What advances in transportation took place during the 1800s?The Industrial Revolution

Though a lesser means of long transportation than the
train and steamboat, the bicycle also became an important means of short-distance travel
during the late 19th century. Originating in the early 1800s, the first bike was made of
wood without pedals and was propelled by walking and then riding. Later versions with
the large front wheel were deemed too unsafe and unwieldy, but by the 1880s,
chain-driven bicycles had become highly popular.

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The bicycle was what made the Gay Nineties gay.
It was a practical investment for the working man as transportation, and gave him a much
greater flexibility for leisure. Ladies, heretofore consigned to riding the heavy adult
size tricycles that were only practical for taking a turn around the park, now could
ride a much more versatile machine and still keep their legs covered with long skirts.
The bicycle craze killed the bustle and the corset, instituted "common-sense dressing"
for women and increased their mobility considerably. In 1896 Susan B. Anthony said that
"the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the
world."

Bicycling became so
popular in the 1880s and 1890s that biking organizations were formed. One even lobbied
for better road conditions, "literally paving the road for the
automobile."