Advantages and disadvantages of public transportation

These days, there has been an incredible increase in the number of people who use mass transit for their daily commute. There are both benefits and drawbacks of this trend and this essay aims to highlight both.

On one hand, it is generally accepted that public transportation can bring about multiple merits. Firstly, this is because public vehicles make a significant contribution to air pollution reduction. If citizens take advantage of the ability of accommodating a large number of people of buses, for instance, fewer private cars will appear on roads, which means that fewer toxic substances, the main factor of contamination, are emitted. Take Singapore as an example. That Singaporean residents opt buses for their daily travel is one of the most effective way making this country become the greenest one in the world. Secondly, people are inclined to believe that using public transport is highly economical. Using mass transportation is definitely cheaper than using private cars. There are many discounts for some individuals, such as students, the elderly and children, which helps them get affordable prices and spend money on other purposes. However, if people have their own vehicles, they have to pay much more money for services such as repair and insurance.

On the other hand, some people still believe it is disadvantageous for individuals to use public transport. In the first place, the matter of security is one of the biggest concerns. This mean of transportation has always been packed with so many passengers that it would be difficult to control our belongs. As a result, it would give chances for criminal to steal travellers’ valuable possessions, especially in the rush hours. For example, my friend has already been victim of some pickpockets who abused the chaotic situation to steal her money. Should a passenger forget a valuable item in a public vehicle chances of recovering it are minimal. Additionally, it is evident that time problem is a contributing factor preventing people’s choosing to use mass transport or not. It is widely concerned about time uncertainty as public transport occasionally do not follow the fixed schedules, which has a serious impact on their work or study time. For instance, according to some research, the average number of flight delays and cancellations at big airport reaches 10 flights per day, which causes an inconvenience to passengers. A delayed flight can be costly to passengers by making them late to their personal scheduled events and commitments.

In conclusion, based on above discussions, using public transportation has both merits and demerits.