Modern Urban Transportation Alternatives Essay Research Paper

Modern Urban Transportation Alternatives Essay, Research Paper

Recently I went on an adventure around Europe and visited three major cities: Paris; Amsterdam; and Berlin. Throughout my travels I used many different forms of transport to get around including trains, buses, cars, ferries, and my own two feet. It was such a central theme to my adventure that I decided to research transportation within urban areas for this report. It has long been a challenge to human kind to get from point A to point B. In the early days of humanity, people were limited to there feet. With the advent of the wheel, transportation became faster and saved time, therefore leaving more time for other activities. It also enabled people to go much greater distances. However, for many hundreds of years people were limited by how fast their horse could pull them, how fast their feet could peddle or how swiftly the current of the river could push them. At the end of last century human beings overcame this limitation with the development of the combustion engine and motorised transportation which enable them to go faster as well as further. Trains, planes, automobiles, space vehicles and many variations of each of these bring human beings to every corner of the world and beyond. However, motorised transportation is not only used in long distance travel, most automobile transportation takes place within urban and suburban centres. As the rate of urbanisation increased over the last century, so did the use of automobiles. Now there are more than 540 million automobiles on the roads of the world with most of these being in the developed countries 1 . Unfortunately cars cause problems, especially when there are many cars in one area such as an urban centre. These problems include, air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic congestion to name but a few. To solve these problems there must be a shift away from car-focussed urban centres and an increase in car alternatives such as bicycles and public transportation. An understanding of the current social and environmental problems in regards to cars must be achieved before feasible solutions can be offered. Cars have become a common luxury in modern cities throughout the world. Being a vehicle of convenience and status, improving economies have made it possible for families to own 2 or more cars. Within cities many people view owning a car as essential. With busy modern lifestyles, a need for conserving time and getting around faster makes the car a handy tool. As well, many people living in the suburbs make a daily commute into the city for work. This supports the statistic that 95% of all car trips in North America are less than 105 miles . Another interesting statistic shows that in 1985, the total number of miles driven in western industrialised nations was 2+ trillion miles (approximately + a light year) . With all this traffic many problems arise such as air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic congestion and accidents. The combustion engine, developed at the end of the 19th century, uses fossil fuels to drive its motor. This engine is present in almost every modern day vehicle including airplanes, automobiles, trains, and boats. Unfortunately the burning of fossil fuels is not a clean technology. Many different pollutants are released from these vehicles when used. As well, fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource. Due in large part to the high amount of vehicular traffic in urban centres, air pollution is greatest here. Air pollution has a negative impact on many things such as human health, damage to buildings and other structures, and harms crops and vegetation in the surrounding area . There are a few main classes of pollutants that are mainly emitted by the transport sector. The first of these is carbon oxides (both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide). The production of carbon monoxide comes from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels and exacerbates and causes many different diseases. Up to 90% of carbon monoxide emissions from non-natural origin come from the transport sector . Catalytic converters have helped to stabilise the emissions of carbon monoxide throughout the world . Carbon dioxide is responsible for a smaller amount of car emissions. However it is the main greenhouse gas and may be contributing to global warming . Nitrogen oxides are another significant air pollutant from automobiles. In many areas nitrogen oxides are above the stated limit, which is having major impacts on human health and the environment. They are known to cause respiratory problems in humans as well as cause acid rain, which can disrupt sensitive ecosystems . Another major air pollutant is particulates. This suspended particulate matter can be in either solid or liquid form, and includes soil, soot, smoke, metals, salts, acids and pesticides . Particulates are responsible for many respiratory problems, and depending on the composition may be toxic or carcinogenic. High particle levels can also be responsible for the general dirtiness of the surrounding environment . Other pollutants are also emitted which have negative effects on health and the environment. Overall it is the high amount of emissions from cars in a city that make urban air pollution a large problem. Another form of pollution caused by vehicles is noise pollution. Although it does not seem as consequential as air pollution, noise pollution in urban areas is actually having a great impact on human health in t