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| shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_city_transport [2015/10/06 20:36] – [Public Transport and Mass Transit] Petike | shared_worlds:thick_as_thieves_city_transport [2020/12/17 17:20] (current) – petike |
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| __Horsetrams__ - Horse-drawn, roofed passenger carriages with multiple seating places, windows and plentiful room for standing passengers. Operated by the MMTA. Horsetrams service much of The City's main roads and largest streets on regular routes (horsetram lines), based on regular timetables. Though they're not fast and have to compete with privately-owned road vehicles for hire, such as cabs and taxis, the very low fares make them a fairly popular way to get around Melza. "Hurray for cheapskates !", goes the jokey motto of many a Melzan horsetram driver. | __Horsetrams__ - Horse-drawn, roofed passenger carriages with multiple seating places, windows and plentiful room for standing passengers. Operated by the MMTA. Horsetrams service much of The City's main roads and largest streets on regular routes (horsetram lines), based on regular timetables. Though they're not fast and have to compete with privately-owned road vehicles for hire, such as cabs and taxis, the very low fares make them a fairly popular way to get around Melza. "Hurray for cheapskates !", goes the jokey motto of many a Melzan horsetram driver. |
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| __Omnibuses__ - Historically speaking, a relatively new transportation service in the Melzan state, only founded a few decades ago. Omnibuses are larger carriages, with plenty of seating for a fair few passengers, and quite a plentiful storage space for typical baggage. They are also called "coaches" or "horsebuses". In contrast to horsetrams, they operate outside The City and belong under the company Melzan Baronial Coaches. Much like the more traditional fiacres, omnibuses service the Melzan countryside or international routes to other countries. The big difference is that they travel on regular lines, based on regular timetables, and that they can transport a larger number of passengers, more similarly to a city-bound horsetram. Fares for omnibuses are pricier than for a horsetram or a private cab, but they are also cheaper than passenger train fares, or passenger boat or aircraft tickets. Depending on the distance travelled, the destination and the owner/operator, fiacre services can have fares fairly similar to omnibus fares, making for healthy competition. | __Omnibuses__ - Historically speaking, a relatively new transportation service in the Melzan state, only founded a few decades ago. Omnibuses are larger roofed, enclosed carriages, with plenty of seating for a fair few passengers (some up to 15 or 20 !), and quite a plentiful storage space for typical baggage. They are also called "coaches" or "horsebuses". In contrast to horsetrams, they operate outside The City and belong under the company Melzan Baronial Coaches. Much like the more traditional fiacres, omnibuses service the Melzan countryside or international routes to other countries. The big difference is that they travel on regular lines, based on regular timetables, and that they can transport a larger number of passengers, more similarly to a city-bound horsetram. Fares for omnibuses are pricier than for a horsetram or a private cab, but they are also cheaper than passenger train fares, or passenger boat or aircraft tickets. Depending on the distance travelled, the destination and the owner/operator, fiacre services can have fares fairly similar to omnibus fares, making for healthy competition. |
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| **b.) Rail-based transport** | **b.) Rail-based transport** |
| However, until relatively recently, there was something of a bitter tug-of-war over riverine and canal transport between the city's government authorities and the established local private providers. Though resolved now, it took a while to clear up via various back-and-forth negotiations and deals. The current Melzan government is adamant about avoiding another ordeal like this in the future. Well, as it currently stands, public water transport in the hands of the government includes... | However, until relatively recently, there was something of a bitter tug-of-war over riverine and canal transport between the city's government authorities and the established local private providers. Though resolved now, it took a while to clear up via various back-and-forth negotiations and deals. The current Melzan government is adamant about avoiding another ordeal like this in the future. Well, as it currently stands, public water transport in the hands of the government includes... |
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| __Commuter boats__ - Smaller, usually unmotorised boats for shuttling small numbers of passengers on a few regular lines of the busiest city waterways of Melza. Commuter boats tend to be quite cheap, and their favourable fares often make them compete with some privately-operated punt services ("watercabs"). However, as commuter boats service generally smaller areas of The City than their private competition, they are more rigid in terms of their distance and destination offerings, and thus a bit less flexible. | __Commuter boats__ - Smaller, usually unmotorised boats for shuttling small numbers of passengers on a few regular lines of the busiest city waterways of Melza. <nowiki>MB</nowiki> Waterways commuter boats tend to be quite cheap, and their favourable fares often make them compete with some privately-operated punt services ("watercabs"). However, as commuter boats service generally smaller areas of The City than their private competition, they are more rigid in terms of their route offerings and timetables, and thus a bit less flexible. |
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| __Waterbuses__ - Roofed and motorised larger boats or small ships, used for transporting bigger, moderately-sized amounts of passengers. Functionally, they are almost identical to the commuter boat concept, but they can take quite a lot more passengers aboard in one go, tend to be relatively faster, and venture onto the Melza river itself more often than their smaller cousins. Waterbuses are also rarer in numbers than commuter boats and service less lines. Usually, they focus on the most passenger-intensive lines of the city's waterways. The most common method of propulsion for waterbuses is a high-performance steam engine. MB Waterways has dabbled recently with testing petrol-powered waterbus prototypes, but this is still just an experiment. | __Waterbuses__ - Roofed and motorised larger boats or small ships, used for transporting bigger, moderately-sized amounts of passengers. Functionally, they are almost identical to the commuter boat concept, but they can take quite a lot more passengers aboard in one go, tend to be relatively faster, and venture onto the Melza river itself more often than their smaller cousins. Waterbuses are also rarer in numbers than commuter boats and service less lines. Usually, they focus on the most passenger-intensive lines of the city's waterways. The most common method of propulsion for waterbuses is a high-performance steam engine. <nowiki>MB</nowiki> Waterways has recently dabbled in testing petrol-powered waterbus prototypes, but this is still just an experiment. |
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| __Ferries__ - Something of a specialised boat type. As their name implies, they play a crucial role in shuttling people, smaller vehicles and goods from one bank of the river Melza to the other, since several parts of The City lie on both banks. This makes ferries an invaluable vehicle for hauling varied larger loads across the river in places where bridges would be harder to build, or where there isn't enough clamouring and finances to build a bridge across the river. Predictably, due to the simple role the ferries fulfill, they have short and predictable routes from one bank of the river to the other, usually along a straight line. | __Ferries__ - Something of a specialised boat type. As their name implies, they play a crucial role in shuttling people, smaller vehicles and goods from one bank of the river Melza to the other, since several parts of The City lie on both banks. This makes ferries an invaluable vehicle for hauling varied larger loads across the river in places where bridges would be harder to build, or where there isn't enough clamouring and finances to build a bridge across the river. Due to the simple role the ferries fulfill, they have short and predictable routes from one bank of the river to the other, usually along a straight line. |
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| **d.) Aerial transport** | **d.) Aerial transport** |
| __Fiacres__ - Best described as a countryside iteration of the cab concept, "fiacres" are really a loose umbrella term that encompasses a variety of four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriages. A fiacre is thus more of a business model concept, rather than a specific type of carriage. Individuals and small companies offering fiacre services can be described as the privately-owned counterparts to the public-funded omnibus services. Outside of the more varying fares and each fiacre operator bringing his own touches to his services, fiacres are functionally not much different from omnibuses. However, they do tend to be smaller and cosier, sticking closer to the more traditional image of the long-distance carriage or stagecoach. Like cabs, fiacres have also been around for a lot longer than the government-sponsored omnibuses. | __Fiacres__ - Best described as a countryside iteration of the cab concept, "fiacres" are really a loose umbrella term that encompasses a variety of four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriages. A fiacre is thus more of a business model concept, rather than a specific type of carriage. Individuals and small companies offering fiacre services can be described as the privately-owned counterparts to the public-funded omnibus services. Outside of the more varying fares and each fiacre operator bringing his own touches to his services, fiacres are functionally not much different from omnibuses. However, they do tend to be smaller and cosier, sticking closer to the more traditional image of the long-distance carriage or stagecoach. Like cabs, fiacres have also been around for a lot longer than the government-sponsored omnibuses. |
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| __Bike couriers__ - | __Bike couriers__ - Bicycles are as novel a transport innvoation as early motor wagons, but they have so far seen more limited use in the countryside, due to local roads that are not as well payed. However, in The City, they have found a surprising niche: Enterprising private messengers saved up money, purchased bicycles and started using them for deliveries, faster than ones done on foot. Bicycle couriers in Melza are not that common, but those that already do exist usually ride one-man, two-wheeled bikes and deliver messages, letters and parcels. (They've been successful enough that the barony's postal service is already looking into buying some bicycles for their letter-carriers and postmen, to make their daily errands in The City easier.) A few bicycle couriers have even taken up the recent invention of the velocar as a new business opportunity, and use them now as small, man-powered delivery vans. These are capable of carrying even larger parcels and packages and small cargo crates. |
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| __Horseback and motorbike couriers__ - | __Horseback and motorbike couriers__ - Old and new approaches meet in these two possible options for delivering urgent messages, letters and parcels in the countryside surrounding Melza. As motorbikes are still very rare forms of motorised transport, with only a few such couriers in the entire statelet, one's best bet for fast courier delivery in the rural areas is a horseback courier, a time-tested method used for many centuries. |
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| **b.) Water-based transport** | **b.) Rail-based transport** |
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| | __Narrow-gauge and switchback railways__ - These are outside of the MBR system and are used for freight and economic purposes only, in some parts of the rural mountain regions. Some are still animal-powered, with rail trucks pulled by hardy draught horses, but some have alredy adopted small steam locomotives. These private railways are used to transport logged wood and other forestry materials to local sawmills, charcoal burners, rural forges and workshops. The only major town that connects to these little local railways is Árast Atrav, the main mining town of the statelet. All the other "stations" situated at logging camps and sawmills in the forests or at one of the mountain villages. |
