What sort of public transportation was around to get across Asia, or Europe, or Africa during the medieval times?

Trader caravans.

2) Tamriel is not medieval.

People please stop using the "if you don't like it don't use it argument". This objection has been fully and adequately answered and as yet there has been no serious rebuttal. At least, not on this thread. Obviously the implementation of fast travel forces the pc to either use it or go through the tedious task of walking everywhere. I know, people complain that we want simply to take this away from those who enjoy it. But didn't Morrowind offer a balance? There was fast travel in Morrowind. It simply implemented it in a way that was realistic and somewhat challenging.

Conceder what all it offered: 1) a variety of choices as to modes of travel (that sounds like an rpg to me) 2) strategy as to where to live in order to benefit from a variety of fast travel sources 3) more spells to enjoy and choose from 4) another practical use for the money we work so hard for 5) the strategies of figuring how to travel from place to place with the least difficulty and expense. 6) getting to places without being to easy (fast travel in Oblivion) vs. Getting to places without being to hard (walking everywhere) 7) the logic of big cities being hubs of culture and trade due to a wider variety of fast travel and the realistic story and immersion this subsequently caused. And conversely, it gave the pc the feeling of traveling to small villages as being more exotic and distant.

Just think of even more clever ways to implement fast travel. Spells of teleportation for example. They could even make it to where one can only teleport a short distance from one's location at lower levels and higher level mages to be able to teleport farther. Scrolls for non-mages. I don't know. But anything would be better than the supremely shallow and easy fast travel of Oblivion.

Depends on the timeframe. The templars guarded pilgrims en-route to the holy time. Ships horse drawn carriages... think about it.

My thoughts exactly.

It's a medieval setting, get over it. And seriously, trader caravans were not public transportation.

Since no one else seems to be able to explain this properly I suppose the ball is in my hands...

So, why do we hate fast travel ? Well that is a false question because it is a false statement, at least partially. I am one who belongs in the group that many would consider hate fast travel, however I have nothing against the feature by itself, it′s the implications that follow it that I do not like.

In Morrowind we had a clear sign of developers spending time fleshing around the landscape making it beautiful and epic while allowing us many modes of transportation that added to immersion and the overall feel of the game, we had the silt strider′s, we had boats, we even had many different types of boats, we had telepotation services, we could teleport ourselves to nearby shrines, we could mark a spot to teleport to, everything felt real, deep and well done. Let′s say morrowind was like strawberry ice cream.

Along came Oblivion. If Morrowind was strawberry icecream then fast travel was peanuts, some like peanuts but others absolutely hate them and are even allergic, but Bethesda was determined fast travel (peanuts) was there to stay. So on they went and designed the world, they made it more generated and flat, they made it feel empty, made it feel smaller than Morrowind that was even a smaller landscape by designing Cyrodiil flat and boring, they spread everything out and caves felt more like hobbit holes than caves because the landscape was so flat there was no way you′d enter a cave and go anywhere but down on the first few steps, they scrapped the idea of fast travel, no carriages, less content between points of interest and basically the world was less immersive and imaginable, after all, why make it have the qualities of Morrowind (a strawberry icecream) when their fast travel made that quality redundant if everyone used it(peanuts don′t fit with strawberry) and their Oblivion (chocolate ice cream) was just fine, Oblivion fit perfectly with fast travel (dirty chocolate ice cream may complement and be complemented by peanuts but peanuts don′t serve quality strawberry ice cream no good).

Problem is not everyone wanted fast travel (peanuts), a lot of people hated it so much they never wanted to use it because they wanted immersion (they were allergic to peanuts) and Oblivion was just 2nd hand dirty chocolate ice cream without the peanuts, it wasn′t fleshed out and awesome strawberry ice cream with features that would allow them to play like they did in Morrowind, heck people were outraged that Bethesda could not do something again that they did 5 years ago! (if you own a ice cream factory that makes quality ice cream then don′t change the recipe)

But if we could have both, if Bethesda offered both stawberry ice cream (Morrowind like content for travel and fleshed out environments) and chocolate ice cream with peanuts (still the same fleshed out content with fast travel but those that use fast travel most likely won′t notice or be bothered by it), then everyone would be happy, I would be happy, those who like fast travel would be happy, everything would be nice.

