In order to solve traffic problems government should tax private cars owners heavily and use the money to improve public transport. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?

Traffic is a menace in most metro cities. Many governments tried to solve

this

problem differently. One of the most common solution was to tax private cars heavily and improve public transport by using that money. In

this

essay, let's discuss about the advantages and disadvantages of whipping tax on private vehicle owners. Taxing citizens from owning cars is not unheard of and it had been tried in numerous cities like Singapore, Taiwan etc. The results had shown an increased utilization of public transit, more money by the government for improving the infrastructure. Due to reduced usage of own vehicles, pollution levels were considerably down. Availability of services had increased and eventually, it became cheaper to use mass transit options.

This

enabled more and more people to make a switch.

However

, there were a few cons as well. Due to the sudden surge in the usage, the city planners were not able to scale up the services at the required rate.

This

resulted in utter chaos and crowded busses.

Secondly

, not all parts of the cities were connected, it made life difficult for people living in that part. Many were ready to pay the premium rather than travel in a packed bus, rail etc.

This

defeated the whole purpose of the exercise. Taxing private vehicles to improve conditions of public transit is a double-edged sword, while it enables many to get on-boarded, it should be implemented by considering all the cons. The infrastructure should support

this

idea.

Initially

, there will be numerous challenges in terms of procurement, awareness etc. I would like to conclude by saying it is a great idea if implemented properly.