Social commuting – educate the people

Did you know that 83% of all the passengers’ kilometers traveled in the European Union were covered by passenger cars. Only 17% use public transport such as trains or buses. For many people it is easier, faster, and more comfortable to take the own car than a public transport system. Some people do not even have access to public transport system. Expand other ways of commuting; making them attractive to use and to make people aware of those other options is difficult and often expensive.

The majority of Europe’s population lives in cities. Until 2050 it is expected that two third of the world’s population will live in rural areas. 70% of global energy related carbon dioxide emissions is caused by cities. Taking the personal car to commute in rural areas can cause many further problems. One of them is that 30% of urban traffic is caused only by cars which are looking for a parking slot.

Reasons for this problem may be that people are not aware of the consequences of their behavior. Looking at the specific topic of the difficulties of social commuting, people only take account of the direct costs of modal ownership like a car such as the vehicle itself, fuel, insurance, and so on. They do not know that they also generate indirect costs such as the damage on our environment. They are not aware of this fact and in some cases not educated enough to question their own actions.

Sources:

https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch8en/conc8en/ch8c1en.html

http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/How-Smart-Transportation-Projects-Can-Help-Solve-Social-Issues.html

http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/28/a-commuter-revolution-how-cities-are-collaborating-to-solve-the-challenges-of-sustainable-urban-transport/

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/pointofview/2010/08/commuting-has-it-affected-your-health.html