Those that claim they hate peanuts because they can′t resist eating them, but not because the ice cream company (Bethesda) changed their recipe from strawberry to dirty chocolate, don′t hate peanuts as much as they are letting us on. Those that have a valid reason for hating peanuts are those that really just want their strawberry ice cream back.

No it is not a medieval setting.
Medieval takes place on Earth. Medieval times had no magic, no elves, no monsters.

Its a fantastical setting. Tamriel is quite advanced, but they do not use technology because they dont need it.
You dont need gunpowder when you have destruction. You dont need medicine when you have restoration.

There is a huge difference between medieval and fantastical.

Secondly, in earth history it has historically always been safer to travel in groups, most certainly not alone on foot. The majority could not afford a horse.
Boats. Caravans. Carriages if you can afford em.

Taken from http://www.localhistories.org/middle.html

"In the Middle Ages roads were no more than dirt tracks that turned to mud in winter. Men travelled on horseback (if they could afford a horse!). Ladies travelled in wagons covered in painted cloth. They looked pretty but they must have been very uncomfortable on bumpy roads as they had no springs. Worse, travel in the Middle Ages was very slow. A horseman could only travel 50 or 60 kilometres a day.

Some goods were carried by pack horses (horses with bags loaded on their sides) and peasants pulled along two-wheeled carts full of hay and straw.

However, whenever they could people travelled by water. It was faster and more comfortable than travelling by land. It was also much cheaper to send goods by water than by land. Some goods were taken by ship from one part of the English coast to another. This was known as the coastal trade.

The main type of ship in the Middle Ages was called a cog. It had only one sail. Furthermore in the early Middle Ages ships did not have rudders. Instead they were steered by a huge oar on side of the ship. It was called the steer board. Today the right side of a ship is called the starboard. It was originally the 'steer board' side. (When you tied up a ship in port the steer board always faced outwards to sea otherwise it might be crushed between the ship and the quay. The left side of a ship always faced the quay so it was the 'port' side). The rudder was invented at the end of the 13th century.

In the Middle Ages people believed they would gain favour with God if they went on long journeys called pilgrimages to visit shrines. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) wrote the Canterbury Tales about a group of pilgrims who go to Canterbury to visit the burial place of Thomas Becket. They tell each other tales to pass the time."
Pretty much exactly what I said. Carriages. Boats. Caravans.
Also, this isn't Earth. This is Tamriel. What you know of what happened in our time and our progression in civilization has no bearings in TES.

Sorry, mass transportation consisted of feet, and for horses for the wealthy, for the majority of human history. Thinking that there was some sort of network of horse drawn carriages ready to take people around is ridiculous. So is the idea of having a ship waiting in port for one guy to walk up and say "let's go!"

people are stupid is all. theyre just mad cuz they have no self control

Well constructed arguement. Theres no need to post if you actually arnt going to comment on the thread and or present a arguement.

On topic, with fast travel being the only means of transportation means that quests will be built around that idea. Meaning its ethier use fast travel, or walk across the map. We simply would like more immersive ways of traveling such as Morrowinds method.

Our medieval age took place on earth. TES has taken heavy inspiration from human history. To say it has nothing to do with the setting is asinine.

I agree that it is a medieval themed setting, obviously it is influenced.

But, you really have no idea what you're talking about when you refer to the travel in Morrowind as "public transportation."

Public transportation is sponsored by a government, and everyone has a right to use it if they pay for it or qualify for free passage.

In Morrowind (and medieval history) there was no public transportation (that I know of) but there were still plenty of transportation options. The only difference is 1) you would never get a "caravan pass" from the government if you were poor, and 2) you could be discriminated against for being the wrong gender, race, or religion.

