: a car. In Europe, luxury trains were having a '20s moment coming off the design glamour of La Belle Epoque, even though high-end train travel dates back to the mid-1800s when George Pullman introduced the concept of private train cars.

Finally, ocean liners bounced back after the challenges of 1912 with such popularity that the Suez Canal had to be expanded. Most notably, travelers would cruise to destinations like Jamaica and the Bahamas.

Cue "Jet Airliner" because we've made it to the '30s, which is when planes showed up on the mainstream travel scene. While the airplane was invented in 1903 by the Wright brothers, and commercial air travel was possible in the '20s, flying was quite a cramped, turbulent experience, and reserved only for the richest members of society. Flying in the 1930s (while still only for elite, business travelers) was slightly more comfortable. Flight cabins got bigger — and seats were plush, sometimes resembling living room furniture.

In 1935, the invention of the Douglas DC-3 changed the game — it was a commercial airliner that was larger, more comfortable, and faster than anything travelers had seen previously. Use of the Douglas DC-3 was picked up by Delta, TWA, American, and United. The '30s was also the first decade that saw trans-Atlantic flights. Pan American Airways led the charge on flying passengers across the Atlantic, beginning commercial flights across the pond in 1939.

1940s & 1950s

Road trip heyday was in full swing in the '40s, as cars got better and better. From convertibles to well-made family station wagons, cars were getting bigger, higher-tech, and more luxurious. Increased comfort in the car allowed for longer road trips, so it was only fitting that the 1950s brought a major expansion in U.S. highway opportunities.

The 1950s brought the Interstate system, introduced by President Eisenhower. Prior to the origination of the "I" routes, road trippers could take only the Lincoln Highway across the country (it ran all the way from NYC to San Francisco). But the Lincoln Highway wasn't exactly a smooth ride — parts of it were unpaved — and that's one of the reasons the Interstate system came to be. President Eisenhower felt great pressure from his constituents to improve the roadways, and he obliged in the '50s, paving the way for smoother road trips and commutes.

The '60s is the Concorde plane era. Enthusiasm for supersonic flight surged in the '60s when France and Britain banded together and announced that they would attempt to make the first supersonic aircraft, which they called Concorde. The Concorde was iconic because of what it represented, forging a path into the future of aviation with supersonic capabilities. France and Britain began building a supersonic jetliner in 1962, it was presented to the public in 1967, and it took its maiden voyage in 1969. However, because of noise complaints from the public, enthusiasm for the Concorde was quickly curbed. Only 20 were made, and only 14 were used for commercial airline purposes on Air France and British Airways. While they were retired in 2003, there is still fervent interest in supersonic jets nearly 20 years later.

Amtrak incorporated in 1971 and much of this decade was spent solidifying its brand and its place within American travel. Amtrak initially serviced 43 states (and Washington D.C.) with 21 routes. In the early '70s, Amtrak established railway stations and expanded to Canada. The Amtrak was meant to dissuade car usage, especially when commuting. But it wasn't until 1975, when Amtrak introduced a fleet of Pullman-Standard Company Superliner cars, that it was regarded as a long-distance travel option. The 235 new cars — which cost $313 million — featured overnight cabins, and dining and lounge cars.

The '80s are when long-distance travel via flight unequivocally became the norm. While the '60s and '70s saw the friendly skies become mainstream, to a certain extent, there was still a portion of the population that saw it as a risk or a luxury to be a high-flyer. Jetsetting became commonplace later than you might think, but by the '80s, it was the long-haul go-to mode of transportation.

1990s & 2000s

Plans for getting hybrid vehicles on the road began to take shape in the '90s. The Toyota Prius (a gas-electric hybrid) was introduced to the streets of Japan in 1997 and took hold outside Japan in 2001. Toyota had sold 1 million Priuses around the world by 2007. The hybrid trend that we saw from '97 to '07 paved the way for the success of Teslas, chargeable BMWs, and the electric car adoption we've now seen around the world. It's been impactful not only for the road trippers but for the average American commuter.

If we're still cueing songs up here, let's go ahead and throw on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," because the 2010s are when air travel became positively over-the-top. Qatar Airways rolled out their lavish Qsuites in 2017. Business class-only airlines like La Compagnie (founded in 2013) showed up on the scene. The '10s taught the luxury traveler that private jets weren't the only way to fly in exceptional style.

Of course, we can't really say what the 2020 transportation fixation will be — but the stage has certainly been set for this to be the decade of commercial space travel. With Elon Musk building an elaborate SpaceX rocket ship and making big plans to venture to Mars, and of course, the world's first space hotel set to open in 2027 , it certainly seems like commercialized space travel is where we're headed next.

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Twenty Years of Transforming Transportation: Where Are We Now?

• Written by Jared Green
• Published on April 26, 2023

“Economic shocks, climate change, and COVID-19 have changed transportation systems in a fundamental way. We can’t waste a crisis. We can increase access to transportation while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We can achieve more mobility with fewer impacts,” argued Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI) , at the 20th annual Transforming Transportation conference. For two days, global leaders reflected on the state of transportation systems worldwide at the hybrid event in Washington, D.C., which was also watched by tens of thousands online. The event was co-organized by WRI and the World Bank.

Transportation still accounts for 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and up to 30 percent of emissions in developed countries. Transportation is a diverse sector that includes sidewalks, bikes, cars, buses, trains, subways, ships, and planes.

Dasgupta said if sustainable transportation was easy, “we would have solved it by now” after twenty years of conferences. “Transportation is a lagging sector when it comes to decarbonizing. But we can’t achieve our climate and biodiversity goals without transportation.”

Related Article

Still, some progress has been made. The Biden-Harris administration’s historic investments in infrastructure will accelerate the decarbonization of transportation in the world’s biggest economy.

At COP26 in Scotland in 2021, the World Bank launched a global facility to decarbonize transportation. The fund is meant to help fill the $944 billion sustainable transportation financing gap in developing countries.

And there are other reasons to be optimistic: In India, six states joined forces to procure over 5,000 electric buses . By leveraging their combined purchasing power they were able to lower the price of e-buses to 27 percent below diesel buses. Another initiative in the works will lead to the purchase of another 50,000 e-buses across multiple states. “This is a market transformation story.”

And in the U.S., the federal government and Bezos Earth Fund are investing heavily in decarbonizing all 480,000 of the country’s school buses. 26 million children depend on school buses, but that means they are also breathing in toxic diesel fumes on their way to and from school. Decarbonizing school buses is a climate solution with significant health benefits. And given many low-income communities rely on public school buses, it’s also about equity.

According to WRI’s System Change Lab , global transportation will achieve positive tipping points if greater progress is made in ensuring reliable and safe access to transportation, reducing avoidable air and vehicle travel, shifting to public transportation, and decarbonizing. “But the speed and scale of this all needs to be much faster.”

And as transformation occurs, climate change will add more challenges. Climate impacts are expected to “increase the cost of maintaining roads by 2.5 times.” Even more reasons why communities must invest in complete streets with pedestrian and bicycle access and public transport.

Other highlights from wide-ranging discussions at Transforming Transportation:

Public transportation

Of all transportation-related emissions, 90 percent are from road vehicles. Approximately half of those emissions are from passenger cars. And 70 percent is from urban road transport. So in cities, “we need fewer people in cars, less car ownership, more public transportation, and more walking, biking, and scootering,” argued Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General, of the International Association of Public Transport .

“I would rather have a diesel bus in its own exclusive lane rather than an electric bus stuck in traffic. A clean traffic jam is still a traffic jam,” he added. His essential point: an integrated approach to reducing road space dedicated to cars will have more substantial benefits in terms of climate, health, and travel times than just electrifying the status quo. (Also, bus rapid transit [BRT] systems are far cheaper than subway lines and can help reduce congestion).

During COVID-19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil saw its bus system collapse, with bus workers going on strike multiple times. “Bus companies went bankrupt; 50 percent of lines weren’t working,” said Maina Celidonio, Rio’s Secretary of Transportation. To improve resilience, “we changed the city contracts with bus operators so they are now paid per kilometer traveled instead of by passenger. Transportation is now a public service.”

Bicycle infrastructure

In Lima, Peru, the World Bank has supported the development of more than 100 miles of protected bike lanes, 13 miles of cable car lines, and new digital traffic systems. The city’s bike lanes alone are estimated to avoid an estimated 22,000 tons of vehicle emissions per year. This shows the potential of large-scale projects to reduce car use and emissions. But despite incredibly cost-effective projects like this, which also have significant health benefits , biking still isn’t on the agenda in COP climate meetings. More metrics are needed to show emission reduction results.

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has launched a global cycling campaign, with the goal of 25 million more people having access to nearby protected bike lanes by 2025. 30 major global cities have signed on, said Heather Thompson, CEO of ITDP. Protected bike lanes are viewed as the most important way to increase bike access for younger and older riders of all genders and abilities.

Transportation access and affordability remain stubborn challenges. Underserved and historically marginalized communities experience lower access, longer travel times, higher costs, and greater safety risks worldwide. In many Latin American cities, large percentages (30-45 percent) walk miles each day to work, not for health reasons, but because they can’t afford transportation. Walking in areas without safe sidewalks is a major driver of traffic fatalities and injuries.

Women, children, older adults, and disabled people also face significant obstacles. In the Caribbean, women depend on public transport the most for work, healthcare, and childcare. But because of violence, they are also most afraid to use public transport, said Tonni Brodber, Representative of the UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean. Gender considerations need to be woven into all transportation planning.

Electric vehicles

The global shift to electric vehicles is underway. According to Elaine Buckberg, chief economist at General Motors, by 2030, 50 percent of cars in China, 60 percent of cars in the EU, and 45 percent of cars in the US will be electric. Battery costs have fallen 90 percent in 10 years and continue to decline, which means the prices of EVs will continue to drop. Different EV models are being designed for cities in the developing world, with lower ranges and speeds that maximize lower-cost batteries.

The EV revolution will mean significant changes for the power sector. EVs will raise the demand for electricity, but to help the planet, that extra energy needs to be from renewable sources. Energy and transportation need to be increasingly considered in an integrated way. One exciting idea is using parked, plugged-in EVs as energy sources as well, so energy flows both in and out of vehicles.

“The idea that adding 1 percent recycled cooking oil to plane fuels makes the fuel sustainable is ridiculous. We need to move to hydrogen fuels. Airbus is developing a green hydrogen-powered plane by 2035 ,” said Bertrand Piccard , an explorer, and inventor.

This article was originally published in The Dirt .

• Sustainability

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50 ways air travel has changed over the last 100 years

When's the last time you got on a plane? If your last flight was before the pandemic, you're not alone. Industry statistics show worldwide air travel is down by more than 85% from 2019, according to the Associated Press in August 2020. Fears about catching COVID-19 in a crowded airport combined with regional lockdowns, border closures, and stay-at-home orders made many people think twice before hopping on a flight in 2020. Those who did travel by air during the pandemic were met with a significantly different experience. Airlines implemented mask requirements, swapped in-flight meals for prepackaged snacks, halted certain routes, and even blocked off middle seats to try to create a socially distanced experience at 35,000 feet.

The recent changes, while radical, are just the latest in a series of adjustments air travel has gone through since the first scheduled commercial flight in the U.S. took place in Florida in 1914. Early air travel was incredibly bumpy, somewhat dangerous, and had very few frills. But once Americans started jetting around the country in greater numbers, airlines upped the ante to compete for their business. Passengers would dress up for the occasion to enjoy bottomless cocktails, live entertainment, multicourse meals complete with fine china and white tablecloths, and other pleasures in the sky during the Golden Age of flying.

Since then, though, it's been a mostly downhill experience for air passengers. To squeeze every last dollar of profit from every flight, airlines have shrunk seat pitches, charged all sorts of new fees, and stopped offering free meals on many flights. The 9/11 terrorist attacks also prompted sweeping new security measures, requiring passengers to remove shoes, limit their liquids, and walk through full-body scanners before getting on a flight. Today's air travel feels like a world away from the glamour of yesteryear.

So how did air travel get to this point? To find out, Stacker looked at various news articles and websites to compile this timeline of some of the most significant changes in air travel over the last century, ranging from in-flight meals and entertainment to diversity in pilots, changes in fare categories, and frequent flier programs.

Keep reading to see how air travel has changed over the last 100 years.

1920s: Planes become available for passengers

The 1920s marked the first decade in which aircraft were designed with passengers in mind , Insider reports. However, the experience was far from glamorous. Flying was still slower than train travel, and the planes were loud, cold, and bumpy.

1921: Aeromarine Airways screens first in-flight film

Aeromarine Airways played the short film "Howdy Chicago" on a flight over the Windy City in 1921. It was the first in-flight film in history.

1927: Pan American Airways takes flight

Pan American Airways (also known as Pan Am) formed in 1927. Originally providing airmail service, the airline would eventually become the largest international air carrier in the world, and well-known among travelers.

1928: First in-flight hot meal served

Lufthansa offered the first hot-meal service aboard a plane in 1928, on a flight between Berlin and Paris. Airline workers used insulated bottles to keep the food warm, per Food Network.

1930: Air travel reserved for the wealthy

Air travel was largely reserved for the rich and famous in the late 1920s, with just 6,000 Americans flying commercially in 1930, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. However, it would quickly become more popular, and four years later, 75 times the number of passengers would travel by air, USA Today reports.

1936: United Airlines pioneers first airplane kitchen

United Airlines launched the airline industry's first airplane kitchen in 1936. The company gave passengers a choice between scrambled eggs and fried chicken, according to Food Network.

1939: First-ever airport lounge opens in LaGuardia Airport

New York's LaGuardia Airport became home to the first-ever airport lounge when the American Airlines Admirals Club opened in 1939. It was used exclusively for VIPs and extremely loyal passengers.

1940: Boeing flies passengers in pressurized planes

Boeing's 307 Stratoliner, the first plane with a pressurized cabin for passengers, hit the skies in 1940, reported Air & Space magazine. It kept passengers significantly more comfortable at 20,000 feet than earlier planes.

1941: In-flight entertainment goes live

Live in-flight entertainment became a new offering on airlines in 1941. Some would hire actors and singers to perform aboard the flights, per Imagik Corp.

1942: Casual air travel stops during World War II

The U.S. founded the Air Transport Command in 1942 to coordinate airlines' role in transporting cargo and personnel during World War II. The military took the use of 200 of the 360 total airlines in the country, along with their staff. As a result, casual air travel was nearly nonexistent in the U.S. during the war, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

1946: Pan American Airways offers frozen dinners

Advancements in flash-freezing technology allowed Pan American Airways to offer the first modern-style frozen dinners on airplanes in 1946. Flight attendants would warm up the meals in convection ovens before serving them to passengers, according to Food Network.

1948: Activists fight segregation at airports

Efforts to end racial segregation at airports began to take motion in 1948 when a Michigan politician supported a Congressional bill to integrate Washington National Airport. While the bill ultimately failed, the airport's restaurant was desegregated later that year.

1948: Passengers get first coach fares

Capital Airlines created the first coach fares for flights in 1948. The lower-cost tickets would help a much broader group of passengers experience air travel, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

1949: Passengers get first low-cost airline

Pacific Southwest Airlines launched in May 1949 as the world's first low-cost airline. The airline began by transporting passengers around California. It would become the inspiration for Southwest Airlines.

