• Finally, and perhaps the most imp

• Finally, and perhaps the most important, motive power is the key element in transportation development. Natural power of horse-drawn carriages and sailing vessels provided the initial energy for transportation. The expansion of steam power provided the opportunity for the introduction of steamships and railways which were such a driving force behind the creation of mass tourism in Europe, while the internal combustion engine stimulated the development of road and air transportation. Finally, jet propulsion enabled air transportation to be competitively priced and gave aircraft speed, range and increased vehicle size. The combination of speed (which allowed the vehicle to make more return trips each 24 hours) and increased vehicle size dramatically reduced operating costs per seat km enabling these savings to be passed on to the consumer in the form of lower fares. Not all technological advances led to increased efficiency. Concorde, which was withdrawn from passenger service in 2003, had relatively poor productivity despite its very high speed, largely as a result of the low vehicle capacity (approximately 100 seats) and was only viable operating predominantly a business service with a premium fare. Likewise the Hovercraft offered high-speed sea crossings but a combination of high fuel consumption and poor reliability in rough weather prevented its development into the mass mode that was predicted in the 1960s.
• Speed of travel has largely stabilised in the last decade with no major technological advances. Naturally the speed for any mode is governed by the interaction of the various components. Cars can move faster than 70 mph (100km per hour) but limitations of the way mean that maximum speed limits are required for the safety of other road users (both car drivers and where there is no segregation pedestrians, cyclist and so forth). The rail industry even more clearly demonstrates the limitations the way imposes on vehicle speeds. Most of the alignment of the UK national rail network dates back to the nineteenth century when they were constructed. While new high-speed rail vehicles have been developed, this technology, pioneered by the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) network in France, cannot be adopted onto existing track due to track alignment and particularly the angle of bends. The solution of matching the vehicle speed to the way is to build a new high-speed rail links, as adopted with the development of the TGV in France and copied in much of Europe including the UK with the opening of the first phase of the high-speed Channel Tunnel rail link in 2003 and the proposals for a new high-speed rail link, HS2, between London and Birmingham by 2025.
• Attempts to run faster trains over existing track is a much more technologically difficult project, although the development of tilting trains, first attempted by the ill-fated advanced passenger train (APT) project in the UK in the early 1980s, is now coming to fruition with Virgin’s Pendolino trains. Amtrak’s attempts to introduce high-speed trains in the US market, where rail has a significantly lower share than Europe, ran into technical difficulties, although the journey time from New York to Boston has been reduced from five hours to four with speeds of up to 150 mph.
• The recent history of transport for tourism is characterised by changes in technology but the emphasis is moving to more environmental considerations. Engine technology has resulted in more fuel-efficient engines helping to reduce emissions, including greenhouse gases (CO2). Car engine efficiency has improved by around 1.5% per annum and the rate of technical progress is accelerating: some governments have further encouraged this by imposing strict new emission regulations on manufacturers for new cars.
• The last two decades have seen quieter engines, particularly in the case of aircraft, where new EU regulations regarding noise emissions are being phased in.
• There are two key factors driving the development of fuel-efficient technology. These include the unpredictability of the cost of fuel. The price of crude oil is volatile, often influenced by specific major incidents:
 In 1973-74, the Arab-Israel War.
 In 1978-79, the Iranian crisis.
 In 1991, the Gulf War.
 War in Afghanistan in 2001.
 War in Iraq in 2003.
• The volatility of oil prices was demonstrated in April 2008 when the price of keresone reached record high levels which generated record losses for airlines despite their attempts to recover some of the increased costs through fuel surcharges. Although the price fluctuates, long-term trends are upward. For example, aviation fuel has become an increasing component of airline operating costs, rising rapidly over recent years from just over 14% of operating costs in 2000 to over 25% in 2007 (Doganis, 2010)
• Furthermore, oil is finite resource. Whilst estimates of the remaining global reserves vary, and oil exploration continues to search for new sources, there is broad agreement that conventional oil will decline between 2020 and 2030 (Becken and Lennox, 2012) with production from non-OPEC countries having peaked. Consequently the price of oil is forecast to rise in real terms as this resource becomes scarcer.
• The second factor is the need to reduce transport’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, particularly CO2. Currently transport in the EU is 97% dependent on fossil fuels (COM, 2009) and the European Commission has set a target for a 10% share from renewable energy sources. The scope to achieve this will differ for different modes of transport but the main options include biofuels and electric propulsion, although the environmental gains from the latter depend on the degree to which electricity generation itself from non-carbon sources such as renewables or nuclear. Rail is clearly a low-carbon option, particularly where electric propulsion is widespread. There remain significant barriers to the mass adoption of electric cars. There are currently only around 1.000 electric cars in the UK with an estimated price of €40.000 for a car with a 300-kilometre range, around double the cost of a conventional vehicle.
• A second barrier to their mass adoption is the continued lack of associated infrastructure, particularly recharging points, and they are not well suited to long journeys, due to their limited range. The bus and coach industry have adopted biodiesel in some countries and there has been some progress in the use of biofuels for aviation. Following an inaugural flight by Virgin Atlantic between London (Heathrow) and Amsterdam in February 2008 where one of the four engines was powered by biofuel manufactured from Brazilian babassu nuts, a number of other experimental flights have been undertaken by Air New Zealand, KLM, Continental and JAL trialling a range of biofuel sources including algae, babassu, switchgrass and jatropha in combination with regular jet fuel. The technology is still in its developmental stage and the cost is high. The longer-term impacts of aviation biofuels will be dependent on its performance during continued trials, the quantities that can realistically be produced and the price once the technology progresses to mass production, although EU has set a target for low-carbon sustainable fuels in aviation to reach 40% by 2050 (COM, 2011)