Players can use several modes of transport in order to get the protagonists from place to place in Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Red Dead Online.

List of Transportation

Red Dead Redemption

• Horses - Riding on horseback is the most common form of transportation in the game. Horses can be found being ridden by NPCs, in corrals, hitched around the map, standing near camps, in the wild, or they can be purchased from stores and summoned using horse deeds. There are 21 unique types of horses in the base game and 9 more in Undead Nightmare which vary in appearance, speed, health, and stamina.
• Mules - Despite being called mules, these are actually donkeys. They can be found being ridden and lead around in Nuevo Paraíso, purchased at a general store there, or spawned via the "Donkey Rider" cheat. They generally have worse stats than horses, cannot jump, and cannot accommodate hogtied people or passengers. A donkey painted like a zebra is also available in multiplayer as the final unlockable mount.
• Rideable Bulls and Buffalo - In multiplayer, the player can unlock two different bulls and two buffalo that can be ridden on. These mounts are considerably rare and do not lose speed when going offroad, but they also lack the ability to jump. For more information on unlocking these mounts, see the unlock table listed here.
• Trains - Trains are slower and much harder to access than horses, but travel automatically across the tracks for a simple means of transportation. They cannot be robbed or driven but appear as centerpieces in a few story missions, and also do not appear at all in multiplayer.
• Stagecoaches - Coaches are usually found being driven around by NPCs and in missions, but can be commandeered by the player and have a few set spawn locations in towns where the player can pay to travel in them. They are able to travel at a slow trot or gallop without the attached horses getting tired, but are usually much more clunky and considerably slower than a good horse- unless the player decides to skip to their destination when paying for a ride. There are a few different variants available, but their performance is always the same. West Dickens' coach is a centerpiece throughout a few missions and is eventually retrofitted with a gatling gun that the player uses. Completing the fifth Treasure Hunter challenge grants the player free rides.
• Wagons - These are extremely similar to stagecoaches, but are only found being ridden by NPCs and in missions usually with cargo in the back that cannot be stolen. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Like carts and stagecoaches, it is possible to detach the horses on occasion when they fall over and ride them but their movements tend to be slightly off until the next game reload.
• Carts - These are small vehicles pulled by just a single horse, making them fast but easily overturned and unstable when crossing over bumpy roads or steep hills. The player will also be expected to race one in "Liars, Cheats and Other Proud Americans" and like wagons and stagecoaches they can also be spawned manually by the cheat "NOW WHO PUT THAT THERE?".
• Fast Travel - This mode of transportation is generally exclusive to Undead Nightmare and involves the player standing next to their bed at their safehouse, instantly delivering them to any other safehouse they have unlocked. In Multiplayer there is only one readily-available form of fast travel, which are the Transportation Markers located at nearly every settlement. Another option appears only in specific circumstances – the player is given the option to jump to the posse leader's location when joining a posse or to jump to the location of a newly-started Land Grab game.
• Automobiles - Automobiles are a new and extremely rare form of transportation in Redemption. They appear in missions, but the player does not control one at any point despite functionality for this being programmed into the game. There are two types, one being a civilian model and the other being an armored truck with a gatling in the back.
• Steamboats/Riverboats/Ferries - These large passenger ships cannot be traveled on during regular gameplay, instead existing in the form of the Morningstar which only appears during the game's intro, and the Serendipity which is crashed along the shore.
• Mine Carts - Mine carts are ridden in the mission "Man is Born Unto Trouble" where John Marston must ride through a mine shaft. Although this is not available for use outside of the mission, the minecart is also used on the online co-op mission, "Walton's Gold" and the Gaptooth Breach gang hideout in Free Roam.
• Rafts - Rafts are rudimentary floating platforms, capable of navigating waterways. Despite functionality existing for it, they cannot be driven and rather move along the water on a scripted path. Rafts are a central component of the mission "We Shall Be Together in Paradise" and a raft with a gatling gun on it makes a small appearance in "The Mexican Wagon Train", but they cannot be encountered outside of these missions. The raft is also used throughout "The River" co-op mission, included in the Outlaws To The End DLC.
• Canoes - These boats seem to have been cut from the game entirely, though a model and limited functionality for driving them remains in the files. They would later appear in the game's prequel.
• Gliders - This airborne vehicle appears in the mission "Deadalus and Son" but lacks the ability to fly.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Horses - These remain the primary form of transportation, but now have many more features and nuances attached to them. The player's primary horse will now store their extra weapons and any extra items not carried in the satchel, along with three pairs of clothes. Regular feeding, calming, and grooming have been introduced as extra mechanics for the player to keep note of, with their cores slowly depleting over time while regenerating when hitched. They can be found being ridden by NPCs, in corrals, in the wild, hitched to posts, standing near camps, or they can be purchased and stored in the stables. There are 76 obtainable variants in story mode and 18 Van der Linde gang horses, with Red Dead Online adding 42 more to the total which vary in appearance, speed, health, stamina, handling, and acceleration.
• Mules and Donkeys - These are now separate animals, with mules essentially being poorly statted horses that cannot be obtained by the player and spawn at Caliga Hall, Emerald Ranch, Guthrie Farm; and are ridden by Archie Downes and Levi Simon during missions. Donkeys are similar to the mules, but are commonly found across the map and have distinct sounds, while also being unable to accommodate passengers, hogtied victims, or pelts and carcasses on their back. There is also a mule painted to look like a zebra which appears during "He's British, of Course".
