This transportation trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and covers every way people and goods get around: the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hills, the Model T rolling off the assembly line, the world's first underground railway, the bullet train, the container ship, the hovercraft and the humble bicycle. It also takes in canals, bridges, roundabouts, traffic lights, seat belts and the escalator, because moving people is about infrastructure as much as vehicles. About a third of the questions are easy enough for a family car ride, a third are pub-quiz medium, and the rest will test transport enthusiasts and engineers. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference page, so you can settle arguments with confidence. Play it in the app or use it to run your own quiz night on planes, trains and automobiles.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Wright Flyer made the first sustained powered, controlled flight in December of which year?
1903
The Wrights flew it four times that day near Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina; the aircraft now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum.
Q 02What was the nickname of the Ford Model T?
Tin Lizzie
Over 15 million were sold between 1908 and 1927; Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth roll off the line at Highland Park, Michigan.
Q 03Which car overtook the Model T as the best-selling car in history in 1972?
Volkswagen Beetle
Production of the Type 1 finally ended at Volkswagen's Puebla plant in Mexico on 30 July 2003, after 21,529,464 cars.
Q 04Japan's first Shinkansen line opened in 1964, shortly before which event?
The Tokyo Summer Olympics
The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began service on 1 October 1964, nine days before the Games opened, linking Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.
Q 05How many passenger fatalities from derailments or collisions has the Shinkansen recorded in over 60 years?
Zero
That record covers more than 10 billion passengers, in a country hit by frequent earthquakes and typhoons.
Q 06The world's first underground passenger railway opened in London in which year?
1863
The Metropolitan Railway ran between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.
Q 07The Johnston typeface used across the London Underground was created in which year?
1916
Edward Johnston's lettering and the roundel remain two of the most recognisable pieces of transport branding anywhere.
Q 08Which country began building the Panama Canal in 1881 before abandoning the project?
France
Engineering problems and a horrific worker death rate ended the effort in 1889; the US took over in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914.
Q 09Ships transiting the Panama Canal are lifted by locks 26 metres up into which artificial reservoir?
Gatun Lake
The lake sits 26 metres above sea level and was created by damming the Chagres River to cut down on digging.
Q 10Which two airlines were the only ones to fly Concorde in scheduled commercial service?
British Airways and Air France
Braniff briefly leased Concordes for a subsonic Dallas–Washington hop from 1979 to 1980, but only the two national carriers flew it supersonically.
Q 11Concorde's regular service speed was capped at what to extend the life of its airframe?
Mach 2.02
Above about Mach 2 air friction heats an aluminium airframe enough to soften it, which is why the design speed was capped where it was.
Q 12Which former bicycle-maker's company, founded by J. K. Starley, later became a British car brand?
Rover
Ball bearings, pneumatic tyres, chain sprockets and tension-spoked wheels were all developed for bicycles before cars borrowed them.
Q 13The Segway self-balancing transporter was invented by whom?
Dean Kamen
It was unveiled on Good Morning America in Bryant Park in December 2001 after months of breathless speculation.
Q 21Which policeman developed the first electric traffic light in Salt Lake City in 1912?
Lester Wire
Two years later the American Traffic Signal Company installed a version at East 105th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio.
Q 22Nils Bohlin developed the modern three-point seat belt for which car maker, which made it standard in 1959?
Volvo
The company famously left the design open for rival manufacturers to adopt, which is why every car now has one.
Q 23Which US president signed the 1956 act that created the Interstate Highway System?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Construction displaced roughly one million people over the next two decades and sparked "freeway revolts" that rerouted several planned routes.
Q 14The Hindenburg burst into flames in 1937 while docking at a naval air station in which US state?
New Jersey
Herbert Morrison's anguished radio report from the Lakehurst landing field was broadcast the next day and became one of the most famous recordings of the century.
Q 15What gas filled the Hindenburg?
Hydrogen
American Airlines had a deal to shuttle the airship's passengers from Lakehurst to Newark to catch connecting flights.
Q 16Which airline put the Boeing 747 into commercial service in January 1970?
Pan Am
The first 747 rolled out of Boeing's purpose-built Everett plant, then the world's largest building by volume, in September 1968.
Q 17Who led the design team for the Boeing 747?
Joe Sutter
He left the 737 programme in 1965 to take on the jumbo, the first aircraft to be called a "Jumbo Jet".
Q 18The Channel Tunnel connects Folkestone in England with which French town?
Coquelles
Queen Elizabeth II and President Mitterrand opened the 50.46 km tunnel in Calais on 6 May 1994, a year behind schedule.
Q 19The Trans-Siberian Railway runs from Moscow to which Pacific port?
Vladivostok
At over 9,289 km it is the longest railway line in the world, and it has linked the two cities directly since 1916.
Q 20The world's first traffic lights, installed in December 1868, stood outside which building?
The Houses of Parliament in London
They were gas-lit and showed red or green at night to spare policemen from directing traffic on Parliament Square.
Q 24In 1956 Malcom McLean loaded 58 containers onto which converted tanker?
SS Ideal X
The ship sailed from Newark to Houston; by 2009 roughly 90% of the world's non-bulk cargo moved in stacked containers.
Q 25Which crossing took the Golden Gate's title as the world's longest suspension span in 1964?
Verrazzano-Narrows
The Golden Gate held the tallest-suspension-bridge title much longer, until Japan's Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in 1998.
Q 26Which French diplomat formed the company that built the Suez Canal, opened in 1869?
Ferdinand de Lesseps
Unlike Panama, the Suez Canal is a sea-level waterway with no locks at all, so seawater flows freely along it.
Q 27Stephenson's Rocket won which 1829 locomotive competition?
The Rainhill Trials
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway staged it to prove moving locomotives beat stationary steam engines hauling trains by rope.
Q 28In which year was Karl Benz's Patent-Motorwagen, considered the first practical car, patented?
1886
His firm Benz & Cie. in Mannheim was the world's first automobile plant and the largest of its day.
Q 29The Montgolfier brothers made their living making what?
Paper
Their first public balloon, flown at Annonay in June 1783, was sackcloth lined with three thin layers of paper.
Q 30Which airline took the first delivery of the Airbus A380 in October 2007?
Singapore Airlines
The full-length double-decker seats about 525 in a typical layout but is certified for up to 853; production ended in 2021.