Noun

passenger (plural passengers)

1. One who rides in a vehicle but is not the driver or part of the operating crew.
2. (falconry) A young hunting bird that can fly and is taken while it is still in its first year.

A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination.

Crew members (if any), as well as the driver or pilot of the vehicle, are usually not considered to be passengers. For example, a flight attendant on an airline would not be considered a "passenger" while on duty, but an employee riding in a company car being driven by another person would be considered a passenger, even if the car was being driven on company business.

Position

• Front passengers are situated near the driver.
• Rear passengers are behind the driver in the back seats.

Railways

In railway parlance, 'passenger', as well as being the end user of a service, is also a categorisation of the type of rolling stock used. In the British case, there are several categories of passenger train. These categories include:

• 'Express passenger', which constitutes long distance and high speed railway travel between major locations such as ports and cities.
• 'Semi-fast express passenger', a type of service that is high speed, though stops at selected destinations of high population density en-route.
• 'Local passenger', the lowest category of British passenger train, which provides a service that stops at all stations between major destinations, for the benefit of local populations.