Problems in Attaining an Optimum Ratio Between Long-distance Individual and Public Passenger Transport

Abstract

Were Phineas Fogg to be alive today, with his passion for betting, his health and his riches still intact, he would have no difficulty in completing his journey around the world in eighty hours. He would make extensive use of the aeroplane as a means of public transport and might well make private arrangements for the journey to and from the airport. This would represent an optimum ratio between private and public transportation for his purpose, though naturally a less attractive one than on his first attempt described to us with the vivid imagination of Jules Verne. This reminiscence of past adventures in the world of literature may illustrate the enormous development undergone by long-distance traffic during this century; whether for consumer or business purposes, it has become a mass phenomenon whose significance is reinforced by the increasing international relations that are an essential consequence of an institutionally organised international economy and growing co-operation in the spheres of politics and culture.