1950s: Airlines phase out sleeper service

Planes became faster and saw a rise in traffic throughout the 1950s. As a result, airlines spent the decade phasing out their plush sleeper service , per the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The service had typically provided berth-style beds , like the ones found on trains, for transatlantic flights, says Air & Space magazine.

1952: More efficient, reliable planes increase tourism across the Atlantic

The Douglas DC-6B, a piston-engine airliner, offered a more efficient, reliable form of air travel. United Airlines was the first to bring them into commercial service in 1952, and Pan Am would use the aircraft to help boost tourism across the Atlantic Ocean, says the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

1953: Passengers get nonstop transcontinental service

American Airlines began using the DC-7 to fly from New York to Los Angeles in November 1953. It marked the first nonstop service between the east and west coasts of the U.S.

1958: Chicago O'Hare Airport tests modern jet bridge

Chicago O'Hare Airport began using the first modern jet bridge, or jetway , in 1958. It offered a sheltered path for passengers to travel between the terminal and the plane and ultimately sped up boarding times, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

1958: Pan Am offers in-flight fine dining

Pan Am took in-flight dining to the next level on its daily commercial route from the Big Apple to Europe in 1958. On those flights, the airline treated guests to a fine-dining experience , complete with fine china, white tablecloths, silver carafes, and extravagant dishes, reports Food Network.

1960: American Airlines develops booking automation system

American Airlines founded the Sabre Corporation in 1960. The business would develop a booking automation system for the airline, doing away with the tedious and time-consuming process of making manual reservations for customers.

1961: In-flight entertainment monitors advance

In-flight films started to become more regular on flights in 1961 when new in-flight entertainment monitors advanced to meet airline standards, per Imagik Corp. The noise of the plane engines made it difficult for passengers to hear film dialogue, though.

1965: U.S. completes network of overlapping radars

The U.S. finished developing a network of overlapping radars for planes in 1965. It would advance air traffic control and make flights safer.

1965: Marlon D. Green breaks color barrier on major airlines

After winning a Supreme Court battle against Continental Airlines, Marlon D. Green became a pilot in 1965. The African American pilot is credited with breaking the color barrier for crew on major airlines.

1973-74: Airlines react to oil crisis

The 1973 oil crisis caused the price of oil to skyrocket. Airlines responded in several ways to cut costs. Some switched to larger, more crowded planes and scrapped flights on unpopular routes. Some also cut the weight of their planes by reducing the number of in-flight magazines and ending paint jobs for their aircraft, The New York Times reported.

1975: Airlines offer in-flight gaming

Braniff Airlines added technology to its planes to allow passengers to play Pong while flying in 1975. It was the first time in-flight entertainment systems included video games , says Imagik Corp.

1976: Concorde ushers in supersonic era

The Concorde, a supersonic passenger airliner that could fly at double the speed of sound, entered commercial service in 1976. Tickets for flights on the legendary plane were extraordinarily expensive and would allow passengers to travel long distances in significantly less time.

1976: Emily Howell Warner becomes first female captain on a major airline

Frontier promoted Emily Howell Warner to the role of captain in 1976, making her the first woman to hold that position on a major U.S. airline. She had been required to jump through multiple hoops , including extra testing, that her male counterparts didn't have to endure, according to Plane & Pilot magazine.

1978: Federal government deregulates the airline industry

President Jimmy Carter put his signature on the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. The act would drive up competition between airlines and help reduce fares, says the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

1979: Airlines award passenger loyalty

Texas International Airlines developed the first frequent-flyer program based on miles flown in 1979, says The Points Guy. It's credited with launching the first modern program to award air passengers for loyalty.

1984: FAA approves pre-flight safety demonstration videos

The Federal Aviation Administration gave its approval for airlines to use video for pre-flight safety demonstrations in 1984. They would eventually replace live demonstrations on many flights.

1986: Airlines partner with credit card companies

The airline industry introduced its first branded credit cards in 1986, with the Continental TravelBank Gold Mastercard, says The Points Guy. These early credit cards would increase the ways in which frequent fliers could earn rewards for their loyalty to airlines.

1987: American Airlines cuts olives and saves big

American Airlines decided to remove one olive from the salad plates service to first-class passengers in 1987. The move would save the airline a whopping $40,000 per year and has now become a famous tale of cost-cutting in aviation.

1988: Airplanes get back-of-seat screens

Airplanes began installing individual screens on the back of passenger seats in 1988. It would quickly become a standard on flights, regardless of what class the passenger was sitting in, according to Imagik Corp.

1988: Air travel goes smoke-free

Nearly 80% of flights in the U.S. banned passengers from smoking in 1988. The ban applied to nearly all flights with durations of 2 hours or less, The New York Times reported.

1989: United slaps expiration date on frequent flyer miles

United Airlines slapped expiration dates on miles earned through its frequent flyer program in 1989. The move aimed to create a sense of urgency for customers to use the miles. Expiration dates are now standard in many frequent flier programs, per The Points Guy.

1994: Southwest offers first e-ticket

Southwest Airlines became the first major airline to offer electronic tickets, or e-tickets, in 1994. It would help eliminate the problem of replacing lost paper tickets.

1996: Travelocity offers online flight reservations

Travelocity went online in 1996. The online travel agency was the first to allow passengers to make flight reservations through its website.

1997: Five airlines form the Star Alliance

Five airlines from around the world—United Airlines, Thai Airways International, Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, and Lufthansa–teamed up to form the Star Alliance in 1997. The first alliance of its kind, the group would offer consistent code-sharing to give passengers flexibility for earning and redeeming miles within its member airlines.

2000s: High-profile airline mergers change industry landscape

The 2000s would bring about a series of high-profile airline mergers and acquisitions, starting with American Airlines buying Trans World Airlines in 2001. The consolidations would eventually establish American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines as the dominant carriers in the U.S.

2001: Government increases air travel security after 9/11

Congress approved the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2001, around two months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The agency rapidly ramped up staffing and deployed tens of thousands of agents to airports to screen passengers and their luggage, says PBS.

2003: Commercial airlines retire the Concorde

Air France and British Airways both stopped flying the Concorde in 2003. The costs of maintaining the supersonic passenger jet had become too high, and passengers felt the price of the ticket was not worth saving a few hours to cross the Atlantic Ocean, per Popular Mechanics.

2006: Air passengers must limit the liquids they pack

A plot to place liquid explosives onto a series of North America-bound flights from the U.K. was uncovered in 2006. As a result, passengers were faced with new security mandates that severely restricted the quantity of liquids they could bring in their carry-on luggage.

2008: TSA deploys full-body scanners at airports

The Transportation Security Administration began setting up advanced imaging technology , or full-body scanners, at airports across the U.S. in 2008. By 2014, nearly 160 airports across the country were using the technology to screen passengers.

2008: American Airlines starts charging for all checked bags

Throughout most air travel history, passengers could expect to have at least one checked bag included in their fare. That changed in 2008, when American Airlines became the first major carrier to charge a fee for every checked bag. Other airlines would quickly follow suit.

2011: TSA PreCheck becomes available

The Transportation Security Administration introduced a new Trusted Traveler program called TSA PreCheck in October 2011. After paying a fee and getting approved, participants could get expedited service through airport security.

2012: Government requires airlines to list the total cost of flights

In early 2012, the U.S. Transportation Department implemented a new rule that required airlines to provide transparent pricing information for tickets, including all taxes, fees, and surcharges. Before that, airlines could advertise the base fare, only to surprise customers with a significantly higher price once they were about to pay.

2012: Delta develops basic economy fares

Delta Air Lines introduced a new, lower-cost fare category known as basic economy in 2012. Now an industry standard, these bare-bones fares are typically nonrefundable, have no advance seat assignments, include little to no baggage, and have other restrictions.

2018: Flights get more packed

Air travel saw a huge surge in passengers throughout the 2010s. As a result, planes became increasingly crowded. A 2018 report from The Telegraph found that most planes were flying at about 80% occupancy that year, up from about 70% in 2000.

2020: Airlines struggle during the pandemic

Stay-at-home orders and fears of COVID-19 brought air travel to a near halt in 2020. The International Air Transport Association predicted in November 2020 that the global airline industry would suffer $160 billion in losses as a result of the pandemic. The few travelers who did continue to travel by air in 2020 were met with a series of new rules and changes on planes, including mandates to wear masks and socially distance on some airlines.

2021: Airlines consider vaccine passports

In an effort to jumpstart travel after a major slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines are considering requiring that all passengers get vaccinated against the disease. Alan Joyce, CEO of the Australian airline Qantas, has already announced support for a COVID-19 vaccine passport , and other airlines are considering trying out the system in early 2021.

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The History of Transportation

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Whether by land or by sea, humans have always sought to traverse the earth and move to new locations. The evolution of transportation has brought us from simple canoes to space travel, and there's no telling where we could go next and how we will get there. The following is a brief history of transportation, dating from the first vehicles 900,000 years ago to modern-day times.

Early Boats

The first mode of transportation was created in the effort to traverse water: boats. Those who colonized Australia roughly 60,000–40,000 years ago have been credited as the first people to cross the sea, though there is some evidence that seafaring trips were carried out as far back as 900,000 years ago.

The earliest known boats were simple logboats, also referred to as dugouts, which were made by hollowing out a tree trunk. Evidence for these floating vehicles comes from artifacts that date back to around 10,000–7,000 years ago. The Pesse canoe—a logboat—is the oldest boat unearthed and dates as far back as 7600 BCE. Rafts have been around nearly as long, with artifacts showing them in use for at least 8,000 years.

Horses and Wheeled Vehicles

Next, came horses. While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when humans first began domesticating them as a means of getting around and transporting goods, experts generally go by the emergence of certain human biological and cultural markers that indicate when such practices started to take place.

Based on changes in teeth records, butchering activities, shifts in settlement patterns, and historic depictions, experts believe that domestication took place around 4000 BCE. Genetic evidence from horses, including changes in musculature and cognitive function, support this.

It was also roughly around this period that the wheel was invented. Archaeological records show that the first wheeled vehicles were in use around 3500 BCE, with evidence of the existence of such contraptions found in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucuses, and Central Europe. The earliest well-dated artifact from that time period is the "Bronocice pot," a ceramic vase that depicts a four-wheeled wagon that featured two axles. It was unearthed in southern Poland.

Steam Engines

In 1769, the Watt steam engine changed everything. Boats were among the first to take advantage of steam-generated power; in 1783, a French inventor by the name of Claude de Jouffroy built the "Pyroscaphe," the world’s first steamship . But despite successfully making trips up and down the river and carrying passengers as part of a demonstration, there wasn’t enough interest to fund further development.

While other inventors tried to make steamships that were practical enough for mass transport, it was American Robert Fulton who furthered the technology to where it was commercially viable. In 1807, the Clermont completed a 150-mile trip from New York City to Albany that took 32 hours, with the average speed clocking in at about five miles per hour. Within a few years, Fulton and company would offer regular passenger and freight service between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi.

Back in 1769, another Frenchman named Nicolas Joseph Cugnot attempted to adapt steam engine technology to a road vehicle—the result was the invention of the first automobile . However, the heavy engine added so much weight to the vehicle that it wasn't practical. It had a top speed of 2.5 miles per hour.

Another effort to repurpose the steam engine for a different means of personal transport resulted in the "Roper Steam Velocipede." Developed in 1867, the two-wheeled steam-powered bicycle is considered by many historians to be the world’s first motorcycle .

Locomotives

One mode of land transport powered by a steam engine that did go mainstream was the locomotive. In 1801, British inventor Richard Trevithick unveiled the world’s first road locomotive—called the “Puffing Devil”—and used it to give six passengers a ride to a nearby village. It was three years later that Trevithick first demonstrated a locomotive that ran on rails, and another one that hauled 10 tons of iron to the community of Penydarren, Wales, to a small village called Abercynon.

It took a fellow Brit—a civil and mechanical engineer named George Stephenson—to turn locomotives into a form of mass transport. In 1812, Matthew Murray of Holbeck designed and built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, “The Salamanca,” and Stephenson wanted to take the technology a step further. So in 1814, Stephenson designed the "Blücher," an eight-wagon locomotive capable of hauling 30 tons of coal uphill at a speed of four miles per hour.

By 1824, Stephenson improved the efficiency of his locomotive designs to where he was commissioned by the Stockton and Darlington Railway to build the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the aptly named "Locomotion No. 1." Six years later, he opened the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first public inter-city railway line serviced by steam locomotives. His notable accomplishments also include establishing the standard for rail spacing for most of the railways in use today. No wonder he’s been hailed as " Father of Railways ."

Technically speaking, the first navigable submarine was invented in 1620 by Dutchman Cornelis Drebbel. Built for the English Royal Navy, Drebbel’s submarine could stay submerged for up to three hours and was propelled by oars. However, the submarine was never used in combat, and it wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that designs leading to practical and widely used submersible vehicles were realized.

Along the way, there were important milestones such as the launch of the hand-powered, egg-shaped "Turtle " in 1776, the first military submarine used in combat. There was also the French Navy submarine "Plongeur," the first mechanically powered submarine.

Finally, in 1888, the Spanish Navy launched the "Peral," the first electric, battery-powered submarine, which also so happened to be the first fully capable military submarine. Built by a Spanish engineer and sailor named Isaac Peral, it was equipped with a torpedo tube, two torpedoes, an air regeneration system, and the first fully reliable underwater navigation system, and it posted an underwater speed of 3.5 miles per hour.

The start of the twentieth century was truly the dawn of a new era in the history of transportation as two American brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, pulled off the first official powered flight in 1903. In essence, they invented the world’s first airplane. Transport via aircraft took off from there with airplanes being put into service within a few short years during World War I. In 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first transatlantic flight, crossing from Canada to Ireland. The same year, passengers were able to fly internationally for the first time.

Around the same time that the Wright brothers were taking flight, French inventor Paul Cornu started developing a rotorcraft. And on November 13, 1907, his "Cornu" helicopter, made of little more than some tubing, an engine, and rotary wings, achieved a lift height of about one foot while staying airborne for about 20 seconds. With that, Cornu would lay claim to having piloted the first helicopter flight .

Spacecraft and the Space Race

It didn’t take long after air travel took off for humans to start seriously considering the possibility of going further up and toward the heavens. The Soviet Union surprised much of the western world in 1957 with its successful launch of Sputnik, the first satellite to reach outer space. Four years later, the Russians followed that by sending the first human, pilot Yuri Gagaran, into outer space aboard the Vostok 1.

These achievements would spark a “space race” between the Soviet Union and the United States that culminated in the Americans taking what was perhaps the biggest victory lap among national rivals. On July 20, 1969, the lunar module of the Apollo spacecraft, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, touched down on the surface of the moon.

