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. In what extent do you agree or disagree? Write in no less than 250 words and give relevant examples from your own experiences
The common perception that prohibitively taxing on personal four wheelers and using the revenues raised to afford economical, or free of cost rail commute can help mitigate challenges posed by thickening traffic density is bolstered and contested strongly.
The success of this policy is predicted by those assuming such an arrangement would act as a disincentive for the most of the populace against using their private modes of transportation. Vehicle owners would think twice before using their vehicles, and affordable or free of cost train rides would act as a persuasion to switch. Such pilot projects have been carried out in cities like Tokyo wherein, levying charges on private conveyance and lowered train tickets have been able to convince several urban dwellers to utilize train services while abandoning their own means of commuting.
Having said that, the proposal is prone to failure in most regions and people are bond to suffer if such a policy is enacted owing to the inadequately equipped public transport network: trains cannot reach all the places since some regions and locality are bound to remain out of bounds of railways, forcing people to use their own vehicles dampening the objective of such a benign strategy.
Besides this, rail commutes will rarely be accessible during wee hours, and also remain a cause of concern of safety for the elderly, women and children; consequently, overtaxing might impose an additional burden on car owners, but it is likely to fail to prove a panacea for traffic and pollution woes.
Overall, disputes aside, even though such a policy presents a rosy picture, the ground reality is far from being true; the poor condition of rail transit systems across the world make it impractical for most to use it as their primary mode of traversing.
