Transportation is a core necessity in people’s lives. It can be described as the movement of goods and people from one point to the next. One of the important aspects of transportation that are worth discussion is the aspect of public transportation. It is pretty obvious that private means of transport have benefits, but the effects of public means of transport on the economy are a matter of great concern. In a majority of great cities, public means of transport enhances cost effectiveness. Public transport relieves people from the cost of purchasing new cars. Besides, it also prevents people from spending the money they can save. These include the unnecessary costs of buying fuel for their private vehicles and the costs of parking charges that are usually imposed in public parking lots. Public transportation is superior to private transportation since public transportation encourages people to be more active. The supporters of a healthy lifestyle try to engage more people to use bicycles instead of cars. People are more likely to become involved in car accidents using private transportation, public transportation is cheaper, better for the environment, and promotes social interaction.
Apart from relieving people from transportation costs, using public transport empowers people to take part in physical activities because they are usually compelled to move from one stop to the next. The American Center for Disease control recommends people to take at least 22 minutes of the day to engage in physical activity (Centers for Disease Control, 2014). Thankfully, public means of transport necessitates this reality. Consequently, people who prefer public means of transport have higher odds of living disease-free lives compared to their counterparts who use private means of transport since public transportation requires more physical activity to, for example, catch the bus, or move from the bus to one’s next destination. It may sound funny but people who tend to choose the public transportation turn out to be less lazy. Therefore, they create a healthy community. Of course, everybody wants to live longer and be healthier while they are living, and since public transportation allows people to do this, while private transportation does not, public transportation is clearly superior.
Another quality that makes public transportation superior to private transportation is the fact that private transportation is associated with more accidents. It is unfortunate to report that private means of transport is the leading cause of death and other related injuries to people who are aged between 1 to 44 years old (Holmgren, 2013). The use of public transportation can help lower the number of deaths that occur since not nearly as many people die using public transportation as they do with private vehicles. Moreover, researchers have shown that areas that have relatively high number of public means of transport have lower crime rates compared to the regions that have a low number of public transportation. Although this might seem disconnected from the deaths and injuries, crime is often associated with injury and death. Therefore, when there is less crime, people are safer, and the problems that come about from more crime are fewer. That area with more public transportation also have decreased crime rates is significant because it shows that public transportation has an indirect effect on injuries and death.
However, not everybody is rooting for the rise of the public transportation system. They think that a private car has more advantages than, for example, subway. Traveling via car is easier in the sense that you can be sure that you do not have to go standing in a crowd of people, where you cannot breathe if it is a rush hour. Besides, driving your car, you can always listen to pleasant music, and you do not have to stop at every stop. The car is also convenient in the sense that you can drive up to the entrance of the building that you need, and you do not have to go from the stop to the entrance, especially if it is cold outside or raining.
Despite the fact that many complain about the expensive gasoline, the number of cars becomes higher for some reason. It is not clear why but we can assume that people like the comfort and the ability to use it all the time. Some might say that in their car no one will step on their foot, will not jostle or worse, will not obliterate the whole bus, thereby putting them in an awkward position. Besides, in winter, you will have a warmed the car, and you will have to travel in the warm cabin, not on the bus with frozen windows and in summer with barely turned on air conditioning.
As for the time, this question can be interpreted in many ways. Sometimes getting home on metro is faster than standing for two hours in a traffic jam on the road. On the other hand, while waiting for public transport, you can lose more time than traveling by car. Besides, there are occurrences when the bus you have been waiting for is delayed, or you are late on it. If a person owns the vehicle they can use at any time convenient for them, even if it is in the middle of the night they will always be able to get behind the wheel and go to the desired place.
If there is an argument about the activeness of people, we cannot forget about the fact that the private cars provide mobility. If a family wants to go to rest outside of the city and own a car, they do not depend on bus schedules, and they can relax until late at night. They can go to the beach and play volleyball, badminton; they can go swimming; therefore, they are active.
The mobility not only provides people with more abilities, but they can also help each other. For instance, if one’s friend needs urgent help, you can always drive to their house and assist them. In case you need to pick up something from your relatives, you can do that. Most importantly, your car is very necessary if you have small children. It is very inconvenient for a mother to travel with a child even for a small distance. This is especially useful in the winter time.