The event, which was broadcast on live TV to the rest of the world, allowed millions to witness the moment Armstrong became the first man to ever step foot on the moon, a moment he heralded as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  

• The Railways in the Industrial Revolution
• The History of Railroad Technology
• The History of Steamboats
• The History of Electric Vehicles Began in 1830
• Coal Demand and the Industrial Revolution
• History of Airships and Balloons
• The Most Important Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
• A Brief History of the Motorcycle
• George Westinghouse's Influence on Electricity
• The History of Elevators From Top to Bottom
• The Early History of Communication
• Did Cotton Drive the Industrial Revolution?
• Steam in the Industrial Revolution
• The History of Steam-Powered Cars
• Iron in the Industrial Revolution
• Redstone Rockets Are a Piece of Space Exploration History

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THE TRANSPORTATION FUTURE: TRENDS, TRANSPORTATION, AND TRAVEL

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Transportation infrastructure.

As world populations have grown over thousands of years, so has the need for improved systems of transportation. As a result, people have modified their environment by building transportation infrastructure to make movement faster and easier.

Engineering, Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies

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Canals have been used as to transport goods over water since ancient times. Although overland and air transportation have largely overshadowed canal shipping routes, they remain an important part of transportation infrastructures around the world.

Photograph by Remi BENALI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Since the development of the world’s earliest civilizations, people have needed to move themselves and their goods from one place to another. As world populations have grown over time, so has the need for better and more advanced systems of transportation. Transportation is the movement of goods and people from one place to another. In ancient times, people crafted simple boats out of logs, walked, rode animals and, later, devised wheeled vehicles to move from place to place. They used existing waterways or simple roads for transportation. Over time, people built more complex means of transportation. They learned how to harness various sources of power, such as wind, steam, and combustion, to move barges, ships, trains, automobiles, and airplanes. These new means of transportation required people to change their environments by building transportation infrastructure . Transportation infrastructure is the underlying system of public works designed to facilitate movement. Past peoples, such as the ancient Egyptians, built ports in coastal areas for bringing and receiving goods. They also adapted internal natural waterways using dams or other means, to make them navigable . Ancient people also constructed artificial waterways called canals to move goods from place to place. Canals continued to be an important part of transportation infrastructure in societies around the world, particularly in Europe and China during the Middle Ages. Canal building in the United States reached its peak during the mid-1800s, but in other places, such as the Netherlands, canals are still an important part of the transportation infrastructure . Overland travel has also changed over time. Historic civilizations, including the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Romans, built roads and highways out of earth and stones to connect cities and rural areas. Roadbuilding in Europe and elsewhere improved during 1600s and 1700s, with increased trade and better vehicles. With the development of the steam locomotive in the early 1800s, people began to build railways to take advantage of train travel, particularly in the United States and Britain. By the mid-1800s, workers had constructed around 11,000 kilometers (7,000 miles) of railroad track in England and Wales. In the United States, by 1900, there were more than 320,000 kilometers (200,000 miles) of track. Also during the mid-1800s, people developed means of building railways underground. The world’s first subway line was opened in London, England, in 1863. Subways are still an important part of transportation infrastructure in many of the world’s largest cities. Automobile ownership became widespread by the mid-1900s, particularly in the United States and Europe, and people with cars soon demanded better roads. These roads would allow them to move away from cities and the need for mass transportation. Communities and governments rebuilt their roads, and major highway systems developed over time. European countries were the first to develop highway systems. In the United States, public demand from the 1930s to the 1950s led to government funding of the massive U.S. interstate roadway system.

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Related Resources

How Travel Has Evolved in the 50 Years Since the First Earth Day

By Ali Wunderman

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

In 1970, the year Earth Day was first celebrated, interest in the state of the planet —and the very notion of expressing concern over it—was still in its nascent stages. Around eight years prior, the publication of marine biologist Rachel Carson’s bestseller, Silent Spring , about the relationship between pollution and public health, succeeded in bringing environmentalism into the cultural mainstream. The introduction of Earth Day helped spur further progress, including the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passing of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. In only three years, enormous strides were made, all in service to the planet.

But a lot has changed in the five decades since that first celebration—both in the overall health of the Earth and in the way we care for it. Our planet’s population has doubled, leading to raised global carbon emissions and temperatures. And while the growth of the industries that enable tourism, like air travel , means that more people than ever are seeing the world (and increasing tolerance and awareness of other cultures while using tourism dollars to provide a much-needed boost to other economies), there are inevitable consequences for the planet.

“The unfortunate reality is that our industry as a whole is contributing more to the carbon crisis than it ever has, and it’s not turning around,” says Darrell Wade, co-founder and chairman of Intrepid Travel , a tour operator known for green initiatives like offsetting the carbon produced by its trips and being the first global tour operator to end elephant rides in Southeast Asia. But he notes that it’s more a function of growth rather than a shift in how people spend their vacations. “Travel grows 4 percent year over year, so our carbon emissions are increasing about 3 percent per year.”

But a movement has taken root in recent years that focuses on the intersection of sustainability and tourism—driven by our desire to protect the planet even as we see it. And the travel industry is increasingly working to change its practices. While it may not be there just yet, it’s come a long way.

Smaller cruise ships—like this one off the coast of Croatia—are increasingly efficient.

Airlines and cruises have gotten greener

In 2018, the travel industry contributed nearly one-tenth of total greenhouse gases ; the figure was largely driven by transportation-related emissions, with air travel being the biggest offender, though cars, ships, and trains played their part, too. A second factor that’s harder to quantify is travelers’ consumption of goods and services—for example, when a destination increases its food production to meet the needs of tourists.

But there has been some progress in this space. In recent years, airlines have begun to launch eco-initiatives to slow their effects on the environment: Two years ago, as part of their Eco-Skies program, United Airlines became the first U.S. airline to commit to a significant reduction in their carbon emissions , pledging to halve them by the year 2050; it also operates a carbon offset purchase program . Other airlines quickly followed suit with their own action plans, kindling the possible beginnings of a new industry standard. Cruising, too, is becoming greener as more small ship operations enter the scene, like Azamara and its parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, which has committed to improving the health of the oceans by increasing ship energy efficiency and overhauling its waste management program; the company also partnered with the World Wildlife Fund in 2016 to support ocean conservation and research efforts.

The data about climate change doesn’t explicitly reflect progress within the travel industry. It also doesn’t show the shift in travelers’ awareness of these issues, which in turn has driven airlines and other industry players to change their ways. “Thirty years ago people would turn off [to the topic of sustainability], but now people are interested,” says Wade. “They want to know what the commitment is of the travel businesses they patronize to the local community , wildlife, climate change, and what your carbon emissions are.” So while it’s true that these days (or at least, pre-pandemic) there are more planes in the sky than ever before, as the world has become increasingly globalized and travel has become more accessible, the demand for accountability is also driving the environmental movement forward.

Overtourism is a real phenomenon—and there are solutions

The increase in global travel has also given rise to other phenomenons. Overtourism has caused places like Thailand’s Maya Bay to close indefinitely. It's also led to the exploitation of wild animals, like tiger photo ops from Oklahoma to Southeast Asia . Then there's the erasure of local culture in heavily trafficked spots like Venice and Barcelona , where residents have become overwhelmed by tourism. These new problems are being met with new solutions. Overtourism has created a secondary market for undertourism—more off-the-beaten-path travel that can help stimulate underserved economies like those of Armenia and Mongolia , or even rural communities in the U.S.

Stacey Lastoe

Tonya Russell

Laura Kiniry

Nora Zelevansky

Documentaries like Blackfish have brought the issue of animal exploitation into the public consciousness, pushing companies like TripAdvisor to cease facilitating ticket sales for animal attractions . And some hotels are doing their part to center local communities in their ventures, from decoration and staffing to the economic benefits it yields. In Uganda, for instance, Volcanoes Safaris’ Mount Gahinga Lodge has created housing for the local Indigenous community, while Dominica’s Rosalie Bay Eco Resort supports its community by sponsoring the local cricket team and hosting field trips to teach kids about environmental protection.

Costa Rica has found particular success drawing in eco-conscious travelers.

Going green has become a point of pride

These days, sustainability means much more than protecting the environment. That's something Costa Rica has put a lot of thought into—the tourism board created the Certification of Sustainable Tourism program in 1997 to encourage hotels, restaurants, and tour operators to think bigger when it comes to new measures. This led to Costa Rica's reputation as a green destination, and the country has successfully grown its tourism business, with an 18 percent increase in visitors from 2004 to 2008.

Going green has become a point of industry pride. Hotels not only covet Global Sustainable Tourism Council and LEED certifications; they’re also establishing important sustainable initiatives themselves. ( Soneva , for example, created the Soneva Namoona Baa initiative to help Maldivian islands better deal with waste; Aqua-Aston Hospitality’s Theresa Van Greunen kickstarted the #ForOurReef campaign, helping to get coral-bleaching sunscreens banned in Hawaii .) Sustainability as an ideal is almost fully mainstream these days; even Prince Harry launched his own sustainable travel initiative, Travalyst , at the end of 2019.

...But it's also become a marketing ploy

Of course, going green can benefit bottom lines, too. Some 87 percent of consumers now want more environmentally friendly choices within the travel industry, according to a Booking.com survey. That includes hotels that run on renewable energy or restaurants that serve locally sourced ingredients—and tourism providers have been quick to capitalize on the trend. Some efforts are meaningful—in 2018 Hilton Hotels enacted robust sustainability policies addressing water, carbon, gender, and diversity, which stand to make a real impact. On the other end of the spectrum, though, is greenwashing, in which a good marketing strategy takes the place of meaningful action. There’s also the somewhat-common scenario of a company putting efforts into going green primarily to attract new customers, but ends up helping the environment as a result. (One example might include trading in plastic straws for slightly more expensive biodegradable options.) It’s taken decades to get from the first Earth Day to companies using the environment as a selling point, but both industry leaders and consumers are prioritizing real solutions.

In St. Lucia right now, a number of fish have returned to areas usually frequented by tourists.

What's next for the travel industry?

Today, on this half-century anniversary of celebrating the planet, we find ourselves faced with a different sort of crisis —but with the pause has come some clarity. In just a handful of weeks with significantly decreased human travel, we’ve seen drastic improvements to the air, water, and animal life. “Human beings and nature don’t necessarily mix,” says Callistus Jackson, a dive instructor at two of St. Lucia’s most famous resorts, Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain . Schools of silver-side fish have returned to the island after only a month without humans, boats, and pollution in the water, she says. “When I started here 23 years ago, we saw these fish all the time. Not so much anymore.” Similar stories about wildlife rebounding have delighted many stuck at home, a lesson that coexisting with the planet and all that live upon it possible with the right efforts. But there's also been an incredible human cost—a socioeconomic one—among those who make their livelihoods by way of tourism. Once travel resumes, it’s on us to move forward more wisely, traveling not only with the health of the planet in mind, but the well-being of other humans and wildlife as well.

If history proves anything, it’s that openly discussing sustainability and advocating for accountability can lead to tangible change, as Rachel Carson’s book demonstrated 50 years ago. If we can keep these discussions going, then by the time we reach Earth Day’s centennial, there will be a lot to celebrate.

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The Geography of Transport Systems

The spatial organization of transportation and mobility

8.1 – Transportation and the Urban Form

Author: dr. jean-paul rodrigue.

Transportation has an influence on the urban spatial structure and is shaping urbanization.

1. Global Urbanization

Urbanization. The transition from a rural to an urban society. Statistically, urbanization reflects an increasing proportion of the population living in settlements defined as urban, primarily through net rural to urban migration. The level of urbanization is the percentage of the total population living in towns and cities, while urbanization is the rate at which it grows. (UNFPA, 2007).

Urbanization has been one of the dominant economic and social changes of the 20th century, especially in the  developing world . Although cities played a significant role throughout human history , it was not until the Industrial Revolution that a network of large cities started to emerge in the most economically advanced parts of the world. Innovation diffused through this interconnected network of cities articulating economic development. Since 1950, the world’s urban population has more than doubled, reaching nearly 4.4 billion in 2021, about 56.6% of the global population. This transition is expected to go on well into the second half of the 21st century, a trend reflected in the growing  size of cities and the increasing proportion of the urbanized population . By 2050, 70% of the global population could be urbanized, representing 6.4 billion urban residents. Cities also dominate the national economic output , accounting for the bulk of production, distribution, and consumption.

Global urbanization is the outcome of three main demographic trends:

• Natural increase . The outcome of more births than deaths in urban areas is a direct function of the fertility rate as well as the quality of healthcare systems (lower mortality rates, particularly for infants). Phases in the demographic transition are commonly linked with urbanization rates, with peak growth years corresponding to large differences between birth and death rates. Although natural increase played an essential role in the past, it is of much lesser importance today as fertility rates in many developed economies have dropped significantly. In some cases, like Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea, fertility is below the replacement rate. Further, fertility rates in cities are usually lower than rural areas, underlining that cities can be seen as engines of demographic decline.
• Rural to urban migrations . This has been a dominant urbanization factor, particularly in the developing world, where migration accounted for between 40 and 60% of urban growth. Rural-to-urban migration endured through the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. It surged in the first half of the 20th century in the developed world and then in the developing world in the second half of the 20th century. The factors behind rural-to-urban migrations may involve the expectation to find employment, gains in agricultural productivity, which frees rural labor, or even political and environmental problems where populations are constrained to leave the countryside. The industrialization of coastal China and its integration into the global trade system since the 1980s has led to the largest rural-to-urban migration in history, with estimates above 375 million migrants.
• International migration . The growth in international migration has been an important factor in the urbanization of major gateway cities, such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York, London, and Paris. This process tends to occur in the largest cities, but there is a trickle-down in smaller-sized cities.

Through urbanization, fundamental changes in the socio-economic environment of human activities have been observed, with new forms of employment, economic activity, lifestyle, and mobility. What drives urbanization is a complex mix of economic, demographic, and technological factors . The growth in GDP per capita is a dominant driver of urbanization, which is supported by corresponding developments in transportation systems. More recently, the diffusion of air conditioning allowed for settlements in high-temperature areas such as in the southwest of the United States or the Middle East (e.g. Dubai).

Urban mobility problems have increased proportionally with urbanization, which is associated with two outcomes. First is the emergence of a network of megacities that account for the most salient urban mobility challenges. Second, mobility demands tend to be concentrated over specific urban areas , such as central business districts and main circulation corridors.

Global trends indicate about 50 million new urbanites each year, roughly a million a week. More than 90% of that growth occurs in developing economies, which puts pressure on urban infrastructures, particularly transportation. What is considered urban includes a whole  continuum of urban spatial structures, ranging from small towns to large urban agglomerations. This also brings the question of optimal city size since technical limitations (road, utilities) are not much of an impediment to building large cities. Many of the world’s largest cities are challenged because rising operational and infrastructure complexities are not effectively coped with managerial expertise as city size increases. Still, urbanization remains the dominant socioeconomic paradigm associated with improvements in economic development.

2. The Urban Form

Urbanization has been shaped by transport infrastructures, such as roads, transit systems, or simply walkways. Since each city has a different temporal process of accumulation and development of transport infrastructures, there is a wide variety of urban forms, spatial structures, and associated urban transportation systems.

Urban form . Refers to the  spatial footprint of an urban transport system, which defines the spatial arrangement of cities.

Urban spatial structure . Refers to the set of relationships arising out of the urban form and its underlying mobility of passengers and freight. Specific urban structures can be achieved with specific transport systems.

