Some sector of people believe that escalating the petrol price is the modest way to tackle rising traffic and pollution problems. On the other side, people think this is not a good approach to solve the issue. I completely disagree upon this idea of increasing the price of fossil fuels to reduce traffic and pollution.
Petrol had been a conventional source of energy from a long period of time. Many people had been using vehicles which contain combustion engine from a long period of time. The rapid surge in petrol prices would show a greater impact on the lower, middle and upper middle class people of a country. Moreover, I believe that people would suffer a lot due to this action. Public transport would be overcrowded and also it has a very minimal connectivity. There would be a lot of protests all around the country. Many machines in industries work on fossil fuels, increase in the petrol prices would impact them a lot.
Moreover, I believe that the pollution caused by industries is greater when compared to the pollution that is caused by smoke emitted from vehicles. A recent survey was conducted by the United Nations in the year 2022. This survey is about air pollution. The UN stated that in the year 2022 the impact of industries and waste management is more as compared to the pollution caused by combustion engines. I believe that skyrocketing the petrol prices is not possible in many democratic countries.
Government can provide electronic vehicles (EV’S) to the citizens in a subsidized price. It should encourage people to buy electric scooters, e-bikes and also e-cars. Similar to the rule implemented in New Delhi the concept of carpooling should be brought up to reduce traffic issues. Metro or Subway should be made accessible at lower prices to solve the problem of traffic.
To conclude, in my perspective escalating petrol prices is not advisable. There are a plethora of other ways to tackle pollution and traffic.