IELTS Task 2 sample essay: Traffic Congestion

Traffic congestion in major cities is getting worse every year, costing commuters time and filling streets with fumes. The main causes are urban growth that depends on cars and the low cost of driving at peak times, and the most effective response is to make alternatives faster while charging for road space.

The first cause is the way many cities have grown. As housing in central areas becomes expensive, families move to suburbs that are poorly served by buses or trains. For these commuters, driving is the only practical option, so every new housing estate adds hundreds of cars to roads that were not designed for them. The second cause is that driving into a city centre at rush hour is often cheap. Drivers do not pay for the delay they cause others, so roads fill up until the journey becomes slow enough to put some people off.

These causes suggest two solutions. First, cities need public transport that is genuinely competitive with the car. Dedicated bus lanes, more frequent trains and connections to the suburbs would make commuting by public transport faster and more reliable, not merely cheaper. Second, congestion charges, which make drivers pay to enter the busiest areas at peak times, have reduced traffic in several major cities. The revenue can then be invested in the transport improvements that give drivers a real alternative.

Building more roads, by contrast, usually offers only temporary relief, because extra capacity quickly attracts extra traffic.

In conclusion, congestion is driven by car-dependent growth and underpriced road space. Better public transport, combined with charging for the busiest roads, offers a lasting solution where new roads do not.