Considering transport developments, the urban spatial structure can be categorized by its level of centralization and clustering:

• Centralization . Refers to the locational setting of activities in relation to the whole urban area. A centralized city has a significant share of its activities within a defined center, while a decentralized city does to a lesser extent. Large employers such as financial institutions are the main drivers of centralization.
• Clustering . Refers to the locational setting of activities in relation to a specific part of the urban area. A cluster of activities is, therefore, a concentration around a specific focal point, such as a highway interchange, a transit terminal, or a smaller town that has been absorbed by the expansion of the metropolis.

Even if the geographical setting of each city varies considerably, the urban form and its spatial structure are  articulated by two structural elements :

• Nodes . These clusters are reflected in the centrality of urban activities, which can be related to the spatial accumulation of economic activities or accessibility to the transport system. Terminals, such as ports, train stations, railyards, and airports, are important nodes around which activities agglomerate at the local or regional level. Nodes have a hierarchy related to their importance and contribution to urban functions, with high-order nodes such as management and retailing and lower-order nodes such as production and distribution.
• Linkages . These are the infrastructures supporting mobility between nodes. The lowest level of linkages includes streets, which are the defining elements of the urban spatial structure. There is a hierarchy of linkages from local streets, regional highways, and railways to international connections by air and maritime transport systems.

Depending on their nature, urban nodes and linkages provide functional connectivity, implying interdependent urban functions related to trade, management, and production. Thus, urban transportation is associated with a spatial form that  varies according to the modes used . Grid street patterns  have endured throughout history, which was the case for many Roman cities built in the 1st century and American cities built in the 20th century. The reasons behind this permanence are relatively simple; a grid pattern jointly optimizes accessibility and available real estate. Still, many cities are not as organized as a grid. They correspond to cities that grew from a constrained location such as a bay, an island, a hill, or a river junction. Local geographical and historical characteristics remain important influences on the urban form.

In the 20th century, cities developed a unique spatial structure relying on motorized transportation, particularly the privately owned automobile. This incited a  shift from a grid pattern toward curvilinear and cul-de-sac patterns commonly found in suburban areas.  Dispersion, or urban sprawl , is taking place in many different types of cities, from dense, centralized European metropolises such as Madrid, Paris, and London to rapidly industrializing metropolises such as Seoul, Shanghai, and Mexico City, to those experiencing recent and fast urban growth, such as Mumbai, Jakarta, and Lagos. Contemporary urban expansion is strongly shaped by road transportation as the support for mobility with its hierarchy of local streets, connectors, boulevards, and expressways. Therefore, there are significant  differences in the density of cities across the world, in addition to a variety of density gradients observed within cities. The differences are particularly prevalent between  North American and European cities .

3. Evolution of Transportation and Urban Form

Urbanization is occurring following the development of urban transport systems, particularly in capacity and efficiency. Historically, movements within cities tended to be mainly restricted to walking, making urban mobility inefficient and time-consuming. Thus, activity nodes tended to be agglomerated, and urban forms were compact with mixed uses . Many modern cities have inherited an urban form created under such circumstances, even though they are no longer prevailing. The dense urban cores of many European and East Asian cities, for example, enable residents to make between one-third and two-thirds of all trips by walking and cycling. At the other end of the spectrum, the dispersed urban forms of most Australian, Canadian, and American cities, which were built more recently, encourage automobile dependency and are linked with high levels of mobility. Still, Chinese cities have experienced a high level of motorization, implying the potential for convergence toward more uniform urban forms. Many cities are also port cities, with trade playing an enduring role in economic vitality and urban spatial structure, with the port district being an important node. Airport terminals have also been playing a growing role in the urban spatial structure as they can be considered cities within cities .

The evolution of transportation has generally led to  changes in urban form . The more radical the changes in transport technology, the more the alterations in the urban form. Among the most fundamental changes in the urban form is the emergence of new clusters in peripheral areas expressing new urban activities and new relationships between elements of the urban system. Many cities are assuming a polycentric form , a change associated with new mobility patterns . The central business district (CBD), once the primary destination of commuters and serviced by public transportation, has been transformed by new manufacturing, retailing, and management practices. Whereas traditional manufacturing depended on centralized workplaces and transportation, technological and transportation developments rendered modern industry more flexible. In many cases, manufacturing relocated in a suburban setting , if not altogether, to entirely offshore locations , expanding the reach and connectivity of cities. Retail and office activities are also suburbanizing, producing changes in the urban form. Concomitantly, many important transport terminals, namely port facilities and railyards, have emerged in suburban areas following new requirements in modern freight distribution brought in part by containerization. The urban spatial structure shifted from a nodal to a multi-nodal character, implying new forms of urban development and new connections to regional and global economic processes.

Initially, suburban growth mainly occurred adjacent to major road corridors, leaving vacant plots or farmland in between. Later, intermediate spaces were gradually filled up, more or less coherently. Highways and ring roads, which circled and radiated from cities, favored the development of suburbs and the emergence of important sub-centers that compete with the central business district to attract economic activities. As a result, many new job opportunities shifted to the suburbs, and the activity system of cities has been considerably modified. Depending on the economic sectors they specialize in, cities and even different parts of a metropolitan area can be experiencing development at entirely different rates (or even decline), leading to a highly heterogeneous urban landscape . These changes have occurred according to a variety of geographical and economic contexts, notably in North America and Europe, as each subsequent phase of urban transportation developments led to different spatial structures. Sometimes, particularly when new modern urban road infrastructures are built, the subsequent changes in the urban form can be significant. Two processes had a substantial impact on contemporary urban forms:

• Urban sprawl . Dominant in North America since the end of World War II, where land was abundant, transportation costs were low, and the economy became dominated by tertiary and quaternary activities. Under such circumstances, a strong negative relationship between urban density and automobile use emerged, involving energy use for urban mobility . In the context of cities with high automobile dependency, their built-up areas have grown at a faster rate than their populations, resulting in declining densities . In addition, commuting became relatively inexpensive compared with land costs, so households were incentivized to buy lower-priced housing at the urban periphery. Wherever there was motorization, a pattern of sprawl took shape.
• Decentralization . Resulting in two opposite effects. First, commuting time has remained relatively stable in duration, in the range of one hour per day. Second, commuting increasingly tends to be longer in terms of distance and made by using the automobile rather than by public transit. Most transit and road systems were developed to facilitate suburb-to-city rather than suburb-to-suburb commuting. As a result, suburban highways are often as congested as urban highways.

Although transportation systems and travel patterns have changed considerably over time, one enduring feature remains that most people are willing to travel between 30-40 minutes in one direction , known as Marchetti’s constant . Globally, people spend about 1.2 hours per day commuting, wherever this takes place in a low or high-mobility setting. Different transport technologies, however, are associated with  different travel speeds and capacities . As a result, cities that rely primarily on non-motorized transport tend to be more compact than automobile-dependent cities. Transport technology thus plays a significant role in defining urban form and the spatial pattern of various activities. Still, the evolution of the urban form is path-dependent , implying that the current spatial structure is the outcome of past developments but that those developments were strongly related to local conditions involving the setting, physical constraints, and investments in transportation infrastructures. It takes substantial effort and long-term commitment to change the spatial structure of a city noticeably.

4. The Spatial Constraints of Urban Transportation

The amount of urban land allocated to transportation is often correlated with the level of mobility . In the pre-automobile era, about 10% of the urban land was devoted to transportation, which was simply roads for pedestrian traffic and common uses. As the mobility of people and freight increased, a growing share of urban areas was allocated to transport and the infrastructures supporting it. Large variations in the footprint of urban transportation are observed between different cities and parts of a city, such as central and peripheral areas. The major components of the footprint of urban transportation are:

• Pedestrian areas . Refer to the amount of space devoted to walking. This space is often shared with roads as sidewalks may use between 10% and 20% of a road’s right of way. In central areas, pedestrian areas tend to use a greater share of the right of way, and in some instances, whole areas are reserved for pedestrians. However, in a motorized context, most pedestrian areas serve people’s access to transport modes such as parked automobiles.
• Roads and parking areas . Refer to the amount of space devoted to road transportation, which has two states of activity; moving or parked. In a motorized city, on average, 30% of the surface is devoted to roads, while another 20% is required for off-street parking. This implies for each car, about two off-street and two on-street parking spaces are available. In North American cities, roads and parking lots account for between 30 and 60% of the total surface, a share which is lower elsewhere.
• Micromobility areas . In a disorganized form, forms of micromobility such as cycling share access to pedestrian and road space. However, many attempts have been made to  create spaces specifically for bicycles , with reserved lanes and parking facilities. The  Netherlands has been particularly proactive over this issue, with biking paths and parking areas as active components of the urban transport system; 27% of the total amount of commuting is accounted for by cycling. The diffusion of electric bicycles has given an additional impetus to using bicycles in urban mobility.
• Transit systems . Many transit systems, such as buses and tramways, share road space with automobiles, which often impairs their respective efficiency. Attempts to mitigate congestion have created road lanes reserved for buses permanently or temporarily (during rush hour). Other transport systems, such as subways and rail, have their infrastructures and, consequently, their rights of way.
• Transport terminals . Refer to the space devoted to terminal facilities such as ports, airports, transit stations, railyards, and distribution centers. Globalization has increased the mobility of people and freight, and, consequently, the footprint required to support those activities. Many major terminals are located in the peripheral areas of cities, the only locations where sufficient amounts of land are available.

The spatial importance of each transport mode varies according to several factors, density being the most important. Further, each transport mode has  unique performance and space consumption characteristics . The most relevant example is the automobile. It requires space to move around (roads), but it also spends 98% of its existence stationary in a parking space. Consequently, a significant amount of urban space must be allocated to accommodate the automobile, especially when it does not move and is thus economically and socially useless. In large urban agglomerations, close to all the available street parking space in areas of average density and above is occupied throughout the day. At an aggregate level, measures reveal a significant footprint of road transportation among developed countries. In the United States, more land is thus used for the automobile than housing. In Western Europe, roads account for between 15% and 20% of the urban surface, while for developing economies, this figure is about 10% but rising fast due to motorization.

5. Transportation and the Urban Structure

Urbanization involves an increased number of trips occurring in urban areas. Cities have traditionally responded to the growth in mobility by expanding the transportation supply by building new highways and transit lines. This has mainly meant building more roads to accommodate an ever-growing number of vehicles. Several urban spatial structures have accordingly emerged, with the reliance on the automobile being the most important discriminatory factor. Four major types can be identified at the metropolitan scale:

• Type I. Completely Motorized Network . Representing an automobile-dependent city with limited centrality and dispersed activities.
• Type II. Weak Center . Representing a spatial structure where many activities are located in the periphery.
• Type III. Strong Center . Representing high-density urban centers with well-developed public transit systems.
• Type IV. Traffic Limitation . Representing urban areas that have implemented traffic control and modal preference in their spatial structure. Commonly, the central area is dominated by public transit.

Another aspect of the relationship between transportation and the urban spatial structure involves the orientation of the networks and their level of entropy . Around the world, cities tend to have a cardinal orientation , underlining the influence of a frame of reference dominated by the north, allowing setting grids or streets. Over time, entropy (disorder) has declined as contemporary cities or neighborhoods tend to have car-oriented grids instead of the organic distribution of streets and alleys of pre-industrial cities. There are different scales where transportation systems influence the structure of communities, districts, and the whole metropolitan area. For instance, one of the most significant impacts of transportation on the urban structure has been the clustering of activities near areas of high accessibility.

The impact of transport on the spatial structure is particularly evident in the emergence of suburbia , a process that occurs in every major metropolitan area worldwide. Although many other factors are important in its development, including low land costs, available land (large lots), environmental considerations (clean and quiet), safety, and car-oriented services (shopping malls), the footprint of the automobile is dominant. The automobile is also linked with changes in street layouts. While older parts of cities tend to have a conventional grid layout, from the 1930s, new suburbs started to be designed in a curvilinear fashion, including some cul-de-sacs (dead ends). By the 1950s, the prevailing design for new suburbs was privileging cul-de-sacs. Although the aim was to create a more private and safe environment, particularly in cul-de-sac sections, the outcome was also a growing sense of isolation and car use.

With the expansion of urban areas, congestion, and the increasing importance of inter-urban movements, the existing structure of urban roads was considered inadequate. Several ring roads have been built around major cities and have become an important attribute of their spatial structures. Highway interchanges in suburban areas are notable examples of clusters of urban development that have shaped the multicentric character of many cities. The extension (and the over-extension) of urban areas have created what may be called peri-urban areas. They are located well outside the urban core and the suburbs but within reasonable commuting distances; the term “edge cities” has been used to label a cluster of urban development in suburban settings.

Related Topics

• 8.2 – Urban Land Use and Transportation
• 8.3 – Urban Mobility
• 8.4 – Urban Transport Challenges
• 2.2 – Transport and Spatial Organization
• 2.3 – Transport and Location
• 6.1 – The Function of Transport Terminals
• 4.3 – Transportation, Land Use and the Environment

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How have our travel habits changed over the past 50 years?

Emeritus Professor of Social and Historical Geography, Lancaster University

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Colin Pooley has received funding from UK research councils.

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We tend to assume that travel today is fundamentally different from what it was half a century ago. We have easier access to faster forms of transport, and we expect to be able to move quickly and easily whenever we wish. But a recent overview of travel behaviour in England – celebrating 50 years of data from the National Travel Survey (NTS) – shows that while some things have certainly changed, much remains the same.

According to the authors of the report, the most striking change to our travel habits is that “we are travelling further but not more often”. In other words, though the individual trips we take are longer in terms of distance, the number of times we travel has remained much the same over the past 50 years. What’s more, there has been little change in the total time spent travelling, due to faster travel speeds. And the purposes of our trips have changed only slightly: the biggest change has been an increase in the number of journeys we take to escort others.

Predictably, we’ve seen an increase in car use, as a result of their greater availability and affordability. This has been accompanied by a decrease in travel by bus and bike. None of these trends will be surprising to anyone who has thought carefully about the nature of everyday travel in Britain. But if we dig behind the survey data, some less obvious patterns and trends are revealed.

What’s missing?

Although the NTS is an unparalleled set of data, even this has its limitations. As the authors recognise, walking trips tend to be under-recorded, and it is not possible to gain fully comparable data on walking as a means of everyday travel over the full 50 years. What is clear, however, is that our feet remain one of our most important forms of transport.

In 2014, according to the survey, 22% of all trips were made on foot, and walking constituted 76% of all trips under one mile. Though we walk less than we did in the past, travel on foot remains an important means of travel – but one that tends to be neglected in both official statistics and transport planning. All too often, the needs of the pedestrian are ignored .

And while there may not be data available beyond the 50 years covered by the NTS, it is possible to gain some insights into even longer-term travel trends by using oral history and survey techniques. Research using these methods suggests that the distance and time spent travelling has remained reasonably stable over the last century, and perhaps beyond.

Historically, most trips were over short distances, and the time that people have been willing to commit to travelling has remained much the same. Obviously faster forms of transport, especially the private car, have allowed longer distances to be covered, and there are more very long journeys than in the past, but for most people, most of the time, everyday travel takes place relatively close to home.

