In my in-progress play, "Sisterly Love," two of the characters are travelling together to visit someone. The type of transportation isn't particularly important to me, so is there one particular type of transportation that's easier to stage, or looks better in a theater, or...I don't know? Or is it easier just having them wait for a bus/train rather than being on one?

Dale

It's really up to your set designer. A train gives you more staging possibilities (characters can get up and walk down the aisle, do business with luggage, etc.). And no one has to mime the stupid steering wheel.

Bicycles and horseback are a bit of a challenge.

Unicycle.

Are there other considerations that can influence the decision, like period or locale or economics? I wouldn't just stick something in there, try to work out a justification, no matter how small. If you want to be somewhat post-modern about it, what fits the character of the scene? Or maybe just the characters? Would one character be afraid of a particular type of transportation or more given to simpler forms? Or perhaps prefer luxury?

Anything is possible given enough money and time, like a helicoptor, a ship, or a locomotive coming on stage. Go for Segues! Maybe you can get a sponsorship!

Joe

What about just communicating the mode in which they are traveling, without actually showing them in the actual car, bus, train, plane, steamboat, etc. Have the dialogue and interaction take place at rest stops, layover terminals, where they stop for coffee, where they eat (breakfast, lunch, or dinner).

I suppose some of this depends on how far they are traveling. Maybe they are just going across town and in order to get all the dialogue in they will have to be caught in traffic.

You don't say how far they're travelling. If it's a long way, and if the time period is "now," then anything other than car, bus, or airplane is going to need some explanation. Only folks on the East Coast are going to be taking a train between cities/states. That is, if the pair is going from Chicago to New Orleans, I can't see them hopping the Amtrak unless there's some special reason; the cost and travel time don't make sense in comparison to air travel. If the pair is lower class, busses make perfect sense, but, like airplanes, they can be a bit cramped for a stage presentation.

You say but it seems to me that in any realistic portrayal of travel, the mode is going to provide interesting dramatic opportunities unique to the mode. Security checkpoints in the airport, rest areas and gas stops for the car--not to mention driving habits, long exposure to travelling companions on the bus, etc.