Increasing the price of petrol is the best way to solve growing traffic and pollution problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?

Global warming is one of the major 21st century problems due to increasing pollution ratio from machines and factories. Some people have suggested increasing the petrol price in order to solve the pollution problem and to reduce roads congestion, however, others disagree. In my opinion I totally agree with the idea of raising petrol price in order to solve these problems.

On the one hand, high benzene and gasoline prices will push most of the people toward using of public transport. Public transport like buses, trains and subways are cheaper compared to that of petrol required for the same trip on a private car. This would eventually reduce the numbers of cars on the roads and hence less toxic air gases and less crowded roads. Furthermore, if petrol price is raised, most citizens will begin to look for more cheap sources of energy and will reduce their dependency on their own vehicles. Other energy sources like electricity and some air friendly organic gases are now available for home use. Bicycles, for example, have become an acceptable mean of transport in major developed cities like Tokyo, and thereby they can be a perfect substitution for petrol based machines.

On the other hand, some people think that elevation of petrol price would affect mainly the poor population. In the first place, the tickets of the public transport would rise as a result of expensive energy, and it is well known that the lower and middle class community members are the main public transport customers.

Nowadays the world began to search for other natural energy sources that have lesser harmful effects on the atmosphere. These include solar energy and electrical energy and other sources which are now under development like water based energy.

In conclusion, there are both arguments for and against increasing the petrol price in order to reduce pollution and traffic. Although this might affect the poor ones, it will result in great reduction of private cars on the road that would help in these problems solution. Personally I think in order to reduce pollution and traffic, petrol consumption should be reduced and increasing its price is one of the best strategies to achieve these problems.