So not only should we have fast travel options, but I'd like to see certain caravan leaders, ship captains, or paid guides refuse you service based on who you are. Dark Elf? Not in my group. Woman? Not on my ship. Imperial Cultist? Not riding my horses.

That argument has no meaning.
Of course things are going to be similar. For fantasy to be immersive it can be alien, but not too alien, people have to recognize themselves.
Thank you for calling me asinine

TES is not medieval. TES is fantasy.
To say medieval equals fantasy means I should buy you a dictionary.

There are such huge differences between the two that personally I dont really understand why every time it comes to fantasy there are people who say its medieval.

Medieval is filthy toothless serfs dying at 30 of scurvy, with a few filthy toothless knights dying at 35 of lead poisoning.
Its 500 years of nothing interesting happening except the invention of a better horse collar.
Its cold, damp castles without plumbing, where the human muck got sweeped out once a week. Its mudhuts with a thatch roof with vermin living in it.
Its small pox, rats, ignorance and crusades.

I'm sorry but you really don't know what you're talking about.
TES has no set code to go by based on human/Earthen culture. It's a video game set in a fantastical world. It's not real. You throw fireballs for God's sake. Influences, sure. But no set standard.

I suppose I should have made a tl:dr of my post, I tried to be constructive but it′s not getting half the attention the rage is getting.

What annoyed me about Morrowind (to the point that I ended up putting Scrolls of Windform in my inventory via the console) was the fact that it was just plain slow to run anywhere. Combine that with the fact that most of the second half of the main quest took place in the middle of nowhere (oh and Cliff Racers, can't forget Cliff Racers) made legitimately traveling everywhere just plain not fun.

What they should do in Skyrim is add both Oblivion-style fast travel that can be toggled on and off, and other means of transport that can be used by players who do not wish to use it, things like spells to teleport to major cities, intervention spells, and of course caravan services like Morrowind's silt striders. Then both sides are happy.

I'm not the one who called it public transportation. My refutation to public transportation was because someone was calling for it. Understand?

It's not about immersion (I hate that word...), it's about overall game design. A world designed for you to play god in isn't likely to be especially interesting.

Morrowind had "unreachable" places like Red Mountain, and finding places out in the wilderness without the help of fast travel was part of the gameplay. If you needed to go to an ashlander camp you had to stockup on supplies and make all kinds of preparations. Travelling was costly, as it should be, and by being that added lots of content and gameplay.

Oblivion kept the exploring separate from the quests. It was designed for you to to be able to play without bracing the wilderness.

I don't think that exploring should be it's own reward. What I liked with Morrowind was that I found all kinds of interesting places on the way from one place to another during quests, which I would mark for later investigation. Exploring wasn't a very linear thing, because you ended up in very different places.

When you decided to explore in Oblivion, you just headed out and took the closest ruin. Exploring became a very tedious task, and not only because of the bland dungeon design, but because there was no excitement that you got like in Morrowind when you were surprised to find and unexpected dungeon you just "had to" enter, even though you had other business.

Now I have ranted enough.

So your saying that "ferrymen" didn't work the crossings for profit? Take another long hard look at what your saying and see another post that gives much greater detail. Then think on it some more. Then realize this is a videogame and say "oh these folks have a point" and humbly back out of the argument

I haven't played Oblivion in a LONG time, but if I recall, fast travel was basically clicking on a destination and instantly being transported there, right? If so, whats wrong with having it if all of the other available modes of transportation are also available in the game?

Wow, where did I say ferrymen? And where did I say they didn't work for profit? Nor did I imply so. Read again, then try a better response.

/agree

For those that started in Morrowind, there was no fast travel system. It instead had some travel services. This simply limited where you could easily travel to and made the game feel significantly larger. Since Oblivion lost a lot of false mass and gameplay time (reduced travel time) it felt much smaller. Most would just like a fast travel disabler. Most likely in the .ini so you can't fall into temptation and turn it back on, telling yourself- "just this once"