With the volumes of vehicles increasing so substantially that outpace infrastructure expansion, roads are more congested than ever before. Therefore, several nations have levied a congestion charge on citizens during peak hours as a solution to traffic jams. Although this development is disadvantageous to some extent, I would contend that there are far more benefits.
The main disadvantage of congestion taxing is that it may pose a financial burden on workers whose jobs demand regular travels such as taxi drivers. Undoubtedly, as traffic charge varies according to the frequency of travels of individuals to urban areas, taxi drivers or shippers, who are supposed to move to nearby cities within a day most frequently, are obliged to pay a higher amount of money compared to others. Should they not receive sufficient financial aid from their ride-hailing organizations or the local government, their monthly incomes will be drained utterly. As a result, this will have a corrosive effect on their quality of life.
Nonetheless, I believe that the imposition of congestion tax is a positive development for several reasons. First, this can effectively reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads. Unarguably, when people are surcharged for traffic congestions, they will be deterred from using personal modes of transport regularly, which in turn encourages them to avoid marginal value trips. Consequently, this will lead to infrastructure improvement. Second, the introduction of this tax can facilitate the process of urban mobility enhancement. For example, the government can allocate this sum of money to widening roadways or constructing more underground networks, thereby creating more space for vehicles.
In conclusion, though imposing a congestion tax can be financially inimical to a certain group of workers, I firmly maintain that this development offers far more positives such as the decline in the volumes of vehicles on the roads and a more advanced transportation service.