Car ownership has increased so rapidly over the past thirty years that many cities in the world are now ' one big traffic jam'. How true do you think this statement is? What measures can governments take to discourage people from using their cars?

There was a time when owning a

car

was only a luxury for the upper class society while the general public relied on public transport or the humble two-wheeler for their daily commute.

However

, in the

last

thirty years, we have taken huge financial strides making it possible for working class individuals to afford a

car

. In my opinion, though we have empowered the common man to be able to own a personal vehicle, we have now arrived at a stage where there are way too many vehicles on the roads leading to extreme congestion which was not planned for. Through easy loans and manageable down payments, owning a

car

which was once only a dream for most middle class houses has now become a reality. People having been investing in buying their own cars for a while now for two reasons.

Firstly

, it allows them to have an additional mode of commute outside of public transport.

Secondly

, for large families, especially

with

Suggestion

to

senior citizens and physically challenged family members,

having a private mode of travel is

Suggestion

has a private mode of travel been

is a private mode of travel being

having a private mode of travel is

very much essential to account for emergency situations rather than having to rely on local cabs and other ride share options. But, even as we made owning cars a flexible option, we failed to have a plan to manage the additional number of vehicles we were

introducing

Suggestion

introduced

on the roads. It is important to remember that each personal vehicle is an extra mass outside the regular strength of cabs, auto rickshaws, goods carriers like trucks and government and private buses. Because of

this

, most major cities are today facing excessive

traffic

jams, something that was not seen or heard thirty years back. Data collection from many metropolitan cities indicate show extreme congestion with heavy to stand still

traffic

during the peak hours. Not only does

this

lead to excess time spent in commute by

travelers but

Accept comma addition

travellers, but

travellers but

additional use

Suggestion

the additional use

of gasoline leading to pollution. Governments do need to take steps to manage

this

situation before it is too late. One way could be to restrict the number of personal cars that can be owned

in

Suggestion

by

one family. Another way could be to enforce more on the use of hover lanes to force people commuting along the same routes to

car

pool. Multinational companies could be directed to provide buses along the popular routes at office opening and closing times for employees to leverage. I would

thus

like to conclude that though making

car

ownership possible is not the

issue but

Accept comma addition

issue, but

having some ground rules to manage the additional

traffic

would be highly effective to control

traffic

jams.