A passenger car is a railcar in which passengers ride (The Free Dictionary). The first of this means of transport in Great Britain started operation in the early 19th century as Europe entered the peak of the Industrial Revolution.
This proved to be a great impetus to the economic standing of Britain and powered a growth that would probably have headed in a radically different direction if the passenger car did not commence operations in the country.
As with most engineering novelties in the world, passenger cars brought numerous advantages and disadvantages that shaped the way in which Britain subsequently developed economically and socially.
On the economic front, Britain became the first country to have a rapid mass transportation system, greatly improving human movement.
This made possible the rapid deployment of human resource across the island state, cutting transportation time, and boosting the dispersal or distribution of expertise and goods across the whole country at a lower cost. Bagwell and Lyth (2006) quantified the impact of the enterprise as follows:
Cost of Royal George, £425; number of tons conveyed by her in one year (1828), 22,442 tons over twenty miles; cost of conveyance, one farthing per ton per mile, including all repairs and maintenance, and interest on sunk capital at 10 per cent, £466.
They continued to say that an economy was working which “rarely exceeded at the present day, after a lapse of twenty three years… the cost of the same work performed by horses was £998, showing a difference of £532 in favour of the engine over the animal power” (Bagwell & Lyth, 2006). However, many ethical issues arose that would soon reshape the way that the country functioned.
The first effect that had an ethical dimension was the amount of pollution that passenger cars emitted, affecting both the environment and the passengers themselves, especially the operators of the vehicles. The first passenger cars were steam locomotives powered by coal and the amount of air pollution that these vehicles emitted was so immense that they affected the environment in ways not anticipated (Profillidis, 2006).
On the other hand, the demand for coal soon exploded as many more rail companies sought the commodity to power their cars. This also caused a second effect with miners being sent across the whole country (and eventually, the world), in search of the resource.
Since mining methods at the time were quite crude compared to today, many of the workers who extracted the commodity were subjected to inhuman conditions which often led to serious illness and even death.
A third effect was the outward movement of Britain into the world on a colonising campaign. The search for minerals took on a frenzied pace as new industries came up, in line with the now increasingly available labour and the peaking of the industrial revolution.
Many countries that seemed to have even the smallest amount of mineral resources soon fell under the British ambit, since it could quickly send its people to remote regions in search of whatever was required.
The fourth effect that had a significant ethical dimension was the increase in rural to urban migration. Before the industrial revolution, Britain was a predominantly agrarian economy with most of the population confined to farms scattered across the country (Williamson, 2002).
Travelling was an arduous task and most of the working population orbited near their hometowns as they tried to make a living. The advent of the passenger car cut down the time spent in journeys from several days on foot or horseback to a matter of hours, making it possible for skilled and unskilled workers to seek employment opportunities much further from home while still maintaining their residence.
The biggest ethical issue that arose here is how far the ordinary workers had to push themselves in a bid to earn a living. As far back as the early 19th century, issues of work-life balance were already popping up in British society.
Lastly, railway authorities soon started wondering how to transport passengers. Would their accommodated resemble that of goods and animals or would they need different types of carriages? The classic business dilemma of comfort versus profits soon came to the fore.
In the very first passenger car, the occupants had to stand for the entire duration of the journey, a rather uncomfortable experience for the bumpy and noisy ride. These ethical issues were resolved in a number of ways that as explained below.
The pollution emitted by steam powered passenger cars spurred scientists to create the diesel powered locomotive and finally, the electric cars. They were less harmful to the operators and passengers, and also had higher performance, required less maintenance and incurred lower energy costs.
This development came more than a century after the birth of the steam passenger car, illustrating how difficult the task was despite the pressing need for improvements. As for coal mining, the methods of extraction were gradually improved and mechanised to eliminate the inhuman conditions in which miners worked.
This saw two immediate benefits; a drop in the number of coalmine casualties and a rise in coal output. The precious resource that powered the entire supply chain remains in production today but the methods of extraction have been refined to the extent that it needs less labour to realise the same amount as was required 200 years ago.
The colonising spree that Britain embarked on soon ended as the countries that came under its control adapted its methods and preferred to engage in trade agreements that brought mutual benefits.
At the same time, the industrial revolution that raised Britain to superpower status soon gave way to the information age in which human rights increasingly took on centre-stage, with the subjugation of weaker countries soon losing importance.
The launch of the first passenger car that increased Britain’s hunger for mineral resources and contributed to its colonial tendencies, was soon overtaken by events as developments within and without the country re-shaped the world.
Questions of work-life balance that were precipitated by the industrial revolution and the ease with which manpower could be moved around became so important, corporations started creating entire departments devoted to addressing the welfare of employees.
While industrial revolution era managers burdened their staff with impunity (precipitating Marxism), today’s companies in Britain always have a Human Resource department dedicated to ensuring workers and management are on the same page.
The problem of comfort versus profits was soon resolved when the different rail companies designed passenger cars that had seats and carriages of different classes.
This quickly brought variety into the sector and contributed to the growth of the passenger car as a preferred means of transportation in the country.
Ultimately, the launch of the first passenger car in Great Britain heralded a series of transformations that in some mysterious way worked to improve the general well-being of the society both economically and socially. To this day, commuters feel the positive effects of the passenger car across the length and breadth of the island state.
Reference List
Bagwell, P. S., & Lyth, P. (2006). Transport in Britain, 1750-2000 : From Canal Lock to Gridlock. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
The Free Dictionary. (n.d.). Passenger Car – Definition of Passenger Car by The Free Online Dictionary. Web.
Profillidis, V. A. (2006). Railway Management and Engineering. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing.
Williamson, J. G. (2002). Coping with City Growth During the British Industrial Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.