Question
In most cities and towns, the high volumes of road traffic become a problem.
What are the causes of that and what actions can be taken to solve the problem?
Sample answer
In some major cities in my country, China, heavy traffic becomes increasingly problematic to commuters. This situation can be due to the fast pace of urban development.
The migration policy in China leads rural peasants to big cities. Also the convenient modern facilities and business opportunities in urban areas attract young generation in smaller towns seeking a reasonable career. While cities are expanding, the travellers have to cover further distance than they used to. Unluckily the public transport system built years ago is not well functioning. It is at this point that car purchase sounds reasonable. On top of this, the political will of enhancing economy should be responsible for various urban issues including traffic congestion. In order to stimulate domestic consumption, the public are encouraged to own their private cars, but in metropolises with dense population, such lifestyle is hard to be sufficiently supported.
To deal with traffic issue, some actions can be taken. Firstly, satellite cities can be a pragmatic approach to decentralize urban resource, thereby reducing urban population density. These satellite cities featuring self-sufficient can largely reduce daily travel if people are encouraged to live near their workplace or their school. Exclusive avenues for cycling can be set so that short-distance travellers would like to choose riding a bike instead of squeezing in a bus.
Public transport should be improved in terms of route, timing, comfortableness and service courtesy so as to encourage commuters to take. The larger capacity of public vehicles compared with private cars can effectively ease the traffic pressure on city roads.
In contrast, private cars should be discouraged from using for short distance travel. The approaches include charging a high parking fee, more expensive petrol or restricting in driving days.
