Having a vehicle can be quite convenient. Whenever you want to go somewhere all you have to do is hop in your car, drive and watch the miles pass by in a matter of moments. But having a vehicle has its pitfalls as well. Rising gas prices, maintenance, traffic jams, and the possibility of being involved in an automobile accident are things that automobile owners would much rather avoid. For those of us that would much rather let someone else do the driving, public mass transportation may be just the thing they’re looking for.
Clean Air
One of the environmental benefits of taking public transportation is cleaner air. If more people choose public transportation over their private vehicle, then the amount of harmful emissions put out by cars could be significantly reduced. These harmful emissions clog the air and can cause respiratory problems as well. It is reported that each year people that use public transportation systems help avoid 126 million pounds of a major source of smog called hydrocarbons and 156 million pounds of a respiratory disease-causing chemical known as nitrogen oxide.
Gasoline Dependency
Opting for public transportation rather than driving a car can also lessen the United States’ dependency on gas. The fewer cars there are on the road, the less our need will be for large amounts of gas. It’s possible that if people made more of an effort to take public transportation, we could reduce auto fuel consumption by 1.5 billion gallons a year. In an effort to become even more environmentally conscious, there are several public transportation systems that have started using compressed natural gas, low-sulfur burning buses or even diesel-electric buses.
Urban Runoff
If there are more cars on a road than that road can handle, then more roads may be have to be built. While this may sound convenient for those of us who are tired of being stuck in traffic all of the time and long commutes to work, this is actually doing more harm than good…for the environment at least.
Surfaces paved in order to make way for more traffic causes urban runoff. Basically this means disrupting nature’s natural environment design in order for human life to be a bit more comfortable. Urban runoff is the cause of 55% of environmentally disrupted ocean shorelines, 46% of disrupted estuary miles, and 21% of disrupted lake miles.
Choosing public transportation is not only good for the environment, it’s also good for our health; walking to the bus stop and train stop is good exercise. Riding public transportation also allows us the chance to relax and let someone else worry about the driving for a change, reducing our stress levels. Explore the public transportation offers available in your community today.
When he’s not reading about the latest developments in auto technology, Miles Walker normally writes feature articles for carinsurancecomparison.org. He recently talked about cheap car insurance quotes.
Related posts: