Friday, March 27, 2015

Importance of public transport

Public transport is an efficient element for a sustainable society as transportation contributes to a big sector in the personal greenhouse gases emission. Reduce the car use seems difficult for people live in Sydney. In this age, with the ease of affordability and availability of having a motor vehicle, young adults buy car when they come to an age of 18. When I went to a high school for site visit, I saw some high school students already have their own vehicles, which surprise me a lot as in Hong Kong does not have such culture.



According to a research taken in 2012, over 71% adults aged 18 who travelled to work or school by their own vehicles. On the contrary, less than 20% Australians used public transport. Statistics in Sydney shows the similar percentage to the national number. Compared to Sydney, prevalence of public transport is seen from Hong Kong. Hong Kong has the most sophisticated transport system in the whole world. More than 90% of population take public transport for their daily travels. The octopus card system plays an essential role for this glorious result. Considering such electronic payment system makes the public transport experience more convenient, we can wish the opal card that can encourage Australian residents to use public system.

Inconvenience, comfort, privacy and no service available are the main reasons that people in Australia tend to travel with their own cars. Therefore, in order to make a more efficient transportation method, there is a need for the government to design a system with more alternatives and deepness.


References:

1. Use public transport

2. 4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, July 2013  
3. Car Travel in Sydney:
Changes in the Last Decade


4.  Lam, William H.K. [2003] (2003). Advanced Modeling for Transit Operations and Service Planning. Elsevier publishing. ISBN 0-08-044206-4

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