Road Congestions and Better Transport System Policy - Essay Example

Topic: What should the UK government do to make our transport system better? Road Congestions and Better Transport System Policy Introduction Road congestion has now become a trend in the society and even for individuals in particular. As we have observed, traffic is very rampant especially during the so-called “rush hours” wherein people are in the speed for work or school. So, as the inconvenience of road congestion grows, cities world wide are struggling to deal the problem of increasing mobile population (Edwards & Smith, 2008, p1). Not being notice by many, that this simple phenomenon on transport problems can produce other problems in the society, or at least point, it contributes to it. We shall see in the study made by Edwards and Smith, the domino effect of the growing mobile population to other predicted problems and even to unforeseen predicaments. Thus, we can see this scenario in a dynamic complexity manner wherein it is still rational to say (though hardly be seen with just a simple glance), that these effects are a by-product of such occurrence (growing mobile population) and that they are simultaneously linked to one another. Problems in the society today like oil price hikes, global warming and economic recessions are mentioned to be the result of a mounting transport population. In their paper entitled “Transport Problems Facing by Large Cities”, it depicts relevant factors which cause transportation problems. The researchers focus their study mainly on four large world cities, particularly London, Tokyo, Paris and New York. As a result of the study made, the researchers conclude several factors that affect the transportation and traffic flows as well as the other flaws linked to it. These would include: large population; high car dependency; and ageing transport infrastructure. We can also see in their study the connection of transport predicament as an inevitable result of other world issues that we are facing at present. Simple questions like “how does a large population affects the expansion of new transportation business?” to a more complex question like “how can a high mobile dependency scenario can lead to economic recessions?” will be discussed and shown in the later part. What the government can do and must do is to make our transportation system better is to create and enact a law or a policy that will efficiently and effectively solve the issue. Though there are already existing policies with regards to this problem, it is still lacking because it does not yet solve the identified predicament. Moreover, the aspect that we will be focusing will be the factors indicated by Edwards and Smith in their study to come up with a strategic policy to answer the problems on transportation in UK as well as its under-effects. There are already proposals to this matter that this paper will be dealing into to have a competitive policy that will somehow ensure a better transport system. But first we must have to look at the factors which contribute more to transportation problem to have a greater knowledge on which to concentrate more our policy to avoid misusage of effort as well as money and to achieve our desired result in a more effective manner. The diagram in the next page will show relevant connections on the factors mentioned by Edwards and Smith regarding transportation problems and there effects on other problems. MONOPOLY IN TRANSPOTATION BUSINESS LARGE POPULATION EXPANSION OF TRANS. BUSINESS LOW BUSINESS COMPETTIVENESS HIGHER RATE OF TRANSPORTATION DEMAND HIGH MOBILE ROAD DEPENDENCY CONGESTION ECONOMIC RECESSION OIL SCARCITY IN WORLD MARKET HIGH CO2 EMISSION/ AIR POLLUTION OIL PRICE HIKE DECLINE IN PRODUCTION GLOBAL WARMING INFLATIONS LOWER CONSUMPTION The Domino Effect As we can see in the diagram, the primary contributor in the interlinked world problems would be the factor of high mobile dependency. If we notice, there is a cause and effect relations between transportation problems to other economic, societal and environmental predicaments that will eventually lead to a political issue because primarily of government’s important role on every issue within its country. A large population leads to a higher rate of transportation demand; this is very true especially in large cities wherein we can see that automobiles can be found at every corner of the place. With this information, we can conclude that there is a high mobile dependency on transportation. With this high amount of mobile in the country, it is in no doubt that road congestion occurs due the over demand of automobiles for transportation from one place to another. This factor can now be the cause of other predicaments like air pollution because of the large amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere that causes now the world wide problem of global warming. On the other hand, because also of the dependency to these transport machines, oil resources is already depleting. Because oil is very important in our world today to make automobiles and other machines to work, producers of such product is taking advantage of this to make the price higher due to the fact that there is a scarcity of oil. Thus, oil price hike phenomenon is inevitable. As mentioned a while ago, there is a domino effect on the situation. As oil price become higher, then prices of other goods are affected too because of the transportation cost in the production company to the market. If such happens, then economists would say that if products cost higher, then there would be lesser consumption (cetaris paribus). If there is lesser consumption, then producers cannot produce higher because the demand is low. Therefore, production of goods would be low that will eventually affect the country’s GDP and together with other several economic problems like debt and alike would lead to economic recession and so on and so forth. As a matter of fact, we can consider large population to be the starting factor and it can be the main source of problem but we can hardly focus on that predicament because it can just mislead us to our main goal of having a better transport system that we are hoping to solve several associated problems as well. Now that we have already pointed out the target problem, then the government’s role is to come up with a policy that would focus on that particular issue to produce a competent policy to have a better transportation system and also to somehow contribute in the solution of its foreseen connected problems. Below is a proposed policy that we can consider to target transport problems in our country. Policy: WC Policy (Walking and Cycling Policy) Problem: high mobile dependency and road congestions General goal: To have a better transportation system Specific goal: Lessen mobile dependency and to eradicate road congestions as much as possible in UK. As we have seen in the fist pages of this paper, our primary problem is the fact that there is a high mobile dependency that will result to road congestions and other several factors. The WC policy prohibits the use of any automobiles within 1-2 kilometers of distance destination. It will encourage the people to walk or use bicycles as a means of transportation. It discourages the use of car or bus for short distance trip. In this manner, people cannot only get rid of traffics but they can also help to lessen air pollution in a least way. The road will be for long distance trips and for emergencies or any sort of important use alone. The aim of the policy is to create ways and means to avoid transport problems. It is also believed that when we will limit the use of automobiles, we it will also somehow lessen the emission if CO2 that causes pollution and global warming. For safety purposes, the riders will be limited to 20kmph and the government, particularly the department for transport, will finance and create bicycle lanes to maximize their protection from car clashes. Also, in this manner people can save some money for fares and gasoline. It can also be a means of daily exercise to the people, making their lives healthier. In 2008, Mayor of London Ken Livingston facilitates walking and cycling. This is a good start but facilitating alone would not ensure the outcome we want to achieve. They should create a policy to make sure that everyone will be adhering to ways and means to have a better transport system. Through this policy, little by little we can have a more organized and cleaner UK! Reference: Edwards, T., & Smith, S. (2008). NSW Parliament Library Research Service. Transport Problems Facing Large Cities, 1, 19. Retrieved from http://parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/TransportProblemsFacingLargeCities/$File/TransportFINALindex.pdf. Read More