All spatial flows, with the exception of personal vehicular and pedestrian trips, involve movements between terminals. With these two exceptions, all the transport modes require assembly and distribution of their traffic, both passenger and freight. For example, passengers have to go to bus terminals and airports first in order to reach their final destinations, and freight has to be consolidated at a port or a rail yard before onward shipment. Terminals are, therefore, essential links in transportation chains. The goal of this chapter is to examine the strong spatial and functional character of transport terminals. They occupy specific locations and they exert a strong influence over their surroundings. At the same time they perform specific economic functions and serve as focii for clusters of specialized services.

The first method investigated in this chapter, the Gini coefficient, measures concentration among transport terminals. The second method deals with allocating resources between different facilities to improve the overall efficiency of transport systems.

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