Passenger

A passenger is a person who travels inside a vehicle.

To be a passenger, a person must not be responsible for the tasks needed to operate that vehicle. This means they do not drive the car or pilot the ship. They are also not part of the crew members on duty. For example, a flight attendant working on an airline is not a passenger.

A person working in a ship's kitchen or cleaning staff is also not a passenger. However, an employee riding in a company car is a passenger. This remains true even if they are traveling for business purposes.

Many different types of vehicles can carry passengers. These include common items like bicycles, buses, and cars. People also travel as passengers on passenger trains, airliners, and large ships. Other vehicles include ferryboats, personal watercraft, and all-terrain vehicles. Even snowmobiles can carry passengers. The legal limit for how many people can ride in a vehicle is known as its seating capacity. This number tells operators the maximum amount of people allowed for a trip.

Laws exist in most places to protect people during their travels. These laws dictate the legal obligations of a vehicle owner or a driver. A driver often owes a duty of care to their passengers. This duty is especially important if the passenger provides a benefit to the driver. This benefit might be more than just company or sharing travel costs. In some specific legal situations, guest statutes may limit a passenger's ability to sue a driver after an accident. To keep people safe, many regions require cars to have passenger-side air bags.

For commercial vehicles and vessels, international treaties and national laws require carriers to meet a specific standard of care.

In the transportation industry, experts use specific terms to categorize travelers. A revenue passenger is someone who has paid a transport operator for their trip. This category excludes people traveling for free, such as airline employees on special passes. It also excludes babies or children who do not have their own seat. However, passengers using frequent-flyer mileage awards are usually counted as revenue passengers. This distinction helps companies track their business through specific traffic measures. These measures help them understand their income and their costs.

Companies use math to measure their production and efficiency. They use terms called revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) and revenue passenger miles (RPM).

To find these values, they multiply the number of revenue-paying passengers by the distance traveled. On long-distance buses, trains, or planes, passengers may get on or off at intermediate stops. In these cases, the RPM or RPK must be calculated for each segment to get an accurate total. Airlines can compare revenue passenger miles to available seat miles. This comparison helps them determine the overall passenger load factor.

Sometimes, a vehicle travels without any passengers at all. This is called a "no pax" trip.

You might see a "no pax" or "out of service" sign on a public transit bus. This often happens when a bus is traveling to or from a terminal at the start or end of a shift. For airplanes, a no-pax flight might be a flight used for air cargo or positioning. This means the plane is moving to a new location without carrying paying customers.

In the United Kingdom, the term passenger is also used to categorize types of railway rolling stock. There are three main categories of British passenger trains. The first is the express passenger train. These provide high-speed, long-distance travel between major locations like cities and ports. The second is the semi-fast express passenger service. These are also high-speed but stop at selected destinations where many people live. The third is the local passenger train. This is the lowest category and provides service by stopping at all stations between major destinations.