Essay - Heavy Traffic in City Centre Our city has been having problems dealing with heavy traffic in the town centre as too many vehicles mean polluted air, noise, and complications for pedestrians. Since the last summer accident, in which two young men were hit by a car and died, people do not feel safe walking down the streets in The Old Town anymore. Pedestrian-friendly environment has numerous positive effects on the quality of life and the development of small businesses and therefore we need to look for solutions to this problem that will work. One way to stop people from driving their cars to the city centre might be improving the public transportation system. There are very few buses connecting the suburbs with the inner-city, and consequently, most residents have no other option but to use their cars to go to work or shopping. New and more frequent transport lines to the city centre can lower the number of vehicles on the streets. However, it is a fact that people used to a level of comfort will not easily give up on driving their cars. It is therefore necessary that the government increases parking fees and invests money into public transport in order to make it reasonably priced. Although some people argue that this will put a heavy burden on the city budget, cities that have a well functioning public transport have shown to be more productive as their residents spend less time commuting to work. Lowering the number of cars makes traffic quicker and free of congestions. City centre without cars is not an inaccessible model - with a good and thorough plan, our government can limit the number of vehicles in the inner-city. Investment in public transport is an essential step towards a modern city, but I believe that only creating new lines connecting the residential areas is not enough - we also need to increase the price ratio between bus tickets and parking fees.