Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
The truck wheels that lift off the road
When a truck isn't hauling a crushing load, leaving all its tires on the pavement just wastes rubber. A drop-axle lets drivers casually hoist an entire set of…
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Venice replaces ordinary buses with boats that splash through brackish canals
Forget paved roads and reliable tires. Venice decided long ago that public transit should consist of cramming agitated people onto floating platforms and…
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Why New York taxis are yellow
It turns out basic science doesn't always deeply account for aesthetic nausea. In 1915, businessman John Hertz excitedly read a dubious university study…
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Seattle's fast ferries get pedestrians across Puget Sound before coffee gets cold
If you don't have a car, there is zero reason to take the slow boat. These high-speed catamarans blast across the sound, violently churning the water so…
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Why everyone faces the elevator doors
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder while silently facing a metal door is the peak of human compliance. Anyone who dares to face the back of the cabin immediately…
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Reindeer hooves change with the seasons
Imagine your shoes automatically changing treads based on the weather. In winter, the footpads shrink to expose sharp hoof rims for gripping ice, but in…
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Why a broken escalator still works as stairs
If you've ever sighed dramatically because an escalator was out of order, you are fundamentally misunderstanding the genius of its existence. Unlike an…
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An empty bottle can save money at the airport
The ultimate frugal travel trick is just bringing a worthless piece of empty plastic through the checkpoint. Security agents will wave you right through,…
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Motorcycle taxis sometimes carry live goats
If you thought balancing your groceries on a moped was hard, try riding through rough terrain with three live goats strapped to your back seat. These…
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Catamarans stay upright with two separated hulls instead of a heavy underwater keel
Why bother dragging a heavy lead keel underwater when you can just make your boat incredibly wide? By utilizing two thin, separated hulls, catamarans achieve…
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Crossing an airport runway can end with armed guards
Taking a casual shortcut across the expansive concrete where massive jets land is the absolute worst idea possible. You will instantly trigger a massive…
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A tractor’s three-point hitch lifts attached equipment off the ground to clear obstacles
Simply dragging a plow behind a machine is deeply inefficient. The three-point hitch connects equipment at two lower arms and one upper link, creating a rigid…
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Why rickshaws took over Japan’s narrow streets
The idea of paying a man to physically run down the street dragging you in a two-wheeled wooden cart didn't exist until the late 1800s. It was a massive hit…
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Some first-class passengers can be turned away for dressing casually
If you manage to score an elite upgrade on certain high-end foreign carriers, do not show up in your comfortable sweatpants. They maintain strict sartorial…
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Roller skate wheels flex when you lean to make you turn
Unlike an inline blade where you physically tilt the entire frame, classic quad wheels sit on a specialized pivot block. When you push your weight to one…
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Mantle convection moves tectonic plates by circulating hot, semisolid rock
Deep underground, the planet is running a painfully slow, high-pressure lava lamp. Mantle convection cells involve superheated semi-solid rock rising toward…
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Parallel parking is secretly a geometry problem
Wrestling your sedan between two bumpers on a crowded street is a precise mathematical formula involving turning the wheel completely at strict angles.…
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Why elevators started playing music
Nothing distracts the human mind from the unnatural terror of dangling in a metal box quite like a smooth jazz rendition of an 80s pop song. In the 1920s,…
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Why hovercraft skirts keep tearing
Floating majestically on a literal cushion of air requires trapping that air with a giant, flexible fabric curtain hanging around the edge of the vehicle.…
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Overhead bins are built to withstand heavy impacts
Those flimsy-looking plastic doors are deceivingly robust. They are engineered to hold back hundreds of pounds of violently shifting luggage during extreme…
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Vatican City can legally sail under its own flag
Despite being a tiny landlocked enclave inside Rome, the papal state technically holds the right to operate its own naval vessels. They don't actually have…
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The ship fuel that's almost solid at room temperature
Nothing says modern eco-efficiency like an engine powered by asphalt's ugly cousin. The massive diesel engines in commercial container ships run on bunker…
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New York's abandoned subway station beneath City Hall
Leave it to New York to build an architectural masterpiece and then immediately let it rot in the dark. The original City Hall subway station opened in 1904,…
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Canes and walking sticks must pass through the X-ray
Even if you literally need it to remain upright, your trusty mobility aid is going straight into the scanning machine. Security trusts absolutely no one, not…
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