Bureau of Transportation and Conveyance
The Illuminatia Bureau of Transportation and Conveyance (BTC) is the agency of the Illuminatian government responsible for building, maintaining, funding, and regulating the usage of public transportation infrastructure, including roadways, railways, seaports, airports, spaceports, bridges, tunnels, aerial tramways, zip-lines, funiculars, and mass transit systems. The scope of the BTC's responsibility extends to infrastructure utilized for personal, commercial, and industrial use. The BTC's systems accommodate both human-powered and mechanically-powered locomotion.
The BTC is a major contributor to Illuminatia's urban and civic planning philosophy that strongly prioritizes mass transit and human-powered transportation over individual personal motorized transport.
Within the Bureau of Transportation and Conveyance, the Office of Synchronized Transportation (OST) oversees Illuminatia's Automated Terrestrial Traffic Instruction and Control System (ATTICS), a universal control and communication system that coordinates and automates the movement of motor vehicles and rail traffic on a ubiquitous network of roads and rail routes, the use of which is restricted to fully-automated vehicles.
The Bureau of Transportation and Conveyance oversees the licensing of vehicle operators and the registration or vehicles operating upon public infrastructure. This oversight is not limited to motorized vehicles, as the BTC also licenses and registers human-powered devices.
Personal motor vehicle ownership is highly unusual in Illuminatia—as is licensure for the operation of a personal motor vehicle. Ownership and usage of a personal motor vehicle is essentially limited to rural areas far outside major metropolitan centers. In fact, in most urban areas, it is highly illegal to conduct a motor vehicle for personal use, as such a practice is considered to be a wasteful burden on the general public as well as a significant danger. In these urban areas, only professional drivers are allowed.
Unlike motorized ground transportation, personal non-motorized vehicles such as bicycles, tricycles, and quadracycles are in common usage in all cities. A majority of the populace achieves licensing for human-powered vehicle operation, as such licenses are relatively easy to acquire. However, generally only people who conduct motor vehicles for employment in commercial transportation or mass transit services find it possible to undertake the expensive and lengthy process of acquiring motor vehicle licensure.
The majority of mechanically-powered vehicles using BTC-controlled infrastructure are powered by electricity thanks to the continent's extensive electrical distribution system and Illuminatia's advanced development of battery technologies. However, some vehicles are powered by compressed gasses and spring loading. Vehicles powered by internal combustion or external combustion of any sort, including the burning of non-renewable fuels, are prohibited in Illuminatia, in the interest of public health.
Air travel is tightly regulated by the BTC and is not nearly as popular as ground-based mass transportation thanks to Illuminatia's highly efficient high speed vactrain and maglev train transportation system. Air travel, like all other non-human-powered transportation in Illuminatia, is accomplished using only renewable energy sources.