Home, sweet home

Why have travel trends remained so similar over long periods of time? Answers to this question almost certainly lie in the nature of society and human relationships: something that cannot be revealed by statistics. In essence, human societies across the ages seek to fulfil certain aspirations: to provide income, food and shelter; to be near and protect family; to socialise and to be with friends. Most of these needs and aspirations can be met close to home, and therefore shape our travel behaviour.

Certainly, as families have become more dispersed and labour mobility has increased , this has led to some people making ever longer journeys. But most of us are still able (and indeed prefer) to fulfil most of our everyday needs close to home.

One other aspect that statistics such as the NTS cannot reveal is the experience of travel. What is it like to travel today and how has this changed over time? Arguably, this is one area where there has been significant change. The advent and widespread use of the private car has meant that comfortable, convenient and private transport has become the norm for most people.

A century ago, only an elite could travel privately and in relative comfort, with most using shared space on various forms of public transport. For those who walk or cycle, the experience of travel will have changed less, though increased traffic has probably made the experience less pleasurable for many.

Half a century of the NTS reminds us of the importance of travel in our lives, and challenges assumptions that everyday mobility has changed dramatically over time. But it also shows us that, when it comes to what’s important to us, some things never change.

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How Travel Has Transformed Over the Course of 100 Years – A Complete History

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on Published: January 12, 2023  - Last updated: December 27, 2023

Categories Travel

Travel has come a long way in the last 100 years. In 1920, Britain was still connected to India by an empire, and Mexico City was only accessible by ship or train.

Today, travelers can take advantage of new technologies like airplanes and cruise ships that have opened up a world of travel opportunities. From exploring ancient ruins in Peru to road-tripping through New Zealand, modern travelers can experience places that were inaccessible or unknown just a hundred years ago. The evolution of travel in the last century is remarkable, allowing anyone with access to transportation to explore distant lands and discover cultures different from their own.

Before Air Travel

Travel has changed a lot in the last century. In the early 20th century, people traveled by train, steamship, and horseback. Today, we can travel to any part of the world anytime.

Travel by air was still in its infancy at that time. It wasn’t until 1919 that the first successful transatlantic flight occurred between Newfoundland and Ireland. The trip took more than 16 hours – a far cry from today’s flights, which take less than eight hours from New York City to Europe.

As more people gained access to air travel, it became much cheaper and accessible to everyone. Today, you can fly round-trip from New York to Paris for less than $500.

Advances in aviation technology also accompanied the development of modern air travel. In 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first to fly faster than sound.

The Early Days of Air Travel Were a Time of Adventure

Air travel has come long since the first plane took off in 1903.

The early days of aviation were a time of adventure. In the 1920s and 30s, air passengers could enjoy the thrill of flying at higher speeds than on land or water. Air passengers were often greeted by a flight attendant who served them food and drinks during the trip.

The first business travel flight took off from New York City on May 15, 1927, when Charles Lindbergh flew a single-engine biplane across the Atlantic to Paris. Pan American Airways offered commercial flights between New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, two years later. But it wasn’t until after World War II that commercial aviation took off. With this growth came more modern aircraft designs with improved safety features and more comfort for passengers.

In the decades that followed, air travel became increasingly affordable and convenient. In 1954, Boeing introduced the 707 jet airliner – the first passenger aircraft with a complete cabin pressurization system – allowing airlines to fly in thinner air at higher speeds and greater distances.

In 1957, Pan Am inaugurated its first scheduled transatlantic service from the West Coast to the United Kingdom with its new DC-7C jets. By 1958, Pan American Airways had a schedule of 47 weekly flights from Idlewild Airport to destinations in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Other Advances in Transportation

Since the beginning of time, people have been traveling to new places and meeting new people. Today, we can travel much faster and more efficiently than ever before.

The earliest forms of transportation were walking and running. Later, people learned to use horses and other animals to travel faster and farther.

The invention of the steam train in 1908 allowed people to travel long distances in a short time. Airplanes allowed people to cross oceans in a few hours, which would have taken weeks or months by ship. Cars enabled people to travel great distances at high speeds, which is why many highways exist today.

Significant advances in transportation technology have been made, such as the widespread use of high-speed trains. High-speed trains are quick and efficient forms of transportation that can take passengers from one city to another in hours instead of taking entire days to travel by car.

From Freight to Cruise Ships

The most apparent change in the last 100 years has been the rise of the cruise ship industry. Cruise ships have become the dominant form of maritime transportation, and they’re an excellent example of how technology has changed not only what we do at sea but also how we think about it.

Cruise ships also represent another major shift in how people think about travel: they’re being marketed as destinations in and of themselves rather than just a means to get from point A to point B – or even just an excuse to get away from work for a week or two. But that’s not all they offer. Many cruise lines also offer excursions in ports of call, so you can explore new cities without leaving your ship for more than an hour or two (and only if you want to).

Infrastructure

Travel infrastructure has also greatly improved by constructing highways, airports, and train stations. Airports have expanded capacity with more gates and runways, allowing more flights to take off and land safely. Airlines have also increased their fleets and flown to more destinations to meet passenger needs.

Through mobile apps like FlightStats or FlightViews, or websites like FlightAware, travelers now have real-time flight information so they can stay informed before leaving for the airport or during a layover in an airport terminal while waiting for their next flight.

Travelers can also use these tools to plan their trips by comparing fares between airlines or booking hotels directly through sites like Expedia or Orbitz rather than dealing with booking agents at hotels or airlines.

Railroads have been around for more than 200 years, but their impact on travel has only changed dramatically recently. Before the late 1800s, most people traveled on foot or horseback. Travel by rail was standard but not affordable for most people.

The railroad changed that, making travel faster and cheaper than ever before – and allowing people to leave their hometowns and see the world. Today’s modern rail system is very different from the early days: Today’s trains are faster, safer, and more comfortable than 100 years ago.

Ports have also evolved. Most ports today have terminals where passengers can check their luggage before arriving at the terminal building. Terminals are often designed so passengers don’t have to walk far after leaving their cars or planes – they can get off the bus or train and go directly to an air-conditioned waiting room.

Highways are also an excellent example of how infrastructure has changed over time. In the early 1900s, no highways existed: People traveled on horseback or foot. As cars became more popular in the 1920s , roads began to be built so people could drive around town and between cities. But to get from one place to another, they had to use dirt roads until they were paved with asphalt in the 1930s. Today, highways are multi-lane, and interstates connect cities across state lines.

Globalization

The globalization of travel has allowed people to travel to more destinations worldwide and more easily connect with other cultures.

The Internet and social media have made it possible for people from different countries to communicate with each other and share information about places they have been or want to visit.

In addition, it’s easier for travelers to find online communities of people with similar interests and want to travel together. This can be helpful for those who are afraid to travel alone or meet new people in a foreign country.

Although travel has always involved risks, especially when traveling abroad, today’s travelers have access to more information about those risks than ever before. This can help travelers decide where and how to protect themselves.

For example, if you’re taking a walking tour in an unfamiliar place or country, you can find out about reviews of local hotels and restaurants, so you know where not to eat or stay. You can also find reviews of attractions or landmarks along your route so you know which ones are worth stopping at on your trip.

In the early 20th century, travel was a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Travel was expensive and took a lot of time. People who weren’t wealthy had to rely on public transportation such as trains and buses.

Today, travel is more accessible to everyone. With the advent of airplanes, crossing oceans at speeds that trains or cars could never match has become possible. The cost of air travel has also become more affordable for the middle class, making it accessible to more people.

In 1900, a person could travel from New York City to Los Angeles by train in about four days. Today, the same trip by plane takes less than nine hours – and at a much lower price than a train ticket!

The rise of tourism as a significant industry has led to the development of hotels, resorts, and business travel. These facilities are critical to the needs of travelers, providing them with comfortable accommodations, dining options, and various forms of entertainment.

It is easy to take for granted the ease and convenience of travel that we enjoy today. However, it is essential to remember that travel was a much more complex and arduous endeavor just a century ago.

Your journey was arduous if you traveled in a horse-drawn carriage or even the first automobiles in the early 20th century . Not only did you have to cope with rough and often unpaved roads, but you also had to make sure your horse was well-fed and rested throughout the journey or that you had enough gasoline for the road, as gas stations were relatively rare.

We rely on public transportation such as buses, trains, and planes to travel long distances. Introducing these modes of transportation has dramatically increased the speed and convenience of travel, making it accessible to a more significant number of people. In addition, the development of roads, highways, and airports has also played a crucial role in making travel more accessible.

Travel today is different from what it was 100 years ago. Some things have remained the same; for example, people still enjoy visiting tourist destinations worldwide and taking photos. But many new things make travel more convenient and enjoyable than ever before.

For people with disabilities, seniors, and families with children who were previously unable to take a more extended trip due to age or health reasons, traveling is now easier than ever.

Development of the Tourism Industry

The development of tourism into a primary travel industry has led to the emergence of hotels, resorts, and other tourism-related businesses. This, in turn, has led to the growth of the service sector and the creation of jobs in the industry.

The rise of tourism as a significant industry has also increased international travel between countries. This has increased cultural exchanges between people from different countries as they travel to share experiences and learn about each other’s cultures.

Tourism also plays a vital role in economic development and poverty alleviation by providing more employment opportunities for locals who provide food preparation, transportation, and accommodation for tourists visiting their country or region. In addition, tourism also helps improve infrastructure, such as roads and airports, to help tourists access remote destinations.

Economic Impact

Travel increased sharply in the first half of the 20th century, with most people using trains and steamships to reach their destinations. The more people traveled, the more hotels and other lodging establishments were needed. This led to new jobs, especially in the travel industry, such as hotels, restaurants, and airlines.

The economic impact of the travel industry is not limited to those in the tourism industry. The money people spend on travel affects the entire economy. For example, when someone spends money on an airline ticket, they may buy groceries or clothing at a local supermarket before leaving town. This extra spending creates jobs for other people in the local community who work in grocery stores or clothing stores.

Tourism has also played an essential role in the growth of some cities worldwide. For example, tourism has helped Miami grow from a small coastal town to one of the United States’ largest cities, attracting millions of visitors yearly for the beaches and nightlife.

Safety and Security

Security measures have been the most significant change in travel over the past 100 years. In the early 20th century, people traveled without considering their safety. Today, there are security checkpoints at every airport, and we are constantly reminded that travel is a dangerous thing.

Airport security has increased significantly in recent years, and security checks with metal detectors and baggage screening machines are now commonplace at airports worldwide. Passengers are also personally searched and patted down.

Nowadays, there are several checkpoints that you have to pass through before you can board a mode of transportation. When you arrive at an airport or train station, you must go through security checks before entering the terminal building. Once inside the terminal building, you must pass through another checkpoint before boarding your flight or train. This process is repeated for each mode of transportation you use after arriving at your destination.

The development of technology and the Internet has made it easier for people to plan and book their trips and more accessible for them to stay connected while traveling.

In previous generations, travelers had to go to a travel agency, talk to a travel agent in person or on the phone, and wait for the agent to book flights, hotels, and rental cars. Today, travelers can do all this themselves from home or anywhere in the world with an Internet connection through websites like Expedia.

The Internet has also made communicating with family and friends easier while away from home. Cell phones allow travelers to stay in touch 24/7 with anyone with a cell phone number or email address – even if they’re on the other side of the world!

However, with so many review portals like Trip Advisor, there’s no longer an element of surprise when you arrive at a new destination. You know which places to avoid and which to visit before you get on the plane. It’s hard to find those ‘hidden gems’ anymore…

Contact With New Cultures

Learning about new cultures can be a life-changing experience. Travel allows people to immerse themselves in different cultures and learn about and appreciate the world’s diversity. Through travel, people can develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for other cultures and even adopt elements of those cultures into their own lives.

As travel becomes more accessible and affordable thanks to advances in technology and transportation, more people can explore the world and learn about different cultures.

This can help break down prejudices and assumptions people have about others who are different. Travel makes people realize that despite our cultural differences, we have many things in common, such as hopes, dreams, desires, and fears.

Tourism is the largest industry in the world, and travel is an integral part of it.

The past century has seen tremendous changes in how people travel, and significant advances have been made in transportation and communications. These developments have enabled people to travel farther, faster, and safer than ever.

The Internet has also played an important role, providing access to information worldwide and breaking down language barriers through translation apps. This allows people to learn about new cultures and places without traveling there.

Travel has helped break down barriers, bridge cultural differences , and help us appreciate the beauty and diversity of the world around us. As travel has become more accessible, it has played an essential role in fostering greater understanding and acceptance of different cultures and promoting peace and harmony among people of all backgrounds.

Dissemination of Ideas

Travel has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. In the first half of the 20th century, it was all about discovery and adventure. People were fascinated by new places and cultures around the globe. They wanted to see them with their own eyes. But travel was also a way of escaping one’s own life – whether on a grand tour or on a steamer bound for Europe.

The early 20th century was also a time when people were looking for ideas outside their own borders. Travelers brought back souvenirs and stories from their journeys around the world. They shared these stories with friends and family members at home and abroad, helping to spread ideas and cultures around the globe.

With the advent of the Internet, the way people search for new ideas has changed, and today travel is usually for tourism or work. People still explore new places, but they do it much faster than in years past.

Changing Attitudes and Values

In the early 1900s, most people traveled by rail or water. Travelers were adventurous and willing to take risks to reach their destinations. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to travel across the country on a trolley (a small wagon without an engine) pulled by fellow passengers. People also traveled by boat across seas and rivers. They had no idea where they’d end up or what would happen along the way – but they didn’t care because it was an adventure!

There were no computers back then, so the maps weren’t very accurate. The only way to find out what lay ahead was to talk to other travelers or read guidebooks – if you could find any!

Today, thanks to our mobile devices and online travel sites like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, we can access information about anywhere. We know exactly where we’re going and what we’ll see along the way – at least, most of us do.

We have also become more aware of environmental issues, such as pollution and conservation, and cultural issues, such as racism and sexism.

Raising Awareness

Travel is for personal growth and enjoyment and is vital in raising awareness of many social, environmental, and political issues today. When we travel to other parts of the world, we learn about other ways of life, challenges, and perspectives. This can help us understand the world’s complexity and its inhabitants’ interconnectedness. For example, when we visit a developing country, we can develop a better understanding of poverty and inequality. Visiting an area affected by climate change can give us a better understanding of the problem’s urgency. Visiting a place where human rights are violated can help us better understand the importance of protecting those rights.

Travel Has Changed a Lot in the Last Century

Travel has changed dramatically in the last century and continues evolving with technology and globalization.

The most apparent changes are the advances in transportation that make it easier and faster for people to get around. Planes, trains, automobiles, cruise ships, busses, and other forms of transportation have opened the world to domestic and internationally travelers.

Travel has continued to evolve over the past century. With more people traveling, the need for convenience and comfort is more significant than ever. That’s why airlines have invested in technologies that allow travelers to book tickets online, check in remotely, and even print their boarding passes at home.

Travelers also have more options than ever before when it comes to accommodations. Hotel chains, Airbnb, and hostels offer accommodations for every budget and need, making it easier for travelers to find a place to stay that fits their needs and budget. There are also new forms of transportation, such as ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, which make getting around much more straightforward,

Technology has dramatically changed how we travel over the past 100 years. From steamboats and hand-drawn carts to planes, trains, and cruise ships, there is now an incredible range of transportation options for travelers.

