Although driving your own car offers a nice sense of independence, public transportation is not without merits. From the interpersonal to the financial, buses, subways, and Ubers provide a reasonable alternative to the responsibility of having a personal vehicle to maintain and insure. Listed here are some of the unique benefits gained by utilizing transportation infrastructure.
Save $$$
According to the American Public Transportation Association, individuals who reside in American cities can save upwards of $9,000 annually by forgoing a car or truck for public transport. This statistic accounts for the costs of gas, insurance, moderate maintenance and parking. Although your savings in rural America may be less, the numbers trend toward public transport keeping more of your money in your pocket.
Mitigate Environmental Pollution
When public transport workers go on strike, most people prepare for heavy traffic, and bus accident attorneys prepare for slumps. One study done in Italy, however, tells readers to get ready for more air pollution. During a worker strike in Milan, scientists recorded ozone spikes from 11 to 33 percent. This was accounted for by more people driving personal vehicles since buses and railways weren’t available. Since more air pollution leads to higher cancer risks, using transportation infrastructure can be healthy for the ozone layer and human beings.
Facilitate Sociability
With stores like Walmart installing thousands of self-checkout machines annually, people can now leave the house to meet their needs without talking to anybody at all. Studies have consistently shown, however, that sociability leads to a longer, healthier life. Public transportation, especially taxi cabs and Ubers, keep people engaged in interactions and conversations with strangers by offering an environment conductive to small-talk and simple exchanges. Public transport allows for a range of encounters with various kinds of people, leading to a more sociable, and therefore healthier, transportation environment.
Bolstered Economic Security
Individual cars and trucks rely on oil and gas for their mobility, and that oil must come from somewhere. As it turns out, data show that reliance on foreign oil to keep our country mobile means that any embargo or hiccup in oil’s supply can damage the economy. According to the same data, public transportation is linked to reducing oil use and dependence, thus serving as a catalyst for reducing the likelihood of another recession.
Public transportation systems can serve communities in unique ways that positively affect their health and wealth. Choosing to utilize this resource gradually lessens the woes of burgeoning social and economic issues, proving that our buses and trains are more than mechanisms that simply ferry us from one place to another.
