Nowadays, the government encourages citizens to use public transport as the main modes of transport instead of possession of private vehicles. Even though owners of private vehicles can conveniently reach any destination in a short period of time without adjusting their plans to public transport, I believe that it has more negative effects on people’s lives since it inevitably leads to air pollution in the long run.
A potential disadvantage of discouraging people from private modes of transport is their loss of comfort and convenience while commuting to jobs, visiting families in remote places and traveling around the country. Using exceptionally public transport as the primary means of transportation, those who give up their cars or motorbikes lose time adjusting their life to the schedule of public transport. In addition to this, scheduled routes may not cover all areas, especially the suburban and rural ones, causing difficulties and time loss to the citizens. Admittedly, time loss and lack of routes can be problematic; however, in many countries the government actively works on the coverage and frequency of public transport.
Public transport promotion is highly advantageous since it improves air quality benefiting every single person in the entire region. This is because massive air pollution triggers severe health crises and becomes one of the largest environmental health risks. By using various modes of public transportation, people can contribute to reducing the number of cars and motorbikes and, as a result, cut urban emissions. In other words, if air quality is improved due to fewer quantities of air pollutants, average global life expectancy will increase for several years. This empowers individuals to not merely consider their personal benefits of ownership of private vehicles, but to build a more healthy, prosperous and long life.
In conclusion, even though discouraging people from the possession and use of private vehicles might cause certain inconvenience and time loss, I believe that the advantage of promotion of public transport such as an improved air quality outweighs the disadvantage.