• Trains - Trains are still generally a worse albeit automatic form of transportation than horses, but have been significantly upgraded- now allowing the player to rob their baggage and passengers, and serving as a form of nearly instant fast travel via purchasing tickets for one at any functioning train station. They appear in numerous missions, can be driven by the player, and can be jumped to from horseback.
• Stagecoaches - Fast travel via stagecoaches is now done automatically upon purchasing the fair for one, although they can still be commandeered by the player and even sold at the wagon fence for a fair price. They are also much easier to control, and it is also possible to approach NPCs driving a coach and ask for a free ride to their next destination. Some coaches will have lootboxes in the back that can be robbed.
• Wagons - These are largely the same as their original counterparts and stagecoaches, but the player must commandeer one or ask for a ride in order to travel in one outside of missions. Sometimes they will also have loot in the back that can be taken or delivered though it is not typically possible to add any cargo to them like carcasses, and they can also be sold at the wagon fence. In Red Dead Online, the player can purchase their own hunting and bounty wagons which can be summoned at almost any time and is used to store carcasses and bounties.
• Carts - These one-horse vehicles are generally much easier to control, and paired with their increased speed and the ability to detach the horses from them they make for a suitable means of transportation, after being robbed off of an NPC. These usually do not fetch for a high price at the wagon fence, and the unlimited stamina they offer is the only benefit they have over simply riding a horse instead.
• Fast Travel - Aside from coaches and trains, the player can also unlock fast traveling from camps and Beecher's Hope. After watching a short cutscene, this allows for the fastest mode of transportation to any towns or outposts. This will progress the in-game time forward a bit to accommodate for the intended time it would take to get there. Fast traveling in an area with an active bounty will generally cause bounty hunters to show up after doing so.
• Commercial Boats - This includes any of the large boats found around the map that the player cannot ride on or are permanently docked at shore. The most notable examples of this are the Antenor which delivers the player to Guarma during one scripted cutscene, the horse boat that is anchored and later crashed by Dutch during "A Rage Unleashed", the Cuban warship that the gang destroys in "Hell Hath No Fury", the boat that is used to sail back from Guarma during a scripted cutscene, and the Grand Korrigan that appears docked during missions and hosts a poker game the player must win in "A Fine Night of Debauchery". There are also other boats either docked near Saint Denis or seen sailing off in the distance, and these boats come in varying shapes and sizes but share the same characteristic that they can be boarded but not driven or traveled on by the player. A few of these large boats can be boarded while in motion, but doing so is difficult and they will never arrive at a destination.
• Driveable Steamboats - These are small boats always seen being driven by NPCs on Flat Iron Lake. They carry the distinction of being able to be driven by the player and only requiring the pulling of a lever to power them. While they are the best form of naval transportation in the game, they are still extremely slow and can only travel on water until the player reaches boundary lines that immediately sink any ships that enter them.
• Rowboats and Canoes - These are row-able boats that have room for multiple passengers. They despawn quickly, only spawn in select locations, and must be stolen or borrowed outside of missions, though Arthur can purchase one for the camp for Chapters 3 & 4 only. While extremely slow when compared to horses, they provide protection from alligators and allow the player to travel across bodies of water without losing much stamina. There are a fair number of missions which require the player to use a boat, while in some cases doing so is optional.
• Automobiles - These do not physically appear at all in this game, but are mentioned and seen in advertisements at a few points throughout.
• Mine carts - Mine carts appear in nearly all mines around the map, but cannot be moved or ridden in by the player.
• Bicycles - There are a few bicycle props and advertisements around the map, and they are mentioned in NPC dialogue but the player is unable to ride on them.
• Handcars - Handcars are uncommon forms of railway transportation in Red Dead Redemption 2, spawning at the Appleseed Timber Company and in Saint Denis. They must be operated by hand, despawn quickly, and cannot be used to store cargo, making them incredibly slow and useless for all intents and purposes. A handcar is used by Arthur Morgan and John Marston in the mission "The Bridge to Nowhere."
• Trams - Trams, also known as trolleys, are slow forms of transportation that cover the majority of the city of Saint Denis in Red Dead Redemption 2, operating in two lines. In 1899, they are operated by the Cornwall City Railway Company, but are replaced by the Pacific Union Railroad Company in 1907. They cannot be driven by the player, but one is commandeered during "Urban Pleasures".
• Gliders - Two crashed gliders can be found across the map, and these also make an appearance in a Magic Lantern Show but are unable to be flown by the player.
• Hot Air Balloon - A hot air balloon is flown in during the mission "Icarus and Friends", and can be made to go either up or down but follows a set path during the mission.
• Miscellaneous - A velocipede, goat carriage, camel, and elephant appears being ridden in the Marvels of Travel Card Set. Camels were originally intended to appear physically in the game, but were cut for unknown reasons.

Achievements and Trophies

There are five Trophies/Achievements that directly involve using transport. These do not include using methods of transport to get to certain locations in order to obtain the Achievement/Trophy.

	DASTARDLY 5 gamerscore Bronze bronze Place a hogtied woman on the train tracks, and witness her death by train.

	SPURRED TO VICTORY 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Complete 20 story missions without switching to a new horse at a hitching post.

	HEADING SOUTH ON A WHITE BRONCO 5 gamerscore Bronze bronze Evade the U.S. Marshals while riding the Hungarian Half-Bred horse in Single Player.

	HIT THE TRAIL 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Get from Blackwater to Escalera before sundown in a public Free Roam session.

	BUCKIN' AWESOME 10 gamerscore Bronze bronze Break the Kentucky Saddler, American Standardbred and the Hungarian Half-bred.