The mobility of passengers and freight has very different spatial dynamics. While passenger transportation primarily concerns short distances, freight transportation spans a wide range of geographies. The majority of passenger mobility is related to commuting, shopping, and recreation. These mobilities are predominantly constrained by the time constraints of individuals unwilling to spend more than 1 hour per day commuting. Only when passenger movements are less bound to time constraints, such as for business and tourism (when an individual has days instead of hours), can their geographical range be extended. A large share of air transportation occurs at the regional level, such as within Europe, North America, and China (flights of less than 2-3 hours dominate). Intercontinental travel accounts for only a small share of air transport activity, albeit an important one. Again, this reflects the unwillingness of most people to commit large amounts of time to travel.
Unlike passengers, most cargo does not have acute time constraints, although some, like perishables, do. This means that the intensity of freight movements varies across a much wider range of geographical conditions. While waste disposal and local distribution (stores and home deliveries) have a limited range, it is at the level of commodity and supply chains (agriculture, manufacturing) that the highest intensity is observed. The substantial volume of goods traded internationally, including energy and raw materials, also matters.
In a global economy, most passenger movements are still bound by a distance/time ratio, but freight movements are more a function of comparative advantages in production. While both passengers and freight movements can span the world, because of the value of time considerations, it is freight transportation that has the highest geographical range intensity.