[Positive and Negative] Vehicle-free Days

Some cities have vehicle-free days when private cars, trucks and motorcycles are banned from the city center. People are encouraged to use public transportation such as buses, taxis and metro on vehicle-free days. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Advantages – benefits / merits / gains 

-> adj: advantageous, beneficial, positive  

Disadvantages – drawbacks / demerits / shortcomings 

-> adj: disadvantageous, detrimental, adverse, negative 

Outweight – surpass, eclipse, exceed (v)

Overwhelming (adj)   

It is becoming increasingly popular for metropolises worldwide to implement traffic-free days, when private vehicles are prohibited in order to encourage the use of public transit within the city center. Despite acknowledging the merits of this development, I would argue that popularizing such a course of action is largely detrimental. 

On the one hand, proponents of traffic-free days often capitalize on its positive impact on traffic volume within city centers. When private transport such as motorcycles or cars are forced to use alternative routes, the number of traffic congestions would be greatly reduced. Furthermore, they also argue that such a proposal would be necessary for combating air pollution inside city centers, which may temporarily provide relief for the atmosphere, thereby improving inhabitants’ living standards. Not only that, advocates often talk about its role in encouraging healthy living, as citiens who still wish to travel within the city centre would have to resort to walking or cycling, which are habits contributing positively to community health. 

Despite the aforementioned benefits, flaws can be clearly observed from the implementation of traffic-free days. For one, any level of relief, both for the environment and traffic flow, would be temporary, registering little long-term improvement. Furthermore, banning commercial and private transport would result in substantial disruptions to the local economy, as exemplified by delays in goods transport and lateness of workers. FInally, not every countries are well-equipped to accommodate such a proposal, especially as it would put a strain on their existing public transit system. In many South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, citizens already have to cope with overcrowded trains and buses on a daily basis due to a lack of public funding. Should these countries approve these initiatives and forbid the use of private vehicles, even temporarily, the already-fragile public transport network would be crippled due to the sudden influx of ridership. 

In conclusion, I believe that the minimal and temporal gains for the environment and local inhabitants resulting from traffic-free days cannot justify their implementation, especially when compared to the negative impact on the public transit system and local economy that come with them, As such, this measure is far more detrimental than advantageous for most cities.