Encouraging people to use public transport is the best way to solve traffic problems in cities. To what extent do you agree or disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?

Public Transport is considered the best while commuting within metropolitan areas. It gives immense benefits to the residents and the tourists in terms of traffic, pollution and most importantly the cost of travel. I strongly support and recommend the common transit modes, but there are a number of actionable points to address before encouraging the citizens. As the world is witnessing accelerated development, urban areas attracted the population like a magnet, resulting in a sharp spike in population density.

This

in turn is causing transit congestion in every nook and corner of the cities. As an example, The Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway in 2018 witnessed a 12-hour-long traffic jam, halting thousands of personal four-wheelers.

This

raises the argument to use the local rail and bus transports to reach the desired destinations faster.

On the contrary

, the authorities are not planning the urban infrastructure adequately to cater to future requirements.

For example

, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, when started in 1996 was planned to handle a total of 1 lakh trucks a day. But in 2020, it was approximated that the average stood at 3 lakh trucks a day.

This

is a clear planning failure, which would have boosted the development of the area. In conclusion, travelling by public transport is advantageous by reducing traffic and other environmental and health-related issues.

Also

, the Government and the authorities should properly plan the public infrastructure like the bus rapid transit system, and the metro, to cater to future needs and improve the living standards of cities across the world.