The Future of the Personal Transportation - Essay Example

PERSONAL TRANSPORT By: + Personal transport especially in the developed world seems almost normal where a majority of the people going to work own a vehicle. While some do use other means, the challenges faced by the motor vehicle users vary. However, many of these countries have reliable infrastructure thus making the transport almost seamless. Much has been said concerning the future of personal transport with some arguing about sustainability while others state that personal transport ought to remain. With some asserting that personal transport will not be feasible in the future, others contend. In light of this, the paper seeks to critically analyze the future of the automotive transport. Right from the onset, it is important to understand that the future of automotive transport will be affected by other factors besides the infrastructure. Social, economic, technical, and political factors significantly influence the sector. First, there is the ever-rising issue of carbon-emission where environmentalists are quite concerned. According to Sperling and Salon (2005), transportation accounts for the greatest portion of greenhouse gas emission. Consequently, the adverse effects of global warming continue to have negative effect on the environment, which is crucial to humans’ livelihoods. With the effects of global warming, evident to all, personal transport could have negative implications socially. Because of these threats proving to be detrimental to humans, it has been recommended that alternative means of transport be incorporated. These include walking, cycling, and public transport where the first two are not possible. As expected, these assertions have been met with both contestations and resistance. According to Maynard (2007), green cars could be encouraged instead of doing away with the personal vehicle as the mode of transport. Further, companies could be compelled to produce cars, which are environment-friendly. As a result, this would ease the pressure on the environment. While the above suggestions are perfectly sound, there are challenges that prove to be too hard for the realization. First, there is no law or agreement yet by countries to have this suggestion become a law. Even though some companies have started this initiative, Maynard (2007) noted that it is yet to be embraced by all automobile dealers. Because of the bureaucracies involved in this process, it may not be possible to enact this suggestion soon. However, even if it happens the future of personal transport will face other challenges. For instance, the prices of fuel seldom stabilize, and this will have an impact on vehicle owners. Another social factor likely to determine the future of personal transportation is the number of people owning automobiles. Currently, some households in the developed countries have more than one vehicle (Maynard 2007). When this happens, the likely outcome is that roads will be congested unless measures to arrest situation are promptly devised. Helping the thriving of this issue is the number of young people leaving for urban areas. For instance, it was found that a majority of young people in the UK prefer working in London where they seldom leave. Besides looking and getting high paying jobs, many of the young buy and use an automobile for personal transport. Obviously, if the situation goes on, the likely outcome is congestion meaning the future could be bleak for this method of transport. Economically, people will be pushed to their limits when fuel prices go up, as they often do, and this means personal transport will be affected. Earlier it was noted that the effects of global warming pose a threat to humans. The problem is made complex because food security is adversely affected meaning governments will struggle to feed their masses. Since the governments will have to feed its citizens, much of the resources will be diverted to this area. Subsequently, this will mean investments in other areas are limited thus translating to low number of jobs and poor remuneration. When this happens, the automobile owners will find it hard to fuel their cars. Therefore, the future of personal transport is closely knitted with other issues meaning a critical review is imperative. If the personal vehicles owners do not consider using the public means, and automobile industry fails to have green cars, the environment will be affected. As noted above, this will have dire consequences on other areas. It is often argued that carbon friendly cars are the only remedies for the situation. Apparently, individuals who prefer personal transportation could be affected if the industry fails to offer this solution. The number of unemployed individuals even in the developed countries cements this economical factor further. While unemployment rate fell in US where it stands at 5.7%, this translates to a high population, 9 million to be precise (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Actually, not everyone in the employment own a vehicle because of the financially related issues, and with the situations worsening, this could spell a dark future. Besides having environmental factors affecting this sector, financial capabilities of individuals will have seen a decline in the people owning cars, thus personal transportation. Similarly, the situation in UK was not better with results showing that only 103,000 jobs were created in the last quarter of 2014 (ONS, 2015). These trends are happening in the developed countries meaning the situation elsewhere could be worse. For this reason, the economic factors will work in two ways but in solely one negative way. From the above data in UK, and US one could argue that the people will somehow end up buying automobiles. Despite the challenges they may encounter, there is likelihood they will have personal transportation in the future. As a result, this will see congestion become a major problem where the government will be forced to spend a considerable amount of money to improve on the infrastructure. This will mean a diversion of funds, a decrease in investment funds, and no permanent solution to this problem. Technically, it would be either complex or expensive for these car owners to have their cars repaired in case of mechanical problems. While these assertions may sound farfetched, the available results show a worrying trend. First, the World Bank noted that the numbers of the number of megacities where over 10 million people reside keep expanding. Then, this trend is expected to have yet another turn where this figure will double. As the people increase in these cities, the more congestion of vehicle is likely (Luoma et al 2010). If the above happens, then car owners will have to spend a significant given the number of vehicles available. Secondly, it could prove to be too expensive for the government to meet the fuel expectations of the car owners. While one could argue that this will open business opportunities, the car owners may find themselves spending more fuel on the traffic than working. The most probable decision would be to abandon this means. Furthermore, the government would have to lean on one area at the expense of others. This action would have impact on other key industries, and most likely, no government would do this. When all these things are considered, the governments will most likely enact laws restricting use of personal transportation on major cities. In other words, the transport sector, specifically personal transport, will have to contend with political factors. As already indicted above, the government is tasked with plentiful duties of ensuring a country’s stability. This onus comes with complexities where decisions have to be made for the benefit of the majority. In this case, it would have to do with transportation where the government would feel the need to have public means used by all. Clearly, this would mean the personal vehicle owners would have to adhere to these regulations. Another political factor to consider concerning personal transport is ever-changing rules in the automobile sector. Since governments are changed often, it becomes pretty hard to have same rules for a long period. Instead, car owners have to grapple with these rules now and then, which then make it a bit complex to speculate or prepare for the future. For that reason, car owners need to either embrace the public means or compel the people in the automobile industry to have the green cars produced. In conclusion, the future of the personal transportation lies in three major stakeholders whose decision will ultimately affect it. First, the automobile industry holds the greatest share of responsibility where producing green cars would greatly help. As pointed out above, the transport sector is responsible for the highest gas emission quantities. The emission often seen harmless, it is pernicious to the environment, causing immense harm to the population. When the environment is affected, so are many other things, which are important to humans. The government need to enact laws regulating this area because it could soon cause major road upsets. Finally, car owners ought to consider utilizing the already-established public means. This way, the future will remain undisturbed unlike is the case today. References Bureau of labor Statistics,. (2015). Employment Situation Summary. Retrieved 26 February 2015, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm Luoma, J., Suvak, M., & Zielinski, S. (2005). The future of Personal Transportation in mega cities. The University of Michigan. Retrieved 26 February 2015, from http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/.../102514.pdf Maynard, M. (2007). Say ‘Hybrid’ and Many People Will Hear ‘Prius’ - New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 26 February 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/business/04hybrid.html?_r=1& Office of National Statistics,. (2015). People not in Work - ONS. Retrieved 26 February 2015, from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=People+not+in+Work Sperling, D., & Salon, D. (2005). Transportation in Developing Countries: An Overview of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategies | Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Retrieved 26 February 2015, from http://www.c2es.org/publications/transportation-developing-countries-overview-greenhouse-gas-reduction-strategies http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch8en/conc8en/ch8c2en.html Read More