History Main / TubeTravel

* The UsefulNotes/BBCMicro game ''VideoGame/{{Pipeline}}'' had this as the way to cross the {{Pipe Maze}}s, though you had no control while passing through the pipes.

* A frequent method of travel in ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}.

* ''VideoGame/FZero X'' and GX have levels where you are in a tube, and on the outside of a tube.

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[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* In Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/SkylarkSeries'', the largely-aquatic humanoids of Dasor use systems of pipes filled with rushing water as their mass transit system.
* Creator/JulesVerne's ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury'' describes submerged tubes which carry groups of people across the Atlantic.
** Verne and his son Michel Verne would later write ''Literature/TheDayOfAnAmericanJournalistIn2889'', which also describes trans-Atlantic tubes, and mentions them as going faster than "aero-trains".
* In Albert Robida's ''Literature/TheTwentiethCentury'', pneumatic tubes are ubiquitous throughout the society of the 1950s. Tubes have replaced railways, the mail service, and even supermarkets - goods are distributed directly to your home, and companies compete on different prices for "on-tap" food, much like power and water.
* In Edward Bellamy's ''Literature/LookingBackward'', tubes are the primary method of transferring goods worldwide in the year 2000.
* In ''Literature/DocSavage'', Savage's skyscraper is linked directly to his hanger on the Hudson river by a tube transport system nicknamed the "Flea Run".

* In the Netflix revival of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' the Satellite of Love is tethered to Moon 13 by pneumatic tubes, which suck up Jonah once an episode so he can re-enact his abduction for the title sequence.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Introduced in the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', the warp pipes in the series are iconic. However, in some cases (such as the warp zones) you appear to be [[{{Teleportation}} teleporting]] instead of traveling a path. The latter was never clearly shown in the games until ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', where some levels scroll up or down while Mario is inside the pipe.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' actually lets you control your pipe travel in the Clear Pipe segments by letting you choose your path, usually to dodge enemies. The Clear Pipes also appear in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'', exclusive to the ''3D World'' game style.

* ''VideoGame/ClydesRevenge'' has this starting with the eighth level. It is possible to go through the tubes in both directions.
* A frequent method of travel in ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}.

* Happens in ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'', where Kirby unravels into a single, long piece of yarn and travels through tight spaces in a few levels. You can control moving forward and backwards, as well as move left or right when the path branches off.
* ''VideoGame/DrillDozer'' has many threaded tunnels that require drilling one way or the other to enter and navigate. Defeating the boss of Area 5 involved being able to navigate tunnels within a time limit.

* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' has one, though it isn't important to the overall gameplay. It just there to help you get out of Plantation's water reservoir faster (possibly in case you fall in without the jetpack equipped).
* ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim 2'' had this in the ISO 9000 level, though it looked painful (the entrance was a grinder).
* Happens briefly at one point in ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''. It is built up on more in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'': Tube travel is the main way ''everything'' in Aperture Science gets into test chambers, it is ridiculously inefficient and expensive, and there are so many props in the facility that no one even cares.
* ''VideoGame/Gimmick1992'' has these.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' features the Tunnel Network for the GLA, which involves building separate entrances that are somehow magically connected the instant the Tunnel entrance is completed no matter the distance or location on the map (essentially a teleporter in function). There is also a DummiedOut capturable version called the Cave, and many a GameMod adds it back in.

* Sackbots are transported this way in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet 2''.
* ''VideoGame/CosmosCosmicAdventure'' has these, though it's a bit odd since the pipes look too thin for Cosmo to fit.
* ''VideoGame/FZero X'' and GX have levels where you are in a tube, and on the outside of a tube.

* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' loves this, particularly in the later levels when Ecco is nearing the FinalBoss.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has one of your squadmates do this during TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* ''VideoGame/{{Tinhead}}'' has tubes to travel through in many levels.
* The ''Crazy Castle'' games have small pipes which the player character can travel up and down through, with a bulge.
* The Suction Tubes in ''[[VideoGame/{{Miner 2049er}} Bounty Bob Strikes Back]]''.
* The Eldar in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' can move between Webway Gates; up to ten infantry units can occupy the Webway at any time. The Imperial Guard can do the same with most of their structures, although only one or three units at a time.
* The UsefulNotes/BBCMicro game ''Pipeline'' had this as the way to cross the {{Pipe Maze}}s, though you had no control while passing through the pipes.
* The Rainbow Arts game ''Rock 'n' Roll'' has tubes for the player's ball to travel through.
* ''Metal Morph'' has tubes in the platforming stages. You have to turn into liquid to pass through them.
* ''Film/TheTerminator'' for the Sega CD has a few fast-travel suction tubes, though they only go straight up and down.
* ''VideoGame/StarshipTitanic'' had the Succ-U-Bus, which allows items to be sent across the titular ship.That and one parrot.
* ''VideoGame/QuakeI'' has a map in the third episode named after its titular feature, ''The Wind Tunnels''.
* Season 9 of ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' Battle Royale introduced a network of wind tunnels, which moves players and objects around.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' and ''VideoGame/Portal2'' both feature sequences where the player travels through the Aperture Science complex in tubes intended for the Weighted Storage Cube.
* Season 6 of ''VideoGame/FallGuysUltimateKnockout'' introduces giant clear pipes as a round element, that vacuums up beans and zips them around to somewhere else. They are most prominent in the rounds Party Promenade and the maze-like Pipe Dream.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Satisfactory}}'', the player can build a network of Hyper Tubes between important points of the territory, allowing them to move between places without risking angering the local wildlife.
* In ''VideoGame/OxygenNotIncluded'' you can build a network of transit tubes to let you dupes move rapidly around the base.

