The Need for Subsidizing Public Transportation Essay

Introduction

Public transport is a natural and integral part of the urban landscape, and its functional meaning is broad and diverse. At least, its fundamental essence is to ensure freedom of movement in a city or a town, as well as to expand the boundaries of this freedom and “push the walls of time” standing around people’s lives. As a rule, financial support and development of this type of transport give unique advantages and a tendency to better changes and transformations. Based on individual experience, knowledge, and ideas, the author believes that subsidizing public transport is one of the essential and significant decisions taken by the Government.

Argumentation and Examples

It should be noted that as one of the varieties of passenger transport, public transport plays a crucial role in urban life and infrastructure development. Furthermore, it is an excellent public transport system that makes the city livable, providing not only convenience but also a condition for economic growth. By the way, it occupies the priority place in the current urban development programs and projects at the international level (Guzman & Oviedo, 2018). Hence, it has a special significance and value for citizens and a particular region needing exceptional support, assistance, and service. Consequently, the Government should draw up thematic plans and direct its actions to help public transport through subsidies and other financial solutions.

Primarily, in order to correctly, competently, and objectively explain why the Government should act in this way, it is necessary to refer to the following ideas and examples regarding the advantages of subsidizing public transport. Thus, transit subsidies are one of the best strategies in terms of the external effects of traffic, economic efficiency, equality, and fairness (Börjesson et al., 2020). For instance, providing free access to transport services would significantly reduce the number of cars on the roads and, consequently, increase public transport and jobs for drivers. The financing of transportation at the expense of public funds is an instrument of influence on road safety, especially in a specific territory (Poliak et al., 2018). Thus, by choosing a bus instead of a car, a person thereby frees up road space, minimizing congestion and increasing the number of parking spaces for automobilists. According to Xu et al. (2018), payments provided at the state budget’s expense can improve society’s general welfare, regardless of what form and context a policy takes. Generally, the Government’s support has a holistic and comprehensive impact, starting with the possibility of accelerating the work of transport and ending with improving roads.

The accessibility of public transport is crucial for its general availability. The role of money, or in other words, the cost of a trip, largely can determine the readiness of a particular category to travel (Wong et al., 2018). For example, not every family can afford a private car in some regions, and a taxi ride to work may cost much more than a metro or bus trip. In this situation, the Government’s subsidies in some instances and phenomena guarantee high-quality public transportation services at reasonable, affordable prices (Xu et al., 2018). Most importantly, transport subsidies have a progressive, innovative distribution profile (Börjesson et al., 2020). Funding for public transport will help to smooth out the problem of inequality and poverty, prioritizing the unprotected category of persons, older people, students, people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and families (Guzman & Oviedo, 2018). In addition, the preferential travel system through such assistance stimulates older people’s participation in social activities and increases their mobility (Wong et al., 2018). Therefore, the Government’s support will be able to ease the financial burden, increase the availability of employment opportunities, and affect social justice in the general sense.

Therefore, since public transport is a tool for economic development and job creation, investments in it should be considered not as expenses (public transport is often subsidized) but as investments in the development of a city. Moreover, the “evolution” of public transport through the Government’s support helps to enhance the environmental situation in towns or megapolises; it is good for health because it forces passengers to walk at least a little. Thus, subsidizing public transport and urban and suburban communication is one of the critical tasks. This is important not only for large megacities but also for small settlements, where sometimes there are not enough convenient routes, and buses or trains are worn out.

Conclusion

Summarizing the above facts and details, it should be stated that the Government should focus on subsidizing public transport due to a wide range of positive benefits and advantages from these “investments.” Funding for this type of transport will create economic growth and improve road conditions. Thus, the cases of road accident risks will be reduced, and more parking spaces will appear. Transit subsidies promote the development of justice and honesty, as well as allow the use of resources to eradicate poverty and income inequality. For example, older people will be able to walk more often, travel around a city, and interact with society, and adults with low incomes will get to work in another area. Hence, this procedure should be considered an investment in the future, progress, and prosperity.

References

Börjesson, M., Eliasson, J., & Rubensson, I. (2020). Distributional effects of public transport subsidies. Journal of Transport Geography, 84, 1-19. Web.

Guzman, L. A., & Oviedo, D. (2018). Accessibility, affordability and equity: Assessing ‘pro-poor’public transport subsidies in Bogotá. Transport Policy, 68, 37-51. Web.

Poliak, M., Semanová, Š., Mrnikova, M., Komačková, L., Šimurková, P., Poliakova, A., & Hernandes, S. (2018). Financing public transport services from public funds. Transport Problems, 12(4), 61-72. Web.

Xu, P., Wang, W., & Wei, C. (2018). Economic and environmental effects of public transport subsidy policies: A spatial CGE model of Beijing. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 1-12. Web.

Wong, R. C. P., Szeto, W. Y., Yang, L., Li, Y. C., & Wong, S. C. (2018). Public transport policy measures for improving elderly mobility. Transport Policy, 63, 73-79. Web.