Access to travel has also become much easier in the last century for people of all classes and income groups. Only those with enough money could travel in the past – today, even people on a tight budget can discover new destinations.

Travel is much more affordable in the last century. A hundred years ago, it was too expensive for most people to travel far from home. Today, airfares have dropped significantly, and budget airlines offer cheap flights, making it possible for almost anyone to travel.

Airfares have dropped dramatically over the last century, drastically changing travel over the last 100 years due to technological, transportation, and globalization advances.

The invention of the airplane was one of the most significant changes in transportation, as it allowed people to travel long distances in less time. Airplanes have made international travel much more accessible and affordable, making long-distance travel a reality.

How I Imagine Traveling in the Next 100 Years

I envision travel evolving over the next 100 years in response to new technologies and changing social and environmental conditions.

First, I believe that transportation technology will continue to improve, making travel even faster and more efficient. Electric and autonomous vehicles may become commonplace, reducing emissions and increasing safety.

We will see the development of new sustainable technologies such as vertical gardens, floating cities, and eco-friendly accommodations.

It is also possible that new forms of transportation will be developed, such as high-speed trains and hypersonic aircraft, which will make travel even faster and more convenient.

In addition, I believe space travel will become more feasible and accessible, allowing people to travel to space for recreational, research, and other purposes.

I envision airplanes being perceived like buses once space travel becomes a luxury item, as airplanes were in the 20th century.

Second, I believe technology will make travel increasingly accessible and sustainable. Virtual and augmented reality technologies could be widely used, allowing people to experience different places and cultures without leaving home. Sustainable tourism will become more mainstream as more people become aware of their travels’ impact on the environment and local communities.

Finally, travel will continue to play an essential role in promoting global understanding, peace, and harmony among people of diverse backgrounds.

With the rise of technology and globalization, we will see a greater exchange of ideas, cultures, and perspectives between people from different parts of the world. We may also see the development of new types of travel that promote cultural exchange and understanding, such as cross-cultural travel, language learning programs, and educational travel.

In summary, travel will evolve over the next 100 years in response to new technologies and changing social and environmental conditions. Transportation technology will become more efficient and sustainable, technology will make travel more accessible, and travel will continue to play an essential role in promoting global understanding and peace, and harmony among people of all backgrounds.

Alternative to Physical Travel

As the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, I also believe virtual travel using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will become an increasingly popular way to experience new places and cultures without leaving home, much like the movie Ready Player One by Spielberg.

Virtual reality technology will allow people to be fully immersed in a virtual environment, making them feel like they are in another place. This technology can create virtual tours of famous landmarks, historical sites, and natural wonders.

VR can also create virtual reality experiences such as visiting ancient ruins, exploring the ocean’s depths, or even traveling into space and imaginary worlds, meaning our virtual destinations will be endless!

Augmented reality technology, on the other hand, will allow users to overlay virtual elements on top of the natural world, making it easier to share our surroundings with our loved ones without traveling physically.

Virtual and augmented reality will also give travelers a more personal and interactive experience. For example, using virtual and augmented reality, travel companies can create customized virtual tours catering to their customer’s interests and preferences.

I have had a few virtual experiences, such as visiting the set of a favorite movie or exploring backstage at a favorite concert, and I have to say, it’s fantastic!

Virtual and augmented reality can enhance the educational aspects of travel by allowing students to explore different parts of the world, and they will promote conscious and responsible tourism.

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For those intrigued by the transformative journey of travel over the last century, you may find these articles equally fascinating:

• Explore the evolution of automobiles at How Cars Have Changed Over 100 Years .
• Delve into technological advancements with How Has Technology Changed in the Last 100 Years .
• Understand the global impact of the telephone at How Did the Telephone Change the World .
• Discover the profound influence of the printing press in The Social Impact of the Printing Press .

These readings offer a comprehensive view of the inventions and innovations that have reshaped our world in the past century.

Mobility, Migration and Transport pp 79–102 Cite as

Mobility in History Through the Lens of Transport

• Colin G. Pooley 6  
• First Online: 22 March 2017

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Migration History ((PSMH))

All mobility requires some form of transport, whether that be human powered (walking, cycling), animal powered, or driven by steam, oil or electricity. All forms of transportation also make demands upon the environment through which they pass: competing for road space, requiring management and in the case of most non-human powered transport polluting the environment. There is much research on transport history but for the most part it remains separate from studies of migration and mobility. This chapter explores the benefits of greater interaction between these fields of enquiry, examines some of the ways in which planners and policy makers have sought to manage transport and travel over time, and considers the implications that this has both for the environment and for social equity.

• Transport infrastructure
• Transport technologies
• Travelling to school
• Travelling to work
• Travelling for leisure
• Transport planning

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To get a flavour of the range of research see the Journal of Transport History: https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal-of-transport-history/journal202520

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Pooley, C.G. (2017). Mobility in History Through the Lens of Transport. In: Mobility, Migration and Transport. Palgrave Studies in Migration History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51883-1_4

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Dramatic changes in transportation during the Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution was a time of great transformation in Britain. Not only did it see the growth of factories and the rise of new, powerful businessmen and entrepreneurs, but it also saw a radical change in the way that people traveled around the country.

In this article, we will take a look at how traditional transport methods were replaced by canals, roads and railways during the Industrial Revolution.

Traditional transport

Before the Industrial Revolution, people could only travel over land by using their own two feet, or by using animals such as horses or donkeys.

Alternatively, they had access to basic wheeled vehicles, such as carts and wagons.

This meant that journeys could take a very long time and were often quite difficult.

In addition, it was only possible to transport small amounts of goods at any one time.

However, most roads were no better than simple dirt tracks. When it rained, traveling was significantly slowed, and it limited the number of goods people and horse-drawn carts could carry without getting stuck.

Due to the slow speed of these means of transport, most people never traveled more than a few miles from their homes.

This meant that people in different parts of the country were very isolated from one another and that it was difficult for goods to be transported long distances.

Canal Mania

The Industrial Revolution saw the development of canals as a means of transporting goods around the country.

Canals are man-made waterways that are wide enough for boats to travel down.

They were first developed in France in the early 1700s, and soon spread to other parts of Europe.

Many businessmen saw canals as a way of boosting trade and expanding their businesses.

As a result, many canals were built during this time, including the famous Bridgewater Canal, which was completed in 1761.

Canals could carry much more cargo than traditional methods, and they could do so much more quickly.

The growth of canals during this period was fueled by Canal Mania, a term which refers to the enthusiasm for canal building.

In Britain, canal building exploded during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

A period of intense building, known as 'canal mania', occurred in the UK, peaking in the 1790s.

This was when a large number of canals were built, often by private companies who hoped to make a profit from them.

Many of these canals were not very successful, and some ended up going bankrupt.

However, some canals became very popular and played an important role in transporting goods around the country.

Development of new roads

As well as canals, the Industrial Revolution also saw the development of new roads.

Roads were built in order to transport goods from factories to ports, and to connect different parts of the country.

Toll roads, or turnpikes, existed in Britain from at least the 17th century.

The first major new toll road in Britain was opened in 1727 on  a road between London and Bath, which charged people money for using it.

Roads became increasingly important during this time, as they allowed businessmen to transport their goods more quickly and easily than ever before.

One of the most important changes in road building was the creation of 'turnpike trusts'.

A 'turnpike trust' was a group of businessmen who were responsible for building and maintaining roads.

They raised money by charging people to use the roads and used this money to pay for the construction and upkeep of the roads.

The first turnpike trusts were established in Britain in the seventeenth century, and their number grew rapidly.

George Stephenson developed the first modern steam train in the 1820s and by 1830, his new locomotive, called the 'Rocket', was operating between Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 

Several inventors contributed to the development of the steam locomotive before Stephenson, including Richard Trevithick who built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive in 1804.

The first commercial railways were built in Britain in the 1820s. These early railways were called plateways because they consisted of iron plates that ran along the ground.

They were used to transport goods from place to place and proved to be very successful.

The first public railway was opened in the northeast of England in 1825. It was built to carry coal from the mines near Darlington to the city of Stockton.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway was not solely dedicated to carrying coal ; it was also used to transport passengers, making it the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives.

Then, the first dedicated passenger railway line was opened in 1830, and it quickly became popular with passengers traveling between London and Manchester.

The height of railway expansion in Britain took place in the 1840s and 1850s. This was a time when many new railways were built, including the London to Birmingham railway line.

By 1860, there were more than 9000 miles of railway track in Britain, and this number continued to grow rapidly in the years that followed.

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Then and now: 9 ways travel has changed over the past 25 years

Take a step back in time....

Disposable cameras, postcards, and a bulging carry-on bag: all were key elements of travel back in 1993, a year that also saw the release of our first-ever DK Eyewitness Travel Guide.

To mark our 25th anniversary and to coincide with the relaunch of our DK Eyewitness series , let’s step back in time and look at how drastically vacations have changed since 1993.

Travel was less frequent

While today, low-cost airlines allow us to take vacations on the cheap, back in 1993 these affordable flights were few and far between.

Now, across the board, flights are less expensive than they were 25 years ago, especially with carriers like Norwegian and WOW Air connecting the US to Europe, Iceland, Asia, and beyond. Plus, traditional airlines have begun to offer much more competitive prices, too. And once across the pond, traversing Europe need not cost more than a $10 lunch, thanks to now-ubiquitous Ryanair and easyJet routes.

Flights are also much more abundant, something which partly accounts for an almost 300 per cent increase in the number of overseas trips taken by travelers since the early 1990s. The profusion of available flights has also changed the way we travel. Rather than the two-week-long “Big Trips” of the 1990s’, short breaks and one-week jaunts now reign supreme.

Travel was simpler, but less independent

Still at a nascent stage, the internet was unknown to most earthlings back in 1993. So, amid such Neanderthal days of information-underload, holidaymakers visited shop-based travel agents for help with trip-planning. Today, the mind-boggling array of data at our disposal enables wholly-independent travel experiences, from finding the cheapest flights on Skyscanner to researching Lisbon’s best restaurants on TripAdvisor. But such a wealth of information can be overwhelming—that’s where travel guides come in handy, cutting through the cacophony of online information and providing expertly curated, local advice.

It was all about the tick-list

Immersive travel—cooking classes, local-led tours, street-art safaris—is very much a contemporary craze. Rewind to the 1990s and the focus was largely on seeing specific sights, rather than a desire to really get under the skin of a destination. And while tourists today remain keen on admiring those bucket-list sights, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Rome’s Trevi Fountain, so equally do we hanker to unearth a more authentic side to a city or country. That’s why, in our brand-new DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, we not only include must-see sights, but blend this with local, insider advice on the best experiences a destination has to offer.

Destinations differed

One of 1993’s hottest destinations? Cambodia. Post-Khmer Rouge, the country and its magnificent Angkorian temples were opening up to visitors. Tourist numbers have subsequently soared by over 30,000%, a number indicative—if on the higher end—of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and South American destinations’ market growth during the past quarter-century. Some European destinations have also seen an influx of travelers. In 1993, Eastern European countries were only just opening their doors. Fast-forward to 2018, and Prague, Budapest, and Warsaw are some of the continent’s hottest destinations, while Croatia is now firmly on most people’s bucket lists. Most of these new destinations would have seemed decidedly offbeat back in 1993, a time when European classics like France and Italy held near-total sway.

We kept in touch with postcards

Whether in Cambodia or Cannes, 1993’s vacationers typically mailed postcards to friends or families. That, or they made long-distance calls with shaky connections from complicated phone boxes. Keeping in touch is a cinch for us 21st-century travellers, though; communication is near-instantaneous via applications like Skype and WhatsApp, everyone has a smartphone, and WiFi’s always on offer. Postcards are still sent—and still take yonks to arrive; some things really do never change—but have since assumed a retro charm.

Accommodation was limited

If you told a friend in 1993 that your trip-base was a local’s pad, they’d have figured you meant a holiday let. Such properties, along with hotels and B&Bs, were pretty much the extent of mainstream travel accommodation back then. But Airbnb and its numerous imitators have subsequently changed everything. Now, not only can you stay in bonafide local homes, but also in bonafide local windmills, wagons, boats, lighthouses, and even lorries.

People took fewer photos

Remember relatives taking you through their holiday shots? Remember rationing and carefully taking your disposable camera’s 20-odd unalterable snaps? Such was travel photography in 1993, a pursuit punctuated by tedious trips to get negatives developed. Yet soon, along came dinky digital cameras, the internet, and finally smartphones, devices whose excellent lenses and high-storage potential today allow for photos galore—and for immediately sharing these images via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Your carry-on bag was bursting at the seams

In 1993, travelers had to cram plane tickets, boarding passes, travelers checks, and bags of local currencies into their carry-on, as well as lugging around any novels you might want to read on the flight over. Life is simpler—and lighter—now. For one thing, we’re no longer weighed down by local currency: a proliferation of global ATMs and free-to-use-abroad bank cards mean we can grab cash on the go—and, since 2002, the euro has simplified Eurozone currency, too. Tablets also allow us to read books digitally, while phones host all our e-tickets and boarding passes. Here at DK Travel, we’ve taken note of this lighter approach to travel. That’s why our updated DK Eyewitness Travel Guides now come in a smaller, lightweight format that will easily fit easily into your backpack.

You could smoke while flying

Smoking on planes had yet to be completely banned by 1993, as some carriers retained cabin sections for tobacco-toking. British Airways took until 1998 to fully outlaw cigarettes at 45,000 feet; by 2000, almost all other airlines had joined them. Today it’s rare to find a city bar where one can puff away, let alone a jumbo jet.

A (very brief) travel timeline from 1993 to now

– DK launches its first-ever DK Eyewitness Travel Guide, covering London

– Eurostar launches as the Channel Tunnel opens between Great Britain and France

– Southwest Airlines issues the first e-ticket

– Low-cost airline easyJet is born

– The Schengen Arrangement pioneers border-free travel around Europe

– Expedia’s advent initiates the reign of travel price-comparison websites

– British Airways completely bans smoking across all flights

– Duty-free sales end within the Eurozone, a nail in the booze-cruise coffin

– In Japan, smartphones enjoy mass adoption within a country for the first time

–The euro enters into circulation

– Facebook debuts

– Google Maps takes atlases online

– Double-decker Airbus A380s arrive in the sky

– Amazon’s Kindle is the first e-reader to achieve widespread commercial success

– The age of Airbnb begins

– Instagram starts making David Baileys of us all

– Metro Bank begins offering a credit card which is free to use abroad

– International tourist arrivals surpass 1 billion globally for the first time

– To guard against overtourism, Venice moves to prevent new holiday accommodation from opening in its historic center and Machu Picchu starts capping visitors

– DK Travel turns 25 and relaunches its bestselling DK Eyewitness Travel Guides

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KS1 Topics: Travel and transport

BBC Teach > Primary > Cross-curricular resources > Travel and transport

This cross-curricular collection of videos on the topic Travel and transport follows 8-year-old Rian and his Aunt Maya on a journey around the world.

In each episode they explore a different mode of transport including animals, wheeled vehicles, boats, trains, flying machines and possible future modes of transport.

