Vroom Vroom !

On my way to school one morning I thought to myself “ the time is 7:00am and there are so many cars in the Croisee already?” I then thought to myself this would make a good picture for my blog showing a different form of mobility i.e. the car.  This picture was taken in the heart of the Croisee in San Juan. Lets track back a bit at the previous pictures in this blog. The first picture showed how walking was a form of mobility in the city. The second picture showed how using a bicycle was also a form of mobility in the city. We have now reached to in my opinion mans’ best friend the automobile ( not the dog).

Movement in an around cities in the Global North at least, is increasingly dominated by the car. This is so as the choice of the car as the dominant mode of transport has a range of social, economic and environmental implications (Hall and Barrett 2012). A study conducted in Great Britain showed the ever increasing passenger transport by car between 1952 and 2007. In 1952 there were 27% of persons using cars as a mode of transport. In 1975 there was a dramatic jump as there were 76% of persons using cars as their form of transport. This number again increased in the year 2000 to 85% while in 2007 it dropped to 84% of persons using the car as a form of transport. The rise in car mobility can also be seen in Trinidad. An article from the Guardian Newspapers shows the increase in car ownership in the country. In 2011, there were 13, 163 cars sold while in 2012 there were 14,888 cars being sold. In addition there was an increase the amount of used cars being bought by citizens. In 2011 there were 6,089 used cars bought while in 2012 this number more than doubled to 12,250 used cars bought. The article went on further to say that initial indicators are that, for 2013, the foreign used imports and subsequent sales will increase by an additional 33 per cent while the imports of new vehicles should remain constant. The amount of persons using cars as a form of mobility in Trinidad has increased dramatically. This may be due to : more high end jobs to purchase cars, more accessible loans from the banks as well as security reasons( owning a car means no travelling and prevents the  risk of  getting robbed.)

In addition to the considerable benefits of personal mobility and freedom it offers, the car generates a range of negative impacts on the places and people around it. For example the automobile fuel consumption, and the emissions from the industries that produce , maintain and fuel them, are major contributors are major contributors to the greenhouse gases responsible for increasing rates of global climate change over recent years. A prime example of this pollution can be seen in Beijing, China. With one of the world’s largest cities Beijing experiences severe pollution as a result of the high amount of cars in the city. The 2008 Olympics was the much needed imitative to help clean the air in the city. In the city, government have implemented electric buses which still in the year 2013 serve the population and also reduce the amount of smog present. In addition, government has also planned to remove 180,000 old vehicles from the road. Furthermore, there is a greater need to provide cleaner fuels to be used by citizens. You can read more about China’s plans http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=1908 .

Cars have their positives and negatives but at the end of the day there are man’s best friend as they are one of the most common ways to get in and around the city.This song is a good way to describe this entry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsmRuRp4cM

Reference

Hall and Barrett,2012. Urban Geography.4^th Edition. London and New York, Routledge Publishing. 2012 (pages 282-301 )

Raphael, John.2013. “ Car sales get a boast in 2012” Guardian Newpapers (February 28 2013). Accessed March 4  2013.http://guardian.co.tt/business-guardian/2013-02-27/car-sales-   boost-2012.