There is a good deal of evidence that increasing car use is contributing to global warming and having other undesirable effects on people’s health and well-being. What can be done to discourage people from using their cars?

It is evident that 1mass car ownershipthe mass car ownership is associated with several environmental and health issues, including global warming, lung cancer, and anxiety. Although the convenience of possessing a car has made it 2an almost inevitable trendalmost an inexorable trend, there are measures that governments can take to discourage unnecessary car use.

3The first and most effective measureThe first, and also the most effective measure could be to 4increase the cost of owning and using a carmake it expensive to own and use a car. This measure can be implemented by 5heavily taxing car purchasestaxing heavily on initial car purchasing, 6driving on congested roadscongested roads using, and petrol 7consumptionconsuming. By doing so, people might start considering reducing their car use, especially for 8unnecessary tripsthe unnecessary trips. 9However, there is a drawback of this approach that it is often the poorer residents will suffer from the increased 10costscost. The poor might have to cut some necessary trips because of the financial burden, whereas 11wealthier residentsthe rich ones would be able to 12retain the convenience of car usemaintain their convenience from car use. Therefore, this measure may be effective, but not fair to the poor.

Another way to discourage people from using their cars is to 15encourage them to useencourage them using 16alternative forms of transportalternative transports, such as trains, buses, and bicycles. 17Evidence has shown that cities, such as Tokyo and Paris, where better public transport systems are offered, car use rates are lower and roads are less congested. People will 18be willingonly be most willing to use public transports when they are almost or even more 19convenientconvenience than driving their cars. Therefore, governments could invest more in 20transport infrastructure, system design, and constructioninfrastructure and transport system design and construction in order to provide adequate and competitive alternatives.

To conclude, increasing the cost of having and using a car could be an effective way to reduce the car use. 22However, improving and encouraging the use of public transports could be the better and more sustainable way to achieve this goal.