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Is there a term which is concretely associated with a place for pickup and drop-off (like "taxi stand," requiring embarking and disembarking)?

It must also immediately exclude the "dual" case of generically switching states - terms like "transition" can ambiguously refer to either "the point where you go from one trip segment to another" or "the trip segment where you go from one point to another."

I'm looking for a minimal generalization, like going from "man or woman" to "person."

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    The minimal generalization would be place. ;) To enable us to provide a helpful answer please provide an example sentence where you would use the word.
    – Helmar
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 15:41
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    Bus stop, train station, dock, airport ... but as for a hypernym, I don't think there's a transport-specific one.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 16:09
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    I’m with @EdwinAshworth’s stop. buses, planes, trains, boats can all be said to make stops at various points.
    – Jim
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 16:13

2 Answers 2

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Consider terminal (or the variant terminus), which means:

1 Of, forming, or situated at the end or extremity of something

1.1 Of or forming a transportation terminal

This seems like a pretty apt hypernym of bus stop, train station, dock, and airport.

Further, it might be applicable more broadly to points of pick-up and drop-off, especially if these are fixed points.

The suggestion of stop in the comments above might be an even better one, though. It means:

1.2 A place designated for a bus or train to halt and pick up or drop off passengers.

Notice how this definition explicitly mentions picking up and dropping off passengers. It is commonly used for other types of vehicles as well: for example, boats, planes, and public transit hovercrafts.

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    Or "terminus" (especially rail)
    – Chris H
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 16:41
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It's a modem coinage but the "endpoints" of your journey (or journey segment) would cover it. This still requires the context of a trip, probably explicitly.

An interchange is the point at which you change modes of routes of (public) transport. This may be a UK usage as we don't use it for motorway junctions.

There's a bit of a shortage of specific terms in this area - hence the UK rail use of "station stop" as there are both non-stop stations and non-station stops.

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  • "Station stop" is a solecism born of a desire of guards to sound portentous. "Station" would do just as well, because passengers on a train [not "customers"] are only interested in stations where the train is scheduled to call.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 18:54
  • @Andrew maybe, if so it's spread to the guards ("train managers") who don't show any signs of wanting to make any particular impression, and is now part of the jargon. Not that I want to make a habit of making excuses for train operators, they don't need my help in that.
    – Chris H
    Commented Aug 10, 2016 at 19:32

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