SURFACE TRANSPORT HISTORY IN THE UK - ANALYSIS AND PROJECTIONS

A comparative analysis is given of the history of the three main forms of surface transport in the UK: the canal, railway, and car/road syst ems. There are common features in each of these systems, in terms of g rowth, technology utilization, and eventual decline. The analysis sugg ests that the era of dominance of surface transport by the automobile is now drawing to an end, and that it is reasonable to expect a new fo rm of transport to come into being, involving new vehicles matched to a new infrastructure, and designed to meet new requirements, notably t he issues of sustainability.