Why Transportation is a Key Factor when Travel Planning (2024)

After reading the title of this article, you may be thinking, “what is the point of this? Isn’t it obvious that transportation is important when travelling?” Of course, you would be correct since travel does indeed require movement via transportation. 

However, I am not aiming to write about the obvious. Rather an aspect in travel planning, especially in budget travel, that is not highly considered until the later planning stages.

Everyone has a different method when trying to find their next trip. One person may have been wanting to visit their dream city for a while and are set in their decision, while another person may plan their next trip based on a cheap flight deal they found while looking at flights for fun. 

Hearing positive things about a potential destination from friends that have visited or watching enticing videos of different cities online can also help you find your next destination. 

There are so many strategies and avenues of inspiration out there when it comes to travel.

While I always love a good flight deal, this is not what dictates where I want to go to next. The one key factor that I consider when looking for my next destination is ease of transport and walkability within the city.

It’s easy to fly into a city and rent a car, take taxis everywhere, or use a ride share service such as Uber or Lyft to take you around. Any of those transportation options are simple and take a lot of stress off your plate. 

However, they are the least budget friendly transportation options especially in cities where everything is so spread out. Public transportation systems such as buses and trains are often much more economical forms of travel. 

Even cheaper than that is being able to walk to your desired attraction!

When I am doing research on cities I want to visit, I am looking at what public transportation options they have and how walkable the city is. 

Cities like London, Tokyo, and Paris are popular because they not only offer many points of interest for tourists, they also provide accessible transportation options to get there.

My hometown, Vancouver, is also a good example of a city that fits the criteria I am looking for. It is a city that has a core directly connected to the airport via train, a reliable train and bus service within the city, and it is very walkable, especially in the Downtown area.

This method of thinking helped me determine which Mexican city I wanted to visit a few months ago. While Cancun is a popular destination for vacationers, I decided to go to Playa Del Carmen. Why? There were 3 reasons I considered:

i)                    Did I want to explore a city or relax in an all-inclusive resort? I wanted to explore.

ii)                   How connected the airport was to each city: While you do fly into Cancun International Airport, you likely need to take a taxi or shuttle to get to your hotel/resort in Cancun. To get to Playa Del Carmen, you can take a 40-minute ride into the city centre on an air-conditioned bus. The selling point here is that the bus (ADO) is less than $40 CAD round trip, much cheaper than all other transportation options.

iii)                 How walkable each city was: Ultimately, this was the deciding factor. Cancun is great for resorts, but many of them are isolated in one area of the city. On the other hand, Playa Del Carmen is a very walkable city, with everything you need close to the city’s core.

For the example above, since both cities did not have reliable train options, I instead looked at bus options, then walkability. 

The walkability factor for Playa del Carmen made our trip so much better because we could step outside from our Airbnb and walk directly to our destination rather than waiting for a taxi.

Everyone has their own reasons for travelling, and different strategies when it comes to it.

 If your method works for you, then great! If you’re having trouble finding a city, you can try what I do and prioritize walkability and transportation options within the city to decide your next destination. 

This is what I did, and it has helped me cut down on transportation costs and visit cities I didn’t think I would ever visit. Happy travelling!