Research Essay on Traffic Congestion: An Overview of Causes and Solutions

As the world continues to advance, the transport sector continues to experience significant changes with the development of efficient and affordable vehicles, which has consequently resulted in contemporary traffic congestion (Verbavatz & Barthelemy, 2019). Traffic congestion encompasses a transportation condition characterized by increased queueing of vehicles, longer trip times, and slower speed (Jamal et al., 2019). According to the American Transportation Research Institute, traffic congestion costs the country more than $74.1 billion annually, with major cities in Southern California like Los Angeles succumbing to a loss of $8.2 billion as of 2019 (Zhou et al., 2020). The problem of traffic congestion requires a rampant and efficient solution to eliminate the detrimental impacts that transcend beyond monetary values. Therefore, the research focuses on the analysis of the inefficient public transport system contribution to traffic congestion in Southern California, subsequent impacts, and solutions to reduce traffic congestion.

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The study is essential because it equips different stakeholders with the knowledge and insight to formulate viable strategies to solve the problem. The research avails an enabling platform to propel the understanding of different dimensions of contemporary traffic congestion in major urban cities in Southern California, like Los Angeles. It also reveals the importance of formulating effective transport policies to reduce the current congestion problem. Finally, it acts as a reference for a future researcher trying to advocate or address the transport congesting challenges not only in Southern California or America but also in an international platform. Moreover, the objective of the study is to evaluate the possible strategies that the state could utilize to fix traffic congestion and inefficient public transportation in Southern California. The research aims at proposing a solution and exposing the advantages and the ease that people could experience after solving the problem of traffic congestion. It also focuses on giving diverse recommendations on policies that relevant authorities can implement to ensure the achievement of the stipulated goals and objectives.

Research Questions

How has ineffective public transport contributed to traffic congestion in Southern California?

What are the direct impacts of traffic congestion in major cities in Southern California?

What are the effective strategies that could be deployed to resolve the negative impacts of traffic congestion in Southern California?

Organization of the Research Paper

The paper is organized in a strategic form to facilitate an understanding of the purpose of this study and to help deconstruct the problem of ineffective public transport and traffic congestion in Southern California. It encompasses an introduction that gives an overview and trend in modern public transport, highlights the objective and importance of the research. In the literature review section, the paper assesses the previous academic sources on the ineffective transport system and relationship with traffic congestion. It proceeds to the methodology where it focuses on qualitative research and cross-sectional research design, which embraces the survey method to provide relevant data to reveal the nature of the problem.

Literature Review

The literature review avails several materials and souces that deconstruct contemporary problems. The problem of traffic congestion has dominated cities in Southern California, which requires a rampant and efficient solution to eliminate the detrimental impacts that transcend beyond monetary values. Therefore, the research focuses on the analysis of the inefficient public transport system contribution to traffic congestion in Southern California, and a possible solution to reduce traffic congestion. The study will contribute to reducing the gap left by previous research in tackling contemporary transportation challenges.

Relationship between Inefficient Public Transport System and Traffic Congestion in Southern California

Traffic congestion accounts for the delay in the movement of vehicles due to limited road capacity, which suppresses road networks (Vencataya et al., 2018; McCarthy, 2020). Although Southern California has strived to establish numerous public transportation systems to reduce traffic, with a population of 13 million residents, only 360,000 individuals use open rails, and an average of 855,000 use public buses (Panagotopoulos, 2017). Road traffic congestion has continued to increase in many cities due to increased population, an excessive number of vehicles accessing the main towns, ineffective public transportation services, lack of efficient road management strategies, and poor roadway conditions (Jamal et al., 2019). Consequently, with the increased traffic congestion in major cities across Southern California, the state government also loses massive funds. For instance, in 2019 alone, congestion costs Los Angeles 8.2 billion (McCarthy, 2020).

