Benefits of Public Transport: Economic, Health, and Social Advantages

This assignment elaborates on the main benefits of public transportation, including economic, health, and social advantages. It discusses how public transport reduces road congestion, brings a sense of unity within the community, reduces air pollution, is cost-saving, safer, healthier, less stressful, and gives freedom of movement.

Running head: PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Public transport
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ID
Course
Unit
Lecturer
Date

PUBLIC TRANSPORT 2
Question 1
Among the available topics for the unit, the assignment is going to work on the benefits
of public transport as the topic of choice.
Question 2
Under the topic of benefits public transport, the issue will report and elaborate on the
following:
1. Economic benefits of public transport.
2. Health advantages of using public transport.
3. Social benefits that the community get when they make use of public transport.
Question 3
After having the three topics in mind, the solution will give general points which would
include the health benefits, economic and the social benefits that the society get when they make
use of the public transport means.
Question 4
Hazledine, T., Donovan, S., & Mak, C. (2017). Urban agglomeration benefits from public transit
improvements: Extending and implementing the Venables model. Research in
Transportation Economics, 66, 36-45.
Ibrahim, M. F., & McGoldrick, P. J. (2017). Shopping choices with public transport options: an
agenda for the 21st century. Routledge.
Litman, T. (2017). Evaluating public transit benefits and costs: Best practices guidebook.

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Stubbs, P. C., Tyson, W. J., & Dalvi, M. Q. (2017). Transport economics. Routledge
Question 5
Anderson, M. K., Nielsen, O. A., & Prato, C. G. (2017). Multimodal route choice models of
public transport passengers in the Greater Copenhagen Area. EURO Journal on
Transportation and Logistics, 6(3), 221-245.
Black, J. (2018). Urban transport planning: Theory and practice. Routledge.
Glaister, S. (2018). The allocation of urban public transport subsidy. In Privatisation and the
Welfare State (pp. 177-200). Routledge.
Kamaruddin, R., Osman, I., & Pei, C. A. C. (2017). Customer expectations and its relationship
towards public transport in Klang Valley. Journal of ASIAN Behavioural Studies, 2(4),
29-39.
Question 6
Benefits of public transport
Introduction
Hazledine, Donovan, & Mak, (2017) says that, public transport is a system that enables
many people especially members of a given community to travel together on a designated route.
The means of moving in the public sector may take various forms including light rail, subways,
and buses.
Consequently, there are numerous benefits of public transport. The goal of this assignment is to
elaborate on the main benefits of public transportation. The benefits may include the economic

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once health wise and the advantage to the community at large. Members of the population make
use of public transport when they go to work, school or traveling for leisure.
The main benefits of using public transport.
After doing thorough research on the library books and articles, the following are the
main benefits of public transport:
a. It reduces the frequent road congestion
When using public transportation, one vehicle or train accommodate up to two hundred
passengers. The result of the high capacity buses is that the number of vehicles using the public
roads would reduce in number hence the struggle for space on the streets would reduce according
to Ibrahim & McGoldrick, (2017). Apart from that, when the number of cars reduces same to
congestion, the time the vehicles used to move from one place to another is reduced
tremendously, the passengers can now reach their destination faster than when they use private
means of transport.
b. It brings a sense of unity within the community
When people are traveling together when going to work, Litman, (2017) argues that they
can share their stories — the integration that members of the community provide them a platform
to give a solution to the challenges they are facing as members of the society. Besides that, in the
case of children going to school, when they travel together, it dismisses the sense of isolation that
other people may feel. For example, some people think that those who use public transport are
people who earn a low income. However, public transportation does not discriminate people
according to their class; their charges are the same provided that the passengers are heading to
the same venue.

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c. It reduces the level of air pollution on public roads.
According to Glaister, (2018), vehicles and trains are one of the significant contributors
of air pollution through the smoke that comes from their engines when many people in the
community use their cars to go to work and ferry their children to school, the amount of smoke
that the vehicles release to the atmosphere is of a higher amount. However, public transport
reduces the number of cars making use of the roads to transport people. Few vehicles translate to
the little amount of smoke released to the atmosphere hence reduced the rate of pollution.
d. Public transport is cost saving.
When everyone in the community has his or her vehicle, they must pay for the
maintenance, buy fuel and incur the cost of parking when they use their cars to travel to the
workplace according to Stubbs, Tyson & Dalvi, (2017). Consequently, public transport does
away with all these because the conductor in public van will only request the passenger to pay
for the traveling fee and nothing again. Apart from the above cost, there are also cost of buying a
personal vehicle, subscribing and renewing of the insurance fee which one must do when they
have their vehicles. Public transport assists in saving all these expenses.
e. Public transport is safer as compared to private means of transportation
Before a public transport driver assumes the work of a driver, Anderson, Nielsen, &
Prato, (2017) says that he or she must undergo serious training. Apart from that, these drivers
receive constant updates for the new rules that the government requires them to follow. On the
other side, personal car owners are not as experienced as the public transport vehicle drivers. In
sometimes, the level of accidents that own cars causes is higher than those of the public

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transport. The outcome of these instances means that using public transportation is safer than the
private means of transport.
f. Using public transport is healthier for the community.
For one to access the public means of transport, he or she must travel from home to the
bus station. Walking from house to a standard bus station is a way of doing exercise. Adapting
the walking style every day promotes a healthier life habit to the members of the community.
When it comes to personal cars, one gets inside his or her vehicle in the compound and only
moves out when they reach the job place. When one goes on with such actions for an extended
period, he or she may start developing diseases related to health which is a disadvantage to the
person.
g. Public means of transport is less stressful
When it comes to the issue of stress, it mainly deals with comfortability. Black, (2018)
argues that, having a personal car influence an individual to buy cool music system in his or her
car and other beauty that may not be helpful to the person. However, in public means of transport
one does not need more comfortable things, provided the vehicle has fulfilled the traffic rules
such as having seat belts and being in a reasonable driving condition, the person is good to go. It
is also evident that people who are owning personal cars always struggle to look for a
comfortable place to park their vehicles into when they reach their working places. However, the
public vehicles have a commonplace of parking which do not have so much comfortability.
h. Public transport gives one the freedom to move from one place to another without
worry.

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People who own cars always consider the security of their vehicles before they decide
where to go. For example, when one has parked his or her vehicle in a particular place in town,
he cannot go far because he values the car. Anything can happen at the car park, for example,
fire outbreak, theft or any other form of accident according to Kamaruddin, Osman, & Pei,
(2017). The benefit of public transport is that it gives one freedom to go where he or she likes
without worrying about the security of the vehicle he had boarded.
Conclusion
Public transport provides various benefits to society today. As illustrated in this solution,
the benefits include economy, social and health advantages. Individuals get employed when
people embrace public transport as their favorite means of moving from one place to another
place. The government is also able to collect more taxes from these vehicles which improve the
economy of the country. Besides that, when people are making use of public transport, no one
feels isolated. Everyone thinks that he or she is in the same class as others. People share ideas
concerning the challenges that are facing them, and in other people’s opinion, they can improve
on whatever they are doing. Consequently, the problem that might face public sector is breaking
of traffic rules, therefore, the government should ensure that the drivers have experienced before
going out to ferry people.