Payton+R’s+2017+OpEd+Article

** Public Transport  **

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For anyone who hasn’t experienced the the mind numbing, soul-destroying stop and go traffic jam that is rush hour in California you should consider yourself lucky. Especially in urban areas public transportation falls short in reliability and speed compared to cities because of the more spread apart layout of homes, jobs, schools, and stores. For many reasons this is going to be a continuing problem. Fuel consumption will contribute to the emissions already relating to global warming while eating up all of your gas money. Frustration and stress of drivers is bound to make even the most patient become reckless or impatient. Then worst of all, response time to emergencies like car crashes will be drastically slowed down, so if people who need critical medical attention may not get it in time. As the world population increases if you weren’t in a traffic jam already, you won’t be so lucky in the future. =====

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If public transport and crowded roads are struggling now is it the government's job to stop it? Does the government have to make changes for the low income families who rely on the bus, who can’t afford cars, whose unexpected delay in commuting might jeopardize their job. The answer is yes. Big and small problems need to be approached with the same strength and determination, after all big problems always start small to begin with, why let transportation become a bigger issue than it needs to be. Urban areas are so spread out some of the nearest stops are 15 minutes away by walking; so if you have groceries, kids or are faced with darkness from night I can only imagine how extremely exhausting it must be. At night possibilities of sexual assault, robbery, or being attacked, are things that have to be risked because there is no other choice or means of getting by. It doesn’t matter if your feet are aching, your back feels like it's going to bend and break, or if you just got back from working a 9 hour day, public transit may be the only way. =====

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If this is the case what can be done to improve both situations? Sure we aren’t like San Francisco or New York which have cable cars and trains every two seconds but I don't thinks it’s impossible for urban areas. Traffic is already monitored so redirecting traffic to alternative routes with traffic light controllers or maybe electronic signs can disperse high levels of crowded cars. The tactic of ramp metering too has already proven to work as traffic lights at the on ramp of freeways gradually let cars on instead of all at once. Lessening packed areas can gives buses time to speed up and not make so many unneeded stops. Besides this though so many many more improvements can be made; fares need to be low, stops have to cover the whole community, there needs to be enough buses to allow a high population. As time goes on the government and citizens aren’t going to be able to stop it from getting out of hand. Now is the time to amend transportation rather than having to rebuild it later on in the future because it failed. =====