If countries are serious about solving traffic problems, they should tax private cars very heavily and use the money to provide free or very cheap rail travel. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
A lobby believes that levying heavy duties on personal vehicles would help in mitigating the pressing issue of traffic congestion prevailing in several countries, and utilising the collected tax money to render subsidised railway tickets. This essay will justify the rationale behind this notion as well as discuss that of others.
This arrangement would encourage the travellers to commute in public vehicles since this would help them in saving a great amount of money spent due to the escalating prices of fuel as well as colossal penalties while moving in private transport, thereby ameliorating their financial health, and alleviating the traffic snarls on roads.
However, by travelling in public transport such as railways leads to the wastage of the most precious commodity that is time by virtue of which people are inclined towards the private conveyance. Since in the contemporary era, people are engaged in gruelling work schedules owing to which they do not get adequate time to devote to their families, therefore, imposing heavy levies on personal vehicles would be of little avail as time once gone never comes back, and subsidised railway tickets would fail to substitute it, and traffic may not thin.
Similarly, crimes have witnessed a spike in the recent years, due to which commuters have become quite apprehensive while travelling, especially in the wee hours, so they would not compromise their safety by opting for trains to save a few pennies. The priority today is safety and peace of mind rather than anything else. Thus, such a proposal might fail to deliver. Besides this, the travellers would not relinquish their comfort of traversing by personal means as they would not be able to enjoy the lighter moments with their loved ones in mass transit.
Overall, I strongly feel that despite some positive aspects, private vehicles would continue to exist even with the enormous levies since this mode is safe and time efficient. Therefore, I fail to concur with this arrangement.