* Spoofed in "WesternAnimation/RocketSquad", a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' parody of ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' [[RecycledInSpace set in space]], where the pneunatic tube system provides a bumpy ride for Daffy and Porky, with the latter remarking how people used to use elevators.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' featured tube travel that sucked you up and plopped you where you wanted to go, as part of its {{Retraux}} aesthetic.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has Francine and Hayley working in an office building with a pneumatic tube mail transport system. At one point, a curious Francine sticks her hand in a tube and gets her whole body sucked in, gleefully traveling to its destination.

* ''VideoGame/MrGimmick'' has these.

* ''FanFic/ToTheStars'': Larger human spaceships have FTT, Fast Travel Tubes, a transport network made possible thanks to the ArtificialGravity generators neccesary for such ships, so that diverting a little of their power for transportation didn't cost much.

** ''Sonic3AndKnuckles'' has it in Launch Base Zone Act 2.

** ''Sonic3andKnuckles'' has it in Launch Base Zone Act 2.

* Very common in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' games:
** The 16-bit version version of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' has it in the Chemical Plant and Metropolis Zones.
** [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog28Bit the 8-bit version of]] ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog28Bit Sonic 2]]'' has it in in Aqua Lake Zone Act 2, Acts 1 & 3 of Gimmick Mountain Zone, the entirety of Scrambled Egg Zone, and the last act of the game, Crystal Egg Zone Act 3. For Scrambled Egg Zone, there are several "pipe puzzles" in Acts 1 & 2; only one puzzle in act 1 can dump you into spikes, but several puzzles in Act 2 have spikes under them, the last of which you cannot escape if you fail there. There are three pipes in the final stage; the first one takes you to the FinalBoss, the second is needed to hide from Robotnik's attacks, and the third is behind Robotnik and can be entered after you destroy his machine, which takes you to the finish line and Tails.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' has the Tube Transport System. In one episode, it malfunctioned and launched Fry into a wall.

** Verne and his son Michel Verne would later write ''The Day of an American Journalist in 2889'', which also describes trans-Atlantic tubes, and mentions them as going faster than "aero-trains".
* In Albert Robida's ''The Twentieth Century'', pneumatic tubes are ubiquitous throughout the society of the 1950s. Tubes have replaced railways, the mail service, and even supermarkets - goods are distributed directly to your home, and companies compete on different prices for "on-tap" food, much like power and water.

* In ''Franchise/DocSavage'', Savage's skyscraper is linked directly to his hanger on the Hudson river by a tube transport system nicknamed the "Flea Run".

* The 1994 version of ''Film/TheShadow'' displays [[UpToEleven a vast and complex network of disguised pneumatic tubes running through New York City]]. This is how the Shadow's cohorts relay messages to Burbank, who relays the messages to the Shadow himself. The novelization explains that Lamont Cranston himself organized their installation, at incredible personal expense.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* In ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Star Blazers,]]'' the underground cities are equipped with "aircars" which zip along through a system of elevated transparent tubes.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fanfiction]]
* In the ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' fanfic ''FanFic/ToTheStars'', larger human spaceships have FTT, Fast Travel Tubes, a transport network made possible thanks to the ArtificialGravity generators neccesary for such ships, so that diverting a little of their power for transportation didn't cost much.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' fanfic ''[[FanFic/StarlightSeries Alpha and Omega]]'', the gym in Jumba's labs has an automated tube system that sends each experiment to their respective changing rooms.
* ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Half-Klingon''. While in the [[Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] program, Tom Paris dives into a vacutube and emerges out the other end in a [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome cloud of dust and household vermin]].
* Being an ''Series/OddSquad'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'' naturally plays this trope straight, with agents using the tubes to get aboveground while agents with clients get to Headquarters a different way. However, it also deconstructs the trope with Otto, who is unable to breathe due to being squished into a ball with his internal organs getting mixed up during the ride, and likes to take a breath of fresh air once he emerges from the tubes and reaches his destination.
** ''[[Fanfic/PatternsOfThePast Patterns of the Past]]'', its sequel, notes that back in the 1920s, the tube system was completely new, with cubes being used to transport agents instead of spherical balls, other Odd Squad precincts planning on putting in their own tube systems, and Big Red working as the sole tube operator at Precinct 13579 in particular (although he poses the idea of hiring more tube operators).