There is a growing debate about whether the only way to reduce the amount of traffic in cities is by decreasing the need for people to travel from their accommodation to work, shopping or education. I firmly believe that this way of reducing traffic congestion has several drawbacks. This essay will examine both sides of the argument.
On the one hand, indeed, decreasing people’s need to leave their houses may be a solution to the traffic problem. For example, the volume of traffic has already slightly declined, and this stems from the dominance of remote work and the availability of online educational courses. The less citizens need to go out, the lower the level of traffic will be, especially during rush hour, when the majority of employees drive home after a difficult day at the office.
On the other hand, traffic jams can happen for several other reasons than just streets crowded with cars. From my point of view, congestion occurs mainly because of badly constructed city road maps, rather than because of people’s need to leave their houses. For example, in most cities it can be seen that some main streets are completely packed while others are empty. Eventually, it would be better to add new roads or simply expand already existing streets; this would ultimately lead to a reduced level of traffic in the city.
In conclusion, for the reasons outlined above, I think that decreasing the need for people to travel from their houses is not the only way to reduce the amount of traffic in cities.