1. Awesome animals

Rian and Maya set off, learning as they go how animals have been used throughout history for transport.

2. Wonderful wheels

A journey through the UK in an electric car with Rian and Maya finding out about wheeled transport.

3. Brilliant boats

Rian and Maya travel by sea to the continent of Africa and look at the history of boats.

4. Fantastic flying machines

Rian and Maya travel through Africa in a hot air balloon and learn about different forms of air travel.

5: Tremendous trains

On a train journey across India, Rian and Maya learn about the history of rail travel.

6. The future of transport

Maya and Rian are in Australia, where they travel in a driverless car to a 'Future of Transport' exhibition.

Travel and transport: 'Sails, rails, wheels and wings!'

This cross-curricular collection of videos allows KS1 / 1st Level pupils to learn about different modes of transport and why they are used and to see how transport and travelling have changed over the years.

The videos also introduce some key geographical skills - such as using maps and a compass - and feature the stories of some lesser-known adventurers from diverse backgrounds, including Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the world; African American explorer Matthew Henson, who may have been the first person to reach the North Pole; and Annie Londonderry, the first woman to cycle round the world.

The journey begins in the North Pole and ends in Australia, as Maya and Rian are setting off for the South Pole. On their journey the information they consider falls into the following curriculum areas for KS1 / 1st Level:

• Geography: the four points of a compass and how to find out which direction you are travelling; the four nations of the UK; maps of various parts of the world.
• History: comparing early cars and bicycles to modern cars and bicycles; well-known types of boat from history such as Viking longboats, Egyptian reed boats and European galleons; the history of flight; the invention of the steam train, the expansion of railways in the UK and the contribution of George and Robert Stephenson.
• PSHE: how seatbelts and helmets can keep us safe; what speed limits are and why we have them.
• Science: how electric cars work using a battery; how a steam engine works.

Teachers' notes

Download / print notes for the series (PDF)

• Blacklane Blog

How air travel has changed over the past century

While it sometimes feels as though the golden age of flying has ended, the truth is that air travel today is as good as it’s ever been..

It’s easy to feel nostalgic for the 60s and 70s when air travel was still a novelty. The cocktails were free-flowing and flying was a special event, with passengers donning suits and mink coats for the occasion.

You could arrive at your departure gate mere minutes before boarding to take to the skies in a comfy, spacious seat with plenty of legroom. Airlines today are even capitalizing on this nostalgia, bringing back classic paint jobs for aircraft to invoke a feeling of old-school glamor.

While we may no longer enjoy certain creature comforts that were once commonplace on board, the trade-offs are well worth it. Flying is much more affordable compared to a few decades ago and with faster and more frequent routes, we have better flying options than ever before.

We’ve summarized a few of the ways in which air travel has changed over the past century, from the beginnings of commercial aviation through to today, where more than 100,000 commercial flights are completed on average worldwide each day .

The role of the flight attendant

Whether they’re performing a safety briefing, checking you’ve buckled up, or serving you a snack, flight attendants have always been an important part of air travel. What’s not commonly known is that back in the 1920s when commercial air travel was just starting to take off, the role of the flight attendant was quite different.

During this period, the general public was not used to the idea of flying and for many, the concept was unfamiliar and frightening. By 1930, in a bid to make passengers feel safe, United Airlines started employing registered nurses who were stationed on-board. It was their job to calm passengers and put them at ease with regards to the perceived dangers of flying.

By the 60s and 70s, air travel had become widely accepted as a safe and convenient mode of transport and a medical background was no longer a requirement for flight attendants. The job had morphed to include the role of hostess. Flight attendants were almost exclusively female, serving food and drinks, and making sure guests were safe and had a good time.

Job descriptions issued by airlines at the time certainly wouldn’t fly in 2019. A leaflet from British Overseas Airways Corporation from 1965 listed its requirements for flight attendants, which included a “neatly proportioned figure” and “pleasing appearance”. In addition, applicants had to be single and aged between 21 and 27. Flight attendant uniforms were often figure-hugging and restrictive, worn with high heels, and accompanied by strict rules regarding hairstyles and makeup.

Airlines often boasted the good looks of their air hostesses , using it as a marketing strategy. Braniff Airways used the tagline “Does your wife know you’re flying with us?”,while Pan Am asked “How do you like your stewardesses?”.

Thankfully, the role of the flight attendant today is much more inclusive, a result of shifting attitudes and the introduction of equal opportunity employment. More and more men are taking on the role, and although there’s still plenty to be rectified with regards to workplace gender equality, the rules around uniforms and appearance for women are loosening.

Female cabin crew for British Airways won the right to wear pants instead of a skirt in 2016 and as of March, Virgin Atlantic dropped mandatory makeup for female cabin crew .

Service was five star

The 1950s and 60s were considered the “golden years of air travel”. The world’s economy had largely recovered from World War II, and households had more money to spend on travel and leisure. While flying was still very expensive and considered a luxurious mode of transport, it was becoming an increasingly attainable option for the upper and middle classes.

Food and drinks served on-board reflected this luxury status and were a far cry from the bland fare that often gets served up today. Although to be fair, some airlines are starting to offer higher quality options to their passengers.

Those flying with National Airlines in 1968 from Miami to San Francisco enjoyed a smorgasbord of culinary delights during their flight. Guests were served elaborate cocktails such as the Florida Flip and the Orange Blossom, alongside hors d’oeuvres and a chilled shrimp mignonette. The main course was Chicken Kiev or filet mignon with salad and vegetables, followed by key lime pie and french pastries for dessert.

Guests dressed to match the five-star service they received on board. Three piece suits were commonplace and women dressed to impress in high heels and fine jewelry. Flash-forward to today and flight attire is geared more toward comfort with track pants, trainers, and comfy sweaters. Even sleepwear is a go-to option for some.

Seats used to be much roomier

Do you ever get the feeling as your buckling up, that your legroom is shrinking? Your concerns may be justified, as its well documented that airlines have been shaving inches off seat widths and seat pitch over the last 30 years.

As a result of increased competition, airlines are squeezing more and more customers onto flights in order to make a profit while still offering affordable ticket prices.

Last year, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was ordered by a U.S. court judge to look into the matter of shrinking seat sizes, after an advocacy group raised the issue. According to the group, airline seats had been steadily decreasing in size over the past 30 years, with the average economy seat pitch, the distance between your seat and the one in front, shrinking 10 centimeters over the past four decades, from an average of 35 inches (89 cm) in the 70s, down to a cramp-inducing 31 inches (79 cm) today.

A new U.S. bill was passed in 2018 as a result, to prevent airlines from shrinking their seat width and pitch beyond their already ,meager proportions. However, the legislation states that seats on U.S. passenger flights only need to be safe, not comfortable, meaning we’re stuck with pint-sized economy seating for the foreseeable future.

Plane routes could take days

If you think the 23 hours of flight time it takes to get from London to Sydney today is hard to stomach, then consider the equivalent route 70 years ago.

Commonly referred to as the “kangaroo route” , the journey from London to Sydney in 1947 took an incredible four days, which included four stops for refueling and two overnight stays on land. By the time passengers arrived in Sydney, they had spent a total of 55 hours in the air and had transited through Darwin, Singapore, Calcutta, Karachi, Cairo, and Tripoli. A return ticket wasn’t cheap, costing £650 GBP, which was more than twice the UK average wage at the time.

Thankfully, air travel is now faster, cheaper, and more convenient. Technological advancements have allowed planes to fly at higher speeds and for longer periods without refueling. Today, you can fly the kangaroo route with a single stopover, costing you as little as £700 GBP ($920 USD) for a return fare.

Airport security was basically non-existent

If you’re a frequent flier, then you’ll have wasted a fair few hours dealing with airport security. Passing through metal detectors and full-body scanners, carefully placing all your liquids into a clear plastic bag, and waiting patiently for your bag to be scanned often takes up precious time.

Security levels weren’t always this stringent. If you were flying domestic in the U.S. during the 50s and 60s, basically all you had to do was turn up less than 30 minutes before your scheduled departure and directly board your flight. You didn’t even have to show ID!

Things started to change in the 70s after the U.S. experienced a sharp increase in hijackings. Between the years of 1968 and 1972, an incredible 130 American planes were hijacked and rerouted to alternate destinations. Pilots were instructed to fully comply to prevent hijackings from turning violent. As a result, metal detectors and luggage screening were introduced, making it harder for passengers to smuggle weapons on board.

Although airline security continued to tighten from the 70s onwards, the high level of airport security we have today is a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Promptly after the tragedy, a security manifesto was drawn up by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, to ensure a similar attack could never be repeated, and the rest of the world quickly followed suit. The extra time we spend clearing security may seem like a hassle, but it’s thanks to these processes that we enjoy safe and carefree air travel today.

Grace Catherine

Grace is a freelance writer and digital project manager from New Zealand currently based in Mexico City. She is an avid traveler who loves destinations with an eclectic history, a bike-sharing scheme, and plenty of cool animals.

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Ships Were The Cheapest Way to Travel Internationally

Unless you were a millionaire of some sort, ship travel was how most people got anywhere a century ago. And it wasn't a quick journey either. On average, a transatlantic journey would take about 5 to 10 days.

Remember that these times can vary significantly depending on the specific circumstances, and modern transatlantic voyages are considerably faster due to advances in technology and ship design. Today, a typical transatlantic cruise can be completed in about a week, and a non-stop flight from Europe to North America takes just a few hours.

Planning on Cross-Country Travel? Get On a Train

Train travel 100 years ago, in the early 1920s, was an essential and popular mode of transportation, especially for long-distance journeys. Some towns sprung up around their train stations.

Traveling by Train - A Lifestyle

The train usually carried with it a series of cars. There were cars specifically for passenger seating, dining, and even sleeping.

Train schedules were very well established. Occasionally, there were delays because of maintenance or accidents, but for the most part, they ran on time. Train schedules were also the reason time zones exist today.

Some Delays Were to Be Expected

During Prohibition in the US, the trains were randomly searched in case they might be carrying booze. Since these checks were random, there was no telling if your train would be delayed because of a surprise inspection!

A Few People Could Afford Automobiles

These days, cars have all the comforts of home, and some that home may not have. It's easy to think that it's always been this good, but that's not strictly the case.

Automobiles in the early 1920s were still relatively new and not as widespread as they would become in the following decades. Many of these vehicles were quite different from modern cars, with designs often featuring large, exposed engines, open-air cabins, and rudimentary suspension systems.

Getting Lost While on the Road?

There was no such thing as GPS, so you either had to know where you were going or get a map. Road maps would be massive pieces of paper with the roads drawn in. If you were on the road, you had to figure out where you wanted to go and which turn would get you there.

Cars Weren't Very Comfortable or Reliable

Roads themselves weren't the smooth, well-paved things we drive on today. Outside of the city center, most roads were dirt. And since car suspensions were stiff, you'd feel like you rode a horse to get to where you were going.

Since you'd usually be driving in off-road conditions, you'd need to repair and maintain your car often. You didn't have a car dealership to take it to for servicing since most of them just sold you the vehicle, and it was up to you to maintain it. That meant doing all the repairs yourself.

What About Safety?

Safety wasn't anyone's concern back then, either. "Airbags" didn't have a meaning to 1920s motorists. The car bodies were constructed out of steel and made to be rigid. That was good news for the car if you were in an accident but bad news for you.

They also weren't very fast either. The average speed of a car a hundred years ago was 40-45 miles per hour (65-70 km/h). Performance cars like those on racetracks were faster, but not by much.

The Alternative Was the Horse-Drawn Carriage

Cars were called "horseless carriages" because they came after carriages with horses attached to them. In the 1920s, cars had already become fixtures on many urban streets. Out in the countryside, however, people still had horse-drawn carriages.

Carriages have several drawbacks compared to cars of the day. Their suspension was even worse than the cars in 1920. They were noisy, and you had to take care of the horse or else it'd die, and replacing a horse was expensive.

Didn't Anyone Use Airplanes?

Airplanes were only just becoming an acceptable form of transport. Commercial air travel as we know it today was in its infancy. The Wright Brothers had flown for the first time less than two decades before, so this was new territory for everyone.

While airplanes were used for military purposes and short-distance mail delivery, passenger air travel was not yet common. There were very few airlines or commercial passenger services. The use of airplanes for travel was primarily for adventurous individuals, air shows, or aviation enthusiasts.

A Very Rudimentary Way to Travel

Airplanes of that era typically had open cockpits, meaning passengers and pilots were exposed to the elements. There were no pressurized cabins or climate control systems like we have today.

This was the wild west in terms of air travel. There weren't any formal booking systems. You just sort of showed up and paid the pilot, then hopped on board for your flight. It wasn't a comfortable one either. There were no cushioned seats, no pressurized cabins, and the noise of the engines was the only thing you could hear for the entire flight.

Going From One City to Another

Today, airports are massive structures, sometimes air-conditioned, offering shops and restaurants at every turn. A hundred years ago, airports were more like glorified garages.

Not that you could really go too far in those days, either. Charles Lindbergh wouldn't make his historic transatlantic flight until 1927. If you were taking a plane in those days, you only went from city to city.

Taking a Bus Was Still An Option Within City Limits

Today, we are familiar with Greyhound Buses, which cross state lines and make it easy to go anywhere in the country. In 1920, you were limited to where a bus could take you.

Buses of the era were often bare, converted trucks or large automobiles with wooden or metal bodies. They lacked modern amenities, such as air conditioning or comfortable seating. Passengers would experience a noisier and more rugged ride compared to current buses.

What About the Subway?

Subways were limited to a few cities during the 1920s. Chicago, Boston, and New York City all had subways, but they were significantly different from what you know the subway as today.

They were still noisy and crowded, and you'd use coins or tokens to pay for your trip. If you needed information on a train, you'd have to go to the information booth and ask them about it. If you were lucky, they'd know and tell you. Sometimes, however, you didn't know.

Subways - A Real Adventure

Convenience wasn't a significant consideration during the Roaring 20s, and subways didn't have things like access ramps. There weren't a lot of things to do at the terminal aside from waiting either. Sometimes, they might even cancel your train because of low demand and tell you to catch another.

Travel in Comfort and Style in a Dirigible

If you had money to splurge on it, the height of luxury and style was to take a dirigible for long-distance travel. They were faster and safer (some argued) than ships. They were far more expensive than other methods of travel.

Unlike airplanes of the time, dirigibles were quiet, their cabins were luxurious, and they combined the best parts of fast travel with the comforts of home. Some dirigible flights were designed as sightseeing excursions, allowing passengers to see famous landmarks and scenic vistas from the air.

Dirigibles - a Thing of the Past

Sadly, dirigibles dropped off in popularity after a few massive disasters. By the time they were suffering from these issues, modern air travel had risen to take their place. They never recovered; now, they're remnants of a past that we can only see in black-and-white photographs.

Travel Today Is Cheap and Convenient

Travel in the past was a completely different matter than it is today. With all our travel documents easily accessible and tickets available online, it's a simple matter to just go somewhere.

It's a lot easier to make it around the world in 80 days today than it ever was in the 1920s!

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'Flying feels different': Here's how air travel has changed recently

If you haven't flown in a while, fasten your seatbelts. I've got good news – and bad news.

You've probably already heard the bad news because it travels faster than the speed of sound. Airfares are up. So are luggage fees. And we seem to have a problem with in-flight violence again. 

But there's more to the story, and if you're an occasional air traveler, you'll want to get the big picture. You might be surprised by what you find.

Check out   Elliott Confidential , the newsletter the travel industry doesn't want you to read. Each issue is filled with breaking news, deep insights, and exclusive strategies for becoming a better traveler. But don't tell anyone!

First, the bad news about air travel in 2024

Some of the changes have not been for the better. For example:

• Airfares are climbing. Cheap pandemic airfares are history. Average domestic roundtrip fares fell to a low of $186 in May 2020 . But they were back up to $261 by the beginning of this year – and they continue to climb.
• Checked baggage fees are soaring. All of the major airlines have recently raised their baggage fees. On domestic flights, a checked bag may cost as much as $35 (more if you wait until the last minute or your bag is overweight). 
• Air rage is back. In-flight air rage hit record highs in 2021, mostly because of masking requirements. But the number of violent in-flight incidents remains high – this time, a combination of fuller flights and a continuing decline of civility. We're on track to exceed 2020's unruly passenger incidents.

But don't despair. The air travel experience is changing in small ways – and, potentially, in big ways.

What's it like to fly now?

Let's start with the air travel experience itself. Flights are fuller and space is tighter than ever. In fact, if you're flying somewhere this spring or summer, you should congratulate yourself. You're probably part of the busiest year in the history of air travel.

"Air travel has rebounded," said Jason Block, CEO of WorldVia Travel Group . That puts a squeeze on regular passengers. If you've booked a no-frills economy ticket, you may face a higher risk of being bumped from your flight. So if you have a little extra money, Block suggests buying a more flexible ticket. You're still not bump-proof, but at least you'll move up the list.

▶ Smile for the TSA : The passenger screening experience is different but not necessarily better. The Transportation Security Administration has new scanners that take your picture to verify your identity. New technology might allow you to keep all your belongings in your bag and speed up screening – "might" being the operative word. 

"The process is more inconsistent than ever," said Andy Abramson, a frequent traveler and a communications consultant from Las Vegas. "Procedures change from airport to airport. In some cases, all you need is your boarding pass. In others, you need your ID, and in others, nothing but your facial scan."

Air travel smells worse than ever. Here's how to fix it.

Pay less to fly: New strategies for finding cheap airfares now

Speaking of technology, many air travelers have raved about new onboard Wi-Fi capabilities. Airlines like Air New Zealand, Emirates and JetBlue include the price of Wi-Fi in their tickets, and the connections have just gotten better since the pandemic. 

▶ Your face is your boarding pass : The TSA isn't the only one using facial scans. Some U.S. airlines have started using facial scans instead of boarding passes. It's a little bit of an adjustment for passengers. 

"I stood awkwardly in front of a camera, feeling like a contestant in a dystopian game show," said Chris McGuire, a real estate broker from Birmingham, Ala.

A few months ago, Frankfurt became the first airport in Europe to fully adopt facial recognition . Other airports, including Tokyo and Dubai, also have face-scanning technology. If you haven't flown in a while, you may not have to fumble for your boarding pass before you get on the plane. 

I've used face-scanning technology on many occasions, and it usually works, but it can be slow. Getting through customs in Santiago, Chile, took a while and the agent kept apologizing for the technology. So don't forget to pack your patience.

▶ No more ticket change fees : Airline ticket change fees disappeared during the pandemic on U.S. airlines. So if you have to change your flight, you won't have to pay a $250 fee on top of any fare difference.

"That's one of the most significant changes," said frequent air traveler Bob Bacheler, who is the managing director of Flying Angels , a medical transport service. "Airlines introduced more flexible booking and cancellation policies, allowing passengers to change or cancel flights without heavy penalties"

Bacheler thinks the fees will return eventually, and he's right. If they do, airlines will call them something else – maybe a "convenience" fee?

▶ You may board your flight differently : "Some airlines are implementing new boarding procedures," said Andy Palacios, vice president of growth and strategic partnerships for App in the Air . The most significant is United Airlines, which last fall began boarding economy passengers with window seats before those with middle and aisle seats.

Palacios recommends avoiding the general boarding mayhem by getting a credit card or earning elite status. Anything that gets you into the first boarding group can save you from having to gate-check your carry-on or just getting stuck in a crowd.

▶ You have new rights, too : If something goes wrong on your flight, you may find that your airline will do more for you. That's because the Department of Transportation (DOT), which regulates airlines, has been applying steady pressure on domestic airlines to improve customer service. (After all, taxpayers bailed out the airlines during the pandemic.)

Airlines now offer guaranteed meals, accommodations and ground transportation to and from a hotel when they're at fault for a cancellation. (You can find out about all your rights on the DOT's Fly Rights website.)

The government is working on carving out more rights for air travelers, dealing with everything from more straightforward and honest pricing to minimum seat size. But it's a work in progress.

Air travel may be about to get better. Here's what it means for your next flight.

Passengers want to get off the plane first. Here's how you can do it.

Flying 'feels different' now

Passengers say it feels like something has shifted when it comes to air travel.

"Flying feels different," said Robert Khachatryan, a frequent flier and founder of a freight forwarding service in La Crescenta, Calif. 

He's correct. It's not just that customers have a few new rights or that the technology is getting an upgrade – or even that boarding is a little different. 

There's a sense that something big lies just ahead. With people like Elon Musk teasing a Tesla that can fly and personal flying vehicles making headlines almost every day, there's a feeling that flying is about to evolve in a significant way.

Air travelers have become disenchanted with commercial air travel, with its high fares, fees, long lines and terrible customer service. And the relief may not come from new rules to protect the rights of air travelers but from a fundamental change in the way we fly. 

So if flying feels different to you now, just wait. You ain't seen nothing yet.

This is the first of a two-part series on the future of air travel. Next week: Flying cars. Yeah, we're going to go there.

Christopher Elliott  is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded  Elliott Advocacy , a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes  Elliott Confidential , a travel newsletter, and the  Elliott Report , a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can  reach him here  or email him at  [email protected] .

Watch CBS News

How to travel around the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore: A look at the traffic impact and alternate routes

By Rohan Mattu

Updated on: April 1, 2024 / 8:13 AM EDT / CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early on the morning of March 26  led to a major traffic impact for the region and cut off a major artery into and out of the port city. 

Drivers are told to prepare for extra commuting time until further notice.

Alternate routes after Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

Maryland transit authorities quickly put detours in place for those traveling through Dundalk or the Curtis Bay/Hawkins Point side of the bridge. The estimated 31,000 who travel the bridge every day will need to find a new route for the foreseeable future. 

The outer loop I-695 closure shifted to exit 1/Quarantine Road (past the Curtis Creek Drawbridge) to allow for enhanced local traffic access. 

The inner loop of I-695 remains closed at MD 157 (Peninsula Expressway). Additionally, the ramp from MD 157 to the inner loop of I-695 will be closed. 

Alternate routes are I-95 (Fort McHenry Tunnel) or I-895 (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel) for north/south routes. 

Commercial vehicles carrying materials that are prohibited in the tunnel crossings, including recreation vehicles carrying propane, should plan on using I-695 (Baltimore Beltway) between Essex and Glen Burnie. This will add significant driving time.    

Where is the Francis Scott Key Bridge? 

The Key Bridge crosses the Patapsco River, a key waterway that along with the Port of Baltimore serves as a hub for East Coast shipping. 

The bridge is the outermost of three toll crossings of Baltimore's Harbor and the final link in Interstate 695, known in the region as the Baltimore Beltway, which links Baltimore and Washington, D.C. 

The bridge was built after the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel reached capacity and experienced heavy congestion almost daily, according to the MDTA. 

Tractor-trailer inspections

Tractor-trailers that now have clearance to use the tunnels will need to be checked for hazardous materials, which are not permitted in tunnels, and that could further hold up traffic. 

The MDTA says vehicles carrying bottled propane gas over 10 pounds per container (maximum of 10 containers), bulk gasoline, explosives, significant amounts of radioactive materials, and other hazardous materials are prohibited from using the Fort McHenry Tunnel (I-95) or the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895).  

Any vehicles transporting hazardous materials should use the western section of I-695 around the tunnels, officials said. 

• Francis Scott Key Bridge
• Bridge Collapse
• Patapsco River

Rohan Mattu is a digital producer at CBS News Baltimore. Rohan graduated from Towson University in 2020 with a degree in journalism and previously wrote for WDVM-TV in Hagerstown. He maintains WJZ's website and social media, which includes breaking news in everything from politics to sports.

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Premier League apologises as Tottenham vs Nottingham Forest moved because of train strikes

The Premier League has apologised after moving Tottenham Hotspur ’s home clash against Nottingham Forest forward by a day due to train strikes.

The league fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had originally been scheduled to get underway on Monday April 8 at 8pm, but has been moved forward by 26 hours to get underway at 6pm on Sunday April 7.

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The change comes following the announcement of train strikes on both the London tube and national railways on the original date of the fixture.

There is planned industrial action and substantial travel disruption expected across the rail network scheduled for Monday April 8, with the decision taken following the recommendation of an emergency Safety Advisory Group (SAG) meeting.

Premier League ‘apologises unreservedly to fans’

In a press release on Thursday evening, also shared by Nottingham Forest, the Premier League said: “The Premier League apologises unreservedly to supporters of both clubs, and all those affected, for the inconvenience and disruption caused by this late fixture change.

“The change has been made due to matters beyond the League’s control, namely the decision to implement rail and tube strikes on Monday 8 April and the subsequent reduction in available travel services.

“This has resulted in the local authority’s Safety Advisory Group determining that it is not possible to stage the match with the required levels of safety for attending fans.”

All original tickets will remain valid for the fixture, with Tottenham adding they will “shortly be contacting all ticket holders to outline options if they are no longer able to attend”.

Tottenham’s statement added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to fans by this fixture amendment, which has been made for reasons beyond the club’s control.”

Spurs planning exits for key scouts as part of staff restructure

When are the train strikes?

Members of the ASLEF trade union, which includes London tube drivers, plan to walk out on Monday April 8.

This is the same day that National Rail operators are also planning to strike, with travel chaos likely as a result.

Tottenham have said the planned strikes mean only one of the six train stations that service the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be operating normally due to the industrial action.

When has the Premier League postponed matches over transport strikes?

Transport strikes forcing postponements of Premier League matches are rare, but there are several previous examples.

In the 2022-23, season, Brighton ’s home match against Crystal Palace — originally scheduled for Saturday September 17 — was postponed due to train strikes.

The league said at the time that “exceptional circumstances” of the planned walkout of rail workers would leave no public transportation for fans for that fixture, which was later staged on March 15.

That same September 17-18 matchday in 2022 saw two further fixtures postponed due to policing shortages around the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Manchester United ’s home match against Leeds United and Chelsea ’s game against Liverpool were both postponed until 2023 due to those shortages.

A decade previously, Arsenal ’s Premier League home fixture against West Ham United , originally scheduled for December 26 2012, was postponed to January 23 2013 due to industrial action by London Underground staff.

That followed a similar incident in the 2011-12 season, when Arsenal pushed back their home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers by 24 hours to December 27 due to a strike by London Underground tube drivers.

(Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)

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Colin Millar is a Staff Writer for The Athletic. Prior to joining The Athletic, Colin was European Football writer at Mirror Football. From Belfast, he is the author of The Frying Pan of Spain: Sevilla vs Real Betis, Spain’s Hottest Football Rivalry, and he can be found on Twitter/X: @Millar_Colin Follow Colin on Twitter @ Millar_Colin

Maps of the April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

By Jonathan Corum

On April 8, the moon will slip between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow across a swath of North America: a total solar eclipse.

By cosmic coincidence, the moon and the sun appear roughly the same size in the sky. When the moon blocks the glare of the sun, the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, will be briefly visible.

Below are several maps of the eclipse’s path as well as images of what you might experience during the event.

Where Can I See the Total Eclipse?

The eclipse will begin at sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, then cut through Mexico and cross the United States from Texas to Maine. Most of North America will see a partial eclipse, but viewers within the deepest shadow — a band sliding from Mazatlán, Mexico, to the Newfoundland coast near Gander, Canada — will experience a total solar eclipse.

Percentage of

the sun obscured

during the eclipse

Indianapolis

Little Rock

San Antonio

Viewers inside the path of the total eclipse may notice a drop in temperature , a lull or shift in the wind , the appearance of bright planets in the sky, and the quieting of birds and other wildlife.

Many cities lie inside the path of the total eclipse, as shown below, the width of which varies from 108 miles to 122 miles.

20% partial eclipse

NEWFOUNDLAND

SASKATCHEWAN

Fredericton

Minneapolis

San Francisco

90% partial eclipse

Los Angeles

Mexico City

EL SALVADOR

Explore our interactive cloud outlook for eclipse viewing times and average cloud data at your location.

What Will I See?

A composite image of the 2017 solar eclipse over Madras, Ore.

Aubrey Gemignani/NASA

If the sky is clear, viewers in the path of the total eclipse should see a “diamond ring” effect a few seconds before and after the total eclipse, as the edge of the sun slips in and out of view.

The “diamond ring” effect during the 2017 solar eclipse.

Rami Daud/NASA, Alcyon Technical Services

The sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, is normally hidden by the sun’s glare. These tendrils and sheets of gas, heated to a million degrees Fahrenheit or more, are in constant motion and shaped by the sun’s swirling magnetic field.

The sun’s corona during the 2017 solar eclipse.

The sun is relatively active this year and is nearing the expected peak of its 11-year solar cycle . Researchers at Predictive Science are using data about the sun’s magnetic field to predict and model a dramatic corona for the April eclipse.

A prediction of how the sun’s corona might appear during the April 8 total eclipse.

Predictive Science

What Colors Should I Wear?

As the sky darkens, light-sensitive cells in human eyes become more sensitive to blue and green hues than to reds and oranges. This shift in color perception is known as the Purkinje effect , after a 19th-century Czech scientist, and is typically seen at twilight.

Watching the 2017 total eclipse at Southern Illinois University.

Andrea Morales for The New York Times

To take advantage of the Purkinje effect, wear green clothes or a contrasting combination of greens and reds. Blue-green colors (shorter wavelengths) will appear brighter, while red colors (longer wavelengths) will appear to recede into the darkness.

What If I Miss It?

The next two total solar eclipses in the United States won’t occur until 2044 and 2045 . But eclipse chasers might catch one in 2026 in Greenland, Iceland and Spain; 2027 along the coast of Northern Africa; 2028 in Australia and New Zealand; or 2030 across Southern Africa and Australia.

A Total Solar Eclipse Is Coming. Here’s What You Need to Know.

These are answers to common questions about the April 8 eclipse, and we’re offering you a place to pose more of them.

By Katrina Miller

What’s the Cloud Outlook for Eclipse Day? See if History Is on Your Side.

April 8 could be your best opportunity to see a total solar eclipse for decades. But if clouds fill the sky, your shot at seeing the spectacle could be lost.

By Josh Katz, K.K. Rebecca Lai and William B. Davis

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