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star trek - How Common is Same-Planet Transporter Use?


I remember in an episode or two of Star Trek: Deep space Nine, either Benjamin Sisco or his Father used the transporter to travel from city to city, rather casually, while on Earth.


How common is same-planet transport use within the Federation? Do people use it frequently to go from city to city? I could imagine using it to go from San Francisco to London, but would it be used to go from, say, Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, MD, which is only a short distance away?


I don't remember anything in canon that gave any kind of guidelines about just how common transporter usage is while staying on the same planet. For instance, do people use it to commute to work instead of a 20 minute drive? Is it only available, on-planet, to military personell?


Is there anything that indicates where the line is drawn between using a transporter on a planet and travelling in some type of vehicle?



Answer



At least on Earth Transporter Credits are issued to members of starfleet academy. in the DS9 episode "Explorers" Benjamin Sisko remarks that he used up a month's worth of credits very early on beaming home to his parents for dinner every night.


Are they wide spread? We don't know. Memory-Alpha has this to say:




It is not known if they are used elsewhere on Earth.



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