Rising traffic jam is an inescapable condition in large and growing metropolitan societies across the world, from Los Angeles to Tokyo, from Cairo to Sao Paolo. The main reason for this is that there are too many private vehicles on the roads these days and a viable solution is to introduce more park-and-ride schemes.
Initially, the number of people today owning vehicles is increasing year on year, most families have multiple cars which can cause traffic congestion. Some families reside in low-density areas that the public transit systems cannot efficiently serve. Therefore, private vehicles are more comfortable, faster, more private, more convenient in trip timing, and more flexible for doing multiple tasks in one trip than almost any form of public transport. This stems from the widespread desire of individuals to pursue certain goals that inevitably overload existing roads and transit systems. For instance, imagine the commuting struggle of a mother who works, drops children to school, and shops for groceries all in one day using public transport. Owning a car is undoubtedly hassle-free hence the increase in vehicle ownership.
However, there are many ways any region can try to cope with the mobility challenge by initiating bottleneck charges or a park-and-ride scheme. While congestion charges can discourage people from using their own cars, a park-and-ride scheme can encourage the public to use the public system by allowing vehicles to park for free and take public transit for daily commutes at discounted rates. For example, in Finland, the park-and-ride scheme allowed the public to use car parks for free, and public transportation was subsidized for a very nominal fee which resulted in a reduction of traffic overpopulation by 28%. The easing of traffic in major cities around the world can be achieved by using the model developed by the Finnish authorities.
In conclusion, traffic cramming is a real problem that can negatively be affected by having many private cars on the roads and authorities should initiate efforts to ease the problem and save billions of dollars. In addition, if the influx of population into major cities is not curtailed or if solutions are not initiated by the ruling governments, living with traffic will be a reality for future generations.