Some members of the public advocate increasing the price of petrol as a solution to the problem of

growing traffic congestion. I believe this logic is deeply flawed because traffic congestion has
accompanied the rocketing price of petroleum products. So, the correlation is rather positive, if any. In
my opinion population dwelling in the city, urban infrastructure and modes of transport are important
factors to be considered in mitigating the problem.

Major cities around the world have struggled with traffic congestion in recent years. A major contributor
to this problem is a dramatic rise in population in those cities that are often poorly planned without
adequate infrastructures for public transport. As the number of people commuting for work and study
increases, so does the number of vehicles plying the roads. The development of modern suburbs and
planned cities with decentralization of essential services like health and education will decrease the
population burden in cities that are already overcrowded. For example, after upgrading suburbs around
Tokyo, Japan to principal municipalities, the city has seen a significant fall in population; the hours spent
on traffic jams have decreased sharply as a result.

Railways, metro and subways can move a large number of people swiftly without the problem of traffic.
The routes are cleared in advance and schedules are tightly regulated, with no room for casual delays as
experienced in road traffic. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh for example, used to be notorious for its
traffic jams. But it has seen substantial improvement with this problem since the city metro was opened
last year. Flyovers and underpasses are time-tested remedies for bottlenecks at major junctions, which
can divert traffic promptly to respective destinations.

In conclusion, addressing overpopulation in big cities, along with the development of planned
infrastructure and transport facilities are probable answers to the problem of traffic congestion.