Price surge in the fuel could lead to curbing the growing traffic & pollution problems effectively. Soaring fuel prices could be an effective method to force general public to seek more efficient and eco-friendly means of public transport. Also, a key solution to the rising issue could be, if government provides better public transport with concession.
General people would prefer public transport over their own personalized commute due to its high reliability and due to soaring fuel prices. If Public commute cost almost half the expense and time taken to travel, people would tend to use it on daily basis. Recent published report by Vic-Roads (Australia) shows there have been remarkable growth of 60% people using public transport in year 2022, when compared to 35% in year 2020. Moreover, corresponding results were seen in the Air Quality Index too.
Government can raise their cap funding on public transport infrastructure and by providing concession to attract more users. Dedicating and making separate lanes for public commutes (bus & trams), spending more on electric operated buses that needs a low running cost could help in keeping the fare price relatively lower and the public could get benefited direcltly. For instance, in Mumbai, similar concept was introduced in year 2023 and has proven to be highly successful in cutting down the average trip cost and time of 40 minutes when travelling from Northern suburb to Southern Suburb.
Overall, I agree, the idea of raising fuel price could be an ideal way to solve the problems associated with traffic and pollution. Also, government inniative to spend on developing public transport which could bring down the cost of commute to the locals will help benefit further to deal with the issue.