why we need better public transportation | Teen Ink

why we need better public transportation

March 17, 2023
By Anonymous

Dear reader


I wish to remain mostly anonymous, but I am a student at the J. graham brown school

And I am here to inform you about Louisville's public transportation system because Louisville needs better public transportation for two reasons. 

Number one, for the climate. It is proven that a better public transportation system and less car-centric infrastructure lead to a more eco-friendly city because if more people use buses and trains rather than cars, it will lead to fewer overall vehicles on the road, leading to fewer carbon emissions, this is visible when you compare us to the Netherlands, because in 2022, the US emitted 4.46 gigatons (1 billion tons) of carbon dioxide, and coincidently spent only 0.29% of its total spending that year on public transportation. And in the Netherlands in 2022, they emitted only 178 megatons (1 million tons) and spent 1% of the total government spending on public transportation. A study from 2016 from the Louisville KY official website showed that 18 percent of all emissions were from on-road transportation and according to a report from the EPA, is 27% nationally.

 Reason number two, having an extremely car-centric city can penalize anyone who cannot afford a car, because it makes it nearly impossible to go anywhere without a car because there are not enough sidewalks and bike lanes and if we just added more sidewalks or even a subway, I am sure it would lower the poverty rate, and I believe this because in new york, which has a good subway system, has a poverty rate of 13.9% which is about 2% less than Louisville (15.2%)

You may argue that it would cost too much, however, you would be wrong as, although it would cost to include better public transportation, over time, it would cost less for maintenance.


The author's comments:

it is an assignment from my english teacher


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