ANGELINE: Hey! How are you all first day of school?

MEI XUAN: That’s good. I met new friends in school today.

YONG WEI: I was late for school today due to traffic congestion.

KE CHIN & