We see every day the use of person vehicles and how much we depend on them as a society. People in this society travel to work or school by car as it is seen as the most efficient way. We can complain about the issue of traffic, but the individual would still sit in traffic, waste fuel, and increase greenhouse emissions every day as needed. This issue is seen every day and as a society we accept it regardless of its consequences.
Everyone has heard about climate change, global warming, and the greenhouse effect. “The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth's atmosphere trap the Sun's heat” (NASA). This is the basic idea of how planet Earth stays warm. The sun warms up the Earth’s surface through sunlight and the heat is then trapped by the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. This effect is not particularly a bad thing because this is how our planet stays warm. The issue is that humans impact the greenhouse effect due to human activities. Burning coal and oil are the main practices used today by our society. These practices are putting more and more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, which leads to more heat being trapped as well. A huge contributor, if not the biggest, to greenhouse emissions in the United States is transportation.
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In 2017, transportation was the largest contributor to greenhouse emissions at twenty-nine percent in the Unites States. “The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to anthropogenic U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990–2017” (EPA). Almost sixty percent of transportation emissions were from light duty vehicles. Commuters from Washington DC and Southern California spend up to eighty hours in traffic per year. Commuters in Chicago spend up to sixty hours in traffic per year. As transportation is the main contributor, it is in our best interest as a society to try and lower these numbers. A great way to lower the use of cars would be the improvement of rail systems. “Rail is one of the most energy efficient ways that we can move materials from place to place. It is many times more efficient than cars and trucks and is on a par with barge freight energy usage” (Brinkmann 169). Japan has one of the best metro systems in
the world. Their metro system is very efficient, and a lot of commuters use it every day. A big problem in the United States is the underdevelopment of rails. We see everyday that there is constant construction being done on our roads. It is comical to hear about consumers complaining about roads not being fixed up when most funding is used for road/highway infrastructure. We do not see innovation when it comes to trains and rails. Japan did not focus on one single method of transportation like us. They are implementing high speed rails which can take you from Tokyo to Osaka in little over an hour. A good comparison to this would be traveling from New York to Washington DC. The amount of time it would take with Japan’s high-speed rail innovation is less than an hour. There is a lot of room for improvement in the United States for railroad improvement/implementation.
Traffic is something everyone experiences or sees every day. Traffic will only get worse in urban cities as the growth of populations increase on the daily. There are two simple solutions to reducing traffic which is to widen the highway or build rail lines. Highway projects are cheaper than rail-road projects and we can see it in society today the constant construction of roads and highways but little to no rail-road construction. The issue with approaching a problem like this is the inability to predict or consider the growth of traffic. The increased capacity will also encourage more commuters to drive. If the capacity is only increased to accommodate the current overflow of drivers, then the capacity will need to be increased more. We should be working on widening highways and the production of rail lines. This would improve both options of transportation. Another benefit of the production of rail lines is the increase in manufacturing jobs. If rail lines are funded around nearby urban cities, then a lot of manufacturing jobs will be created. This would increase the population around urban cities bringing in more money to the city.
There has been a decrease in transit ridership, and it is seen in multiple cities. “15 percent or more since the year of highest ridership in each region in the last decade” (O’Toole 3-4). The United States has recovered from high gas prices as America’s oil industry has been soaring. Gas prices are low which encourages more commuters to drive. Transit systems have poor infrastructures and with the decline in riders, the system can only get worse. Chicago has one of the best public transportation systems in the United States but there are still a lot of commuters who drive instead. Individuals who need to commute to the city from a suburb would much rather drive as the time it takes from the suburb by train could take longer. The price of driving may be more, but the time needed for public transit negates that issue. Japan’s transit system is very efficient and by following their infrastructure, a lot more commuters would appeal to public transit in the States. By doing this, we would reduce the number of cars on the road, reduce the amount of time cars sit in traffic, and ultimately reduce greenhouse emissions.
Another mass transit option are busses. Besides the use of trains/rail-lines, all cities have a public bus system. Busses are a great way to have less journeys needed by person. Essentially, having twenty people travel on one vehicle versus twenty separate vehicles is a lot more efficient. The more consumers use bus transit, the less cars there will be on the road. Less cars would mean less greenhouse emissions, which would conclude that busses are a greener option. Living in Chicago, it is seen daily that busses are not any faster than personal vehicles. This is because busses share the same driving lanes as cars. If anything, busses will increase the amount of traffic due to the need for entering and exiting shared lanes frequently. Exclusive bus lanes are common in other countries and would make bus transit a lot more efficient. If there are lanes dedicated for busses than there would not be any traffic mixing. There was a test done in Seoul, South Korea testing the performance impact of reserved bus lanes. “The reserved bus lane has positive impacts on the bus performance in terms of average travel speed, and the significance of performance improvement was dependent upon right turning movements of the buses and the type of bus lane markings in reserved bus lanes” (Kim 45). The data in the article shows that the average travel speed was higher in reserved bus lanes and there was only improvement when the lanes were only for busses. This can be compared to Chicago and how the busses are not bus only lanes. During peak rush hours, two different busses on the same route are behind each other due to traffic and the need to share lanes.
Technology is advancing every day and the dependence of batteries will only increase in the future. Most cars today are fueled by gasoline as they have been for many years. It was mentioned before that transportation is the main contributor to greenhouse emissions in the Unites States. If cars are the most used type of transportation, then the conversion to electric cars would be the best way to reduce emissions. “The CO2 emissions are 4.5 times higher for a combustion engine car compared to an electric car when the electricity comes from renewable energy sources” (Holmberg & Erdermir 1). If every single car being used right now is electric, then greenhouse emissions would be lowered significantly. This is unrealistic but a long-term goal of having eighty percent of all cars used daily being electric would reduce the contribution of emissions from twenty-nine percent to about fourteen percent. This is only considering light-duty cars as trucks require a much bigger combustion engine. The conversion from combustion engines to electric engines might take a few decades. One of the main issues of having electric cars is that the current technology for batteries is not enough for the average consumer. Tesla is the biggest and most well-known manufacturer for electric vehicles. The Tesla model 3 will be used as a reference since it is the cheapest Tesla model car that can be purchased, and it would be considered most obtainable to the average consumer. The range for this car is two-hundred and twenty miles per charge. This would be a great car if it was used day to day for work. Traveling long distances with this car is not ideal since charging stations are not accessible everywhere. As technology advances, batteries will become more powerful, compact, and efficient. Electric cars are the future as it can reduce greenhouse emissions significantly.
Another type of transportation that can be used are bikes. Bikes date back to the early nineteenth century and are still used in present day. They do not require fuel such as gasoline or even electricity. They can be used as a feeder to mass public transit systems. A lot of suburbs have issues with having access to rail-lines and if traveling to a train station with a bicycle is not an issue then it would encourage more commuters to travel by bicycle and train. If there is a well-planned infrastructure for the use of shared bicycles and the use of rail-lines, then it can potentially be more efficient for an individual to travel. Bicycle is an environmentally sustainable transport mode, which can be used as a main transport mode as well as a feeder to mass public transit systems. However, in many parts of the world, it is becoming unattractive due to insufficient and/or unplanned infrastructure (Agarwal, Ziemke, Nagel 20). Living in Chicago, there are shared bicycles all over downtown. There are a good amount of shared bicycle racks and there seems to be somewhat of a structure to where they are located. If these shared bicycle racks are closer or next to train stations, then the number of consumers who commute by train and by bicycle would increase. This will ultimately decrease the number of cars on the road leading to a decrease in greenhouse emissions.
Recently, the use of Uber and Lyft has been popular. The use of these apps and transportation can be considered the most efficient way to travel by many consumers. These apps are essentially taxis that arrive based off the consumer’s needs. They are advertised as a safe way to travel at the fraction of the cost. The cost of trips is cheaper than taxis. The issue with this ride-sharing app is that traffic congestion increased and the use of public transport in the city decreased. Another issue is that these companies advertise that the average consumer can make a good income from working for them. This leads to an increase of drivers, increase of cars, increase of fuel consumption, and increase in greenhouse emissions. “The latest study looks at traffic levels in San Francisco between 2010 and 2016, dates which reflect the pre-Uber/Lyft era and the time when Uber and Lyft were well established. It found that traffic congestion – measured in journey times – increased by 62%, and at least half of that increase was attributable to Uber and Lyft. At the same time, use of public transport in the city has decreased” (Bowers). There is a high demand for these shared rides. It is considered more convenient for consumers who need to travel into the city instead of using public transport. Travelers would have the luxury of traveling to the city in a short amount of time and not having to worry about parking their own vehicle. This proves that public transit is not the most efficient way to travel but it should be improved.
It is a well-known that the climate is changing, and the Earth is getting warmer. The increase in greenhouse gasses due to human activity is something that needs more attention and action. Consumers see every day that greenhouse emissions are increasing, and we sit in traffic not thinking about what can be done to prevent it. It is ironic that by sitting and doing nothing can be one of the worst things for our planet. People sit in traffic every single day of the week. Public transit is a great way to prevent this and the efficiency of this infrastructure needs to be improved so the average consumer can help reduce greenhouse emissions based off of urban sustainability.
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