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| | **c.) Water-based transport** |
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| __Punts__ - Also referred to locals by the popular moniker "Watercabs". Small and fairly narrow canal and river boats, they can't carry much in the way of passengers or any actual cargo, but they're good enough if one wants a reasonably fast and especially cheap ride on the available waterways of The City. Watercabs are generally quite analogous to their wheeled, street-bound cousins, really. | __Punts__ - Locals also refer to them by the popular moniker "Watercabs". Small and fairly narrow canal and river boats, they can't carry much in the way of passengers or any actual cargo, but they're good enough if one wants a reasonably fast and especially cheap ride on the available waterways of The City. Watercabs are generally quite analogous to their wheeled, street-bound cousins, really. |
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| __Delivery boats__ - Small, but robust shuttle boats used by various businesses and commercial operations to deliver smaller amounts of cargo from one end of The City to the next, provided there's a waterway for that. Melza being Melza, a lot of delivery boats tend to be used for secret smuggling activities and other cunning criminal malarkey. | __Delivery boats__ - Small, but robust shuttle boats used by various businesses and commercial operations to deliver smaller amounts of cargo from one end of The City to the next, provided there's a waterway for that. Melza being Melza, a lot of delivery boats tend to be used for secret smuggling activities and other cunning criminal malarkey. |
| __Steamboat riverliners__ - Larger passenger steamships operated on the river by all sorts of privately-owned transport ventures, some local, some foreign. Despite the lofty-sounding term for these ships, not all of them are particularly cozy or luxurious. Some of them are bargain-priced and fairly austere in terms of accomodation and onboard services, the cheapest being little more than a rudimentary cabin with a bed and a wash basin. In contrast, the more upscale riverliners offer quite a degree of ritz and comfort to their hard-paying customers. With plenty of the more luxurious riverliners being used as places for business meetings or private rendezvous of wealthy personalities, a thief can find them good sources of intel or potentially priceless loot. | __Steamboat riverliners__ - Larger passenger steamships operated on the river by all sorts of privately-owned transport ventures, some local, some foreign. Despite the lofty-sounding term for these ships, not all of them are particularly cozy or luxurious. Some of them are bargain-priced and fairly austere in terms of accomodation and onboard services, the cheapest being little more than a rudimentary cabin with a bed and a wash basin. In contrast, the more upscale riverliners offer quite a degree of ritz and comfort to their hard-paying customers. With plenty of the more luxurious riverliners being used as places for business meetings or private rendezvous of wealthy personalities, a thief can find them good sources of intel or potentially priceless loot. |
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| **c.) Aerial transport** | **d.) Aerial transport** |
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| __Ornithopter owners__ - Buy a chartered 'thopter flight that suits your needs (or convince a 'thopter's owner to strike a deal with you about giving you one). Be warned, this is an expensive endeavour to sink one's money in. | __Ornithopter owners__ - Buy a chartered 'thopter flight that suits your needs (or convince a 'thopter's owner to strike a deal with you about giving you one). Be warned, this is an expensive endeavour to sink one's money in. |
| __Blimp services and airlines__ - Buy a ticket for a flight on a regular blimp line, or buy a chartered blimp flight that suits your needs. Be warned, this is an expensive endeavour to sink one's money in. | __Blimp services and airlines__ - Buy a ticket for a flight on a regular blimp line, or buy a chartered blimp flight that suits your needs. Be warned, this is an expensive endeavour to sink one's money in. |
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| __//Troika//__ - private aeronav in the ownership of Melzan industralist and scholar Bosvak Zosikan. You might hitch a ride aboard it if you gain old Zosikan's trust and if decides to gather a crew for a particular journey or expedition. | __//Troika//__ - private aeronav in the ownership of Melzan industralist and scholar Bosvak Zosikan. You might hitch a ride aboard it if you gain old Zosikan's trust and if he decides to gather a crew for a particular journey or expedition. |
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| __//Smok//__ - aeronav owned by a band of stateless smugglers-privateers under the leadership of Kirill Aľman. You might hitch a ride aboard it if you gain the crew's trust and they set off for a particular mission/journey. | __//Smok//__ - aeronav owned by a band of stateless smugglers-privateers under the leadership of Kirill Aľman. You might hitch a ride aboard it if you gain the crew's trust and they set off for a particular mission/journey. |
| ==== Source ==== | ==== Source ==== |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=9666953#post9666953|On Land]]** (preliminary, will be replaced) | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-9666953|On Land]]** (preliminary, will be replaced) |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=9666303#post9666303|On Seas and Rivers]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-9666303|On Seas and Rivers]]** |
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| **[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?p=9629605#post9629605|By Air]]** | **[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/1/post-9629605|By Air]]** |
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| ---- | ---- |
| **[[thick as thieves setting and lore#the_city|Setting: The City]]** | **[[thick as thieves setting and lore#the_city|Setting: The City]]** |
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| **[[thick as thieves technology|Setting: Technology of Aporue]]** | **[[thick as thieves technology|Setting: Technology in Aporue]]** |
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| ---- | ---- |
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| **[[Thick as Thieves]]** | **[[Thick as Thieves]]** |
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