Moreover, public transport is dirty, full of boors, beggars, and thieves. Unfortunately, using the public transportation, we do not always have the opportunity to choose a companion. Even staying in a car one can experience a lot of unpleasant moments: dirty cars that, cursing and demonstrating in our address obscene gestures drivers and car inspectors who will always find something to be mad about. In public transport, there are same factors but on a smaller scale. If you timely pay the fare, you will not have any problems. It may be dirty sometimes, but usually, you can switch to another seat.
Despite these counterarguments, there is an opinion that the public transportation is the future. People tend to think that the cars show their status and how much money they have. Nevertheless, it is evident that in order to save our planet and to increase the welfare of the country, the use of the public transportation should be raised. It is also important to note that public transport enables countries to handle their economic problems better since it serves as a way to get around without having to pay all of the costs that are associated with owing a private vehicle. Other than aiding the movement of people from one part of the country to another, public transport empowers the young generation to access the scattered educational institutions in the nation. Consequently, there is no better way to invest in future prosperity than to empower the youth to take public transportation so that they can travel around the country and go to university. The fact that a majority of users of public transportation are students and workers further demonstrates its significance in improving the economic situation of a country (Weisbrod, 2009). Countries that do not have adequate public transportation systems can still be wealthy, but it is harder for citizens who do not have money to make it in their everyday lives since they have to dedicate so much money to their personal vehicles.
Public means of transport are environmentally healthy. Research studies such as that conducted by the American Public Transportation System prove this fact by stating that public transportation “saves 37 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually and 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline” (1). Public means of transport like buses and electric trains are more technologically advanced that other private cars thus they play important roles in preventing pollution. With less pollution, cities are cleaner, and people do not have worry about inhaling toxic chemicals that can cause breathing problems like asthma. Additionally, the city can devote its resources to cleaning up other areas like beaches or public parks since now it does not have to worry so much about concentrating on clean air. Public transportation is superior to private transportation since riding with much more people in one vehicle is more environmentally friendly than riding alone in a private car.
Besides this, public means of transport is also important in promoting social interaction in the national community cohesion. National cohesion is the core foundation for enhancing developments in countries and governments because it enables people to work together in fulfilling their civic duties and responsibilities. Most importantly, when people interact in public means of transport, they learn how to live and relate well with each other. This is important especially in countries that have diverse populations with different backgrounds, cultures, political views, and much more. Public transportation improves forces people to be civil to each other since everyone is in such proximity. By learning to live with one another, society will improve, and economic opportunities that might not exist could appear. Countries that rely more on public transportations are more developed than countries that do not (Litman, 2014), giving another reason why public transportation is superior.
To sum up, there are instances where people wish to travel to places for the first time. Interestingly, public means of transport play a significant role in assuring that they reach their destinations safely and timely. In some places, public transportation saves a lot of money since people do not have to buy their cars. Public transportation also causes people to live healthier lives and is better for the environment as one bus will not pollute as many as ten cars, and one bus will hold as many people as ten cars will. With more means of public transportation, there is also likely to be fewer road deaths and more social interaction, leading to countries improving the quality of life of their citizens.
- American Public Transportation Association. “Public Transportation is a Green Industry and Going Greener.” 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
- Holmgren, Johan. “An Analysis of the Determinants of Local Public Transport Demand Focusing the Effects of Income Changes.” European Transport Research Review Eur. Transp. Res. Rev. 5.2 (2013): 101-07. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
- Litman, Todd. “Community Cohesion As A Transport Planning Objective.” Victoria Transport Policy Institute. 22 May 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
- National Center for Chronic Disease. “State Indicator Report on Physical Activity.” 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
- Van Oort, N. “Incorporating Enhanced Service Reliability of Public Transport in Cost-Benefit Analyses.” Public Transport 8.1 (2016): 143-160.
- Weisbrod, Glen. “Economic Impact of Public Transportation Investment.” American Public Transportation Association. 2009. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
