Blogprompt six and seven

Figure One-


So...what are your views? Is there really a transport problem? Do the benefits of motorized transport outweigh the costs? Are there any minor (or perhaps major) changes you personally feel could make our present transport system more sustainable?

There is certainly a transport problem in the UK. This can be seen in the fact that frequently there is traffic in urban areas. Also at rush hour there is always traffic even sometimes on the motor way. These traffic jams results in making people late for work etc as well meaning their is more environmental damage (air and noise pollution) and fossil fuels used. This is because each journey takes longer, resulting in more fuel which results in higher pollution levels and fossil fuels used. Plus most people will not turn off their engines in a traffic jam to cut fuel use.

However, motorized transport benefits do outweigh the costs in my opinion. This is due to the fact that without motorized transport everyone would have to live very close to their workplace, and medium to long journeys would not be possible. Also short journeys would take up a lot of the day resulting in less productivity. As well as this many people see their car as their pride and joy, and not being able to use it would be devestating for them.

The government needs to encourage people more to use public transport. This would mean more sustainable journeys as per person less green house gas is released, and there would be much less frequent traffic jams. This is shown on figure one where it says 28 kg of CO2 emissions are released per person for a small car (with one person inside) on a 150 mile. Whereas on a train there is only 11.5 kg of CO2 released. In a plane though a staggering 38.1 kg of CO2 are released per person. This data shows that public services such as buses and trains should be the transport that the goverment encourage you to use instead of a car, as they are the most sustainble/efficent method of motorized transport. If i was to change something i would have the car permit scheme (which they have in London) charge people £5 in major cities for them to use their car each day from monday-saturday. With this money gained this would be used to improve public transport via more frequent trains and buses and cheaper train and bus prices. This is because many people do not use the train due how expensive it is. Also some of the money will go to help advertise public transport and and discourage people from using their cars. For example showing in advertisment how cars effect the local environment and offering suggestions such as walking to the local shop instead of going by car. Another change i would make would be to increase plane travel prices as for some destinations tickets can be got extremely cheap.

In conclusion motorized transport is necessary and is vital for most people. However public transport needs to be used more often, and the government should encourage people to use public transports for the methods i stated earlier or other potentially effective methods.

Reference list-

Figure One
http://directgov.transportdirect.info/Web2/App_Themes/DirectGov/images/gifs/SoftContent/HomeTipsToolsEmissions2.jpg