Band 7+: The best way for governments to solve the problem of traffic congestion is providing free public transport in 24 hours per day, and seven days a week. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant example from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

One school of thought is that free public transport day and night can reduce traffic jams. While this perspective seems comprehensive, I believe that there are a lot of limitations. In this essay, I will delve into the demerits of its and provide superior solutions.

Those who support the viewpoint suppose that this method can minimize the number of vehicles such as cars and motorbikes on the road, which can lead to easing traffic congestion. In addition, free fares can help residents tend to use public transport more, thereby reducing the use of personal vehicles on the street. One of the countries that proved this is Singapore, which has a perfect transport infrastructure with the main vehicle being public transport.

Although it might help to minimize the vehicles on the road by providing free tickets on public transport 24 hours per day, it does not really reduce the number of vehicles on rush hours. This is the main aperture in this method. If this way cannot reduce the vehicles during rush hours, the question is how to avoid traffic congestion, since the main reason for the traffic jams is mostly due to too many vehicles during peak hours. Besides, it takes a lot of resources from humans and money to make this solution. So instead of wasting those resources to give free fares for public transport all day and night to hopefully minimize traffic congestion, we should use them to upgrade the traffic infrastructure. By building more overpasses, or means of transport such as subways and metros, traffic congestion will be significantly reduced. For instance, Ho Chi Minh City used to be famous for the traffic jams, but when the metros were built, the traffic volumes reduced by about 20-30% during peak hours, according to analysis from the Department of Transport. Another method we should consider is adjusting the time schedule for some specific vehicles going into busy roads. Especially, banning truck vehicles from entering the city center during rush hours. Ha Noi Capital is also applying this approach, resulting in a considerable reduction in traffic jams, with a 10-15% decrease from government analysis.

In conclusion, free public transport might reduce the number of personal vehicles on the road, but it does not mean minimizing traffic congestion. Instead, financial and human resources should be used on more effective measures, such as improving transport infrastructure and adjusting the travel schedules of some vehicles during peak hours.