Transportation – SS2 Commerce Lesson Note (Second Term)

Transportation is one of the aids to trade and a branch of commerce. It is the means by which people and goods are moved from one place to another by water, road, rail or air.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• define transportation;
• state the importance of transport;
• list the major forms of transport;
• describe road transportation, with its advantages and disadvantages;
• describe rail transportation in Nigeria.

Why is transport important?

1. Movement of goods and persons: transportation facilitates quick and efficient distribution of goods in a country.
2. Trade between countries: it encourages trade from one country to another.
3. Improved standard of living: it makes goods and services available at the right time and in the right place, and so improves the standard of living of the people.
4. Employment opportunity: it provides employment for people, enabling them to earn a living.
5. Widening of a firm’s market: transportation extends a firm’s market for the sale of goods and services.
6. Encouragement of international trade: the development of transport by air and sea greatly promotes trading activities between one country and another.
7. Prevention of wastage of perishable goods: a good and efficient transport system ensures the quick distribution of perishable goods to areas where they are needed, and so prevents wastage.
8. Movement of productive resources: a good transport system helps to move productive resources from the areas where they are available to firms where they can be put to adequate use.

What are the forms of transport?

There are four major forms of transport:

1. Transportation by land
2. Transportation by rail
3. Transportation by water
4. Transportation by air

What is land transportation?

Land transportation is the movement of people and goods on land from one place to another. It is the most common means of transport and is mainly used in the home trade. There are two methods of transportation by land:

1. Road transportation
2. Rail transportation

Road transportation

Road transportation is the most common means of transport. It links towns and villages in Nigeria. The means used on roads are bicycles, cars, lorries, tankers, motorcycles, buses, trailers, etc.

Advantages of road transportation

• It is possible to reach all parts of the country by road.
• It is a suitable means of transport for carrying perishable goods.
• It does not require special routes like trains.

Disadvantages of road transportation

• There is usually traffic congestion (hold-up).
• Road transport tends to be slow over long distances.
• The rate at which accidents occur in road transport is high.

Rail transportation

Rail transportation is the second type of land transportation. Trains move on rails, that is, on specially made routes. This type of transport is very slow, but it is less risky than road transport.

Transport by rail in Nigeria is a federal concern under the monopoly of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). Trains are divided into:

• passenger trains, which have first, second and third classes;
• cargo trains, which carry goods.

Evaluation

1. Define transportation.
2. State four importance of transport.
3. List four means of transport used on roads.
4. State three advantages and three disadvantages of road transportation.
5. Which body controls rail transport in Nigeria, and what are the two types of train?

Assignment

1. Explain how a good transport system prevents the wastage of perishable goods.
2. State the two methods of land transportation and give one feature of each.