Despite Los Angeles having the third most comprehensive bus and rail transit system in the U.S., it only attracts a few Los Angelenos (Verbavatz & Barthelemy, 2019). Moreover, the high focus that the L.A. Country Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has placed on modernizing the rail system over the public busses has consequently prompted in poor accessibility to a different region (Sun et al., 2018). The untimely nature and high bus fares have often forced many individuals to utilize private means of transportation which have rampantly contributed to overcrowding and traffic congestions (Mallett, 2018). For instance, unlike in New York, with a population of 20 million, more than 5 million people ride on buses every day to work, Los Angeles records a quite insignificant population (Mallett, 2018). On the other hand, San Diego’s poor public transport system, characterized by massive delays, lateness, and inconvenient locations of buses and trolleys, subsequently discourages people from using the public means, which eventually leads to more private vehicles and traffic jams. Nevertheless, increased population growth in many cities in Southern California, such as Los Angeles and San Diego, increases the demand for transportation. This high demand the public transport systems cannot contain, allowing traffic congestion to continue being a significant problem that results in diverse negative impacts (Bhuiyan, 2017). The lack of a sufficient and efficient public transport system in the region to offer alternative efficient services have resulted in a rise in congestion in different city roads and highways irrespective of the effort local authorities have placed to regulate the traffic pressures (Wen et al., 2019).

Possible Solutions to Traffic Congestions

Establishing viable solutions to the dominating traffic congestion requires massive investment to renovate and improve the public transportation systems to be more attractive to people. The relevant authorities must work to ensure accessibility and timeliness of the public buses to discourage people from using private means that often congest city roads (Wen et al., 2019). Reducing the current bus fare and making them accessible to more people irrespective of their class would help shift people from private to public transport, which will subsequently work towards reducing traffic congestion in Southern California cities (Sun et al., 2018). For instance, although currently, Los Angeles has approximately 20,000 bus stops, the fare is quite high, due to increased sales tax to raise funds aimed at improving the rail systems, which discourages people from using public transport (Panagotopoulos, 2017). Therefore, increasing accessibility, reducing fare, and improving the overall public bus system is vital to prompt reduction of traffic congestion.

Further, suppressing private transportation, which significantly contributes to traffic congestion, is essential. The local authorities can solve traffic congestion by enacting public policies such as high taxation for individual car ownership, congestion fees to control the demand for direct travel (Zhou et al., 2020). Also, rather than adopting a car-oriented policy such as improving the infrastructures in cities and an efficient road system, which only works to encourage more private car use, the Californian government must enact policies and legislation that discourage private transportation. For instance, implementing the congestion fee for individual riders would aid in reducing congestion. Alleviating the problem of congestion will help mitigate accidents, maximize traffic flow, and decrease automobile exhaust pollution in the main cities (Bhuiyan, 2017).

Additionally, reducing traffic congestion also depends on the mixed land-use policies, which call for a useful link between land-use planning and transportation (Wen et al., 2019). Instead of creating central business districts (CBDs) in cities, the California government and local authorities should engage in a mixed land-use scheme, which allows the utilization of commercial and housing space in the same region to reduce the need and demand for traveling (Zhou et al., 2020). Flexible planning that advocates for re-emerging the housing space and commercial space not only provides a holistic approach, co-location of jobs and revive the regional economies but also diminishes people’s need to travel to work because of distance reduction (Wen et al., 2019). Due to proximity to work, which mixed-used scheme or commercial and housing space provide, it will encourage most people to walk to work, hence reducing public congestion (Wen et al., 2019).

Conclusively, with the rampant inefficiency in the public transport system in major cities in Southern California, traffic congestion continues to increase due to the high affinity that many people develop to private transport. To eradicate the congestion, therefore, require restructuring the public transport means to meet the demand of commuters, establish policies that suppress private transportation, and engage in mixed-land usage schemes to diminish the need for frequent transit, which will help reduce the traffic congestion.

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis

Southern California has an ineffective public transport system.

Alternative Hypothesis

Ineffective public transportation in Southern California causes continuous high traffic congestion experienced in many cities in the region.

Re-establishing active public transportation would significantly help in reducing traffic congestion in Southern California.

Data and Methods

Research Design

The research design encompasses the general strategies utilized by the researchers to promote a logical and coherent study which effectively addresses the problems in question. The study focuses on qualitative data analysis to establish the relationship between the ineffective transportation system and the increasing traffic congestion in Southern California. Through a cross-sectional research design, the study provides a snapshot of the characteristics associated with the problem at hand. The research focuses on observation and intensive interviews to collect data among participants to effectively deconstruct the nature of the problem caused by an ineffective transportation system. This enables the research to ascertain the widespread impacts of traffic congestion and recommend the appropriate policies and legislation to rectify the predominant problem.