It is not a secret that cities are becoming places where there is more priority for cars and not

for
people. This answers to recent trends where car ownership has increased almost uncontrollably.
In this essay, I will give some reasons to support the fact that this trend is happening at a rate that
is difficult to ignore. At the same time, I will develop some ideas connected to alternatives to
discourage people from using their cars and reduce their impact on traffic and mobility. In next
lines, I will give some extra points and, also examples to explain my ideas.

Why is it true that big cities are now a big traffic jam because of an increasing rate on car
ownership? Well, this responds to two specific factors. In first place, there has been an increase in
the global population belonging to middle classes: population that believes that having a car is a
way to express their new social and economic status. Additionally, linked to our wider up-scaled
economy, car production is shifting to local markets, so, it is not only cheaper to produce them,
but this reduces costs associated to imports, making them more affordable for pretty much
everyone. For example, Bogota is one of the most representative cases of this. I have been living
here for about 10 years now, and when I got here, none of my friends had a car; now, almost all of
them (around 8) have used or new cars, which is a response to their new status as middle class .
This is a good case that reinforces my perspective.

Taking into account that, this trend does not show any signs of stopping, we are only left with
certain actions to discourage people from using or getting more cars. One of them is taxation,
which means higher taxes for buying automobiles or increasing the ones already established in
order to make people think twice about keeping their vehicles. Another one is to promote greener
alternatives such as biking, public transportation use, or carpooling. Or, we can simply apply a
combination of all of these in order to have a higher rate of effectiveness. If I follow up with the
situation in Bogota, the city is taking actions in order to reduce traffic problems due to higher
numbers of cars. To illustrate this better, we have different programs such as an extensive
exclusive bike lanes network, higher taxes for people with more than one registered car and, an
optimization of public transportation seeking to attract more citizens. All these actions are tackling
slowly this problematic situation.

In conclusion, there is no an easy exit to traffic problems, even less if they are linked to an
increasing car ownership. However, actions can be taken and, as the old saying implies, it is better
something than nothing.