Comment & Debate
Some governments have considered paying for public transport out of taxpayers’ money, making it free. This would take cars, along with congestion, off our roads, and help the environment, so many people think it’s a great idea and everyone would be able to see its advantage. However, like nearly all policies, it does have its cons. This debate article explores that. In Belgium the government made public transport free, and it was a huge success. Lots of money was saved by all parties; the transport companies, the government and particularly the customers. They saved on everything, even printing tickets. It is still free.
Global warming is a serious issue and if public transport was free, more people would use it, taking cars off the road. 1 train could take 2000 cars off the road. A public transport system with 20 trains could take 40,000 cars off the road. Some people would simply choose to not own cars, further reducing the number of cars on the road. Across dozens of cities in a nation and thousands world-wide, the result of free public transport would be dramatic in cutting vehicle emissions and combating global warming.
Buses, planes, trains etc. all harm the environment, just as cars do. If everyone used public transport, more buses would pollute cities. It should also be mentioned that the manufacturing and creation of a public transport system is very energy intensive, drawing largely on coal and fossil fuels for energy. This releases significant carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
This would be a great service that could be used by everyone. Taxes already pay for health care, schools and roads etc. so why not let taxpayers see the benefits for themselves, in a useful service everyone can use.
As well as providing services, the govermnet should look out for the environment. No amount of money is too much to protect the environment.
It would cost too much for the government to pay for running public transport services. With the economic crisis, it needs to spend the money on other more important things.
With increased and better public transport, we would need more bus and train drivers, creating jobs. This is great with the global financial crisis. And it work make it easier for people to get to their job – they could just get on a bus.
If it were free for everyone to get to work, families wouldn’t need two or three cars; just one or even none, depending on their availability to public transport of course. Most families have several cars, and one is used just for someone to get to work each day. This wouldn’t be necessary. It would hurt the car indudtry and car makers would most likely lose their jobs, and car companies may collapse, which is very bad news.
People like conductors, parking cops and plenty of other people wouldn’t have their jobs any more, because their services would be no longer required.
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