You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world’s cities can be attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use their cars less and public transport more. Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport.
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
Anyone who lives in a city is aware of the increasing number of cars on the road and the kinds of problems this creates are traffic jams, air pollution and longer commuting periods. As economies grow and access to cars spreads to increasing numbers of people, this trend is likely to worsen. The solution, it would seem, is for the government to encourage the use of public transport in urban areas, thus decreasing dependence on the car.
One way to stimulate public transport use is to make private car use more expensive and inconvenient. The introduction of tolls along urban motorways has been successfully employed in many cities. Other such measures are high-priced permits for parking in urban areas and the restriction of parking to a limited number of cars. Faced with high costs or no place to park, commuters would perhaps be more willing to abandon their cars in favour of buses or trains.
There are also less punishing ways of spurring public transport use. The construction of free car-parks at suburban train stations has proven successful in quite a number of countries. This allows commuters to drive part of the way but then they ultimately use public transportation into the central, most congested, urban areas.
Moreover, private cars can not carry many passengers at a time yet occupy spaces in the street. As the number of cars is increasing in the road so does the traffic jam. Perhaps the major disadvantage of cars, in general, is the huge damage they do to the human health and to the environment. More cars mean more pollution. The environment pollution is a serious issue today and at any cost, we must reduce the amount of pollution.
Indeed, making public transport more comfortable and convenient should work to attract more commuters and decrease traffic congestion. Public transport that is convenient and comfortable retains its passengers, much like any business that satisfies its customers. The more commuters committed to taking public transport, the less congestion on city streets.
(Approximately330words)
(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)