[2] Passenger transportation in the usa

In urban areas of the United States, movements of people between home and work account for about 40 percent of the total number of passenger journeys. Recreational trips* account for about 15 percent of all trips. Automobile riding, for example, is not only a means of reaching a destination but is a popular form of outdoor recreation**. Recreational boating also is popular. Cruise ships have made up the major proportion of ocean-going passenger vessels since jet aircraft became the favored mode of transoceanic travel. The automobile dominates intercity passenger transportation in the United States. It accounts for more than 80 percent of the total passenger miles. No other mode of transportation approaches the flexibility and convenience of the automobile, which provides door-to-door service independent of schedules.

The railroad is no longer a major means of intercity passenger transportation in the United States, though railroad passenger service prospers in much of the rest of the world. As recently as the early 1940s there were more than 20,000 daily intercity passenger trains in the United States. By the early 1970s there were only about 200. Whereas railroads accounted for almost 70 percent of the total passenger-miles by public carrier in 1930, by 1970 they accounted for less than one percent. In 1971 the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, a federal agency that is also known as Amtrak, took over most of the intercity railroad passenger service. Most Amtrak trains operate in the Northeast corridor between Boston, Mass.; New York City; Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.; and Washington, D.C. A large proportion of the New York-Washington service is by high-speed electric trains called Metroliners. There is commuter railroad passenger service in the suburban areas of such large cities as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco. Electric interurban railroads and street railways in cities have almost disappeared.

Intercity buses in the United States serve many more communities*** than do railroads. Using modern expressways, they provide swift service between major cities, though many communities not on expressways now have much less bus service than they formerly had. Air carriers dominate public intercity passenger transportation in the United States. The growth of air passenger traffic has been rapid, increasing from only 14 percent of the total in 1950 to more than 85 percent in the 1980s. Passenger transportation by water carriers in the United States is insignificant except for some ferry services.

Notes: *recreational trip – путешествие (поездка на отдых или экскурсию)

**outdoor recreation – отдых на открытом воздухе

***community – населённый пункт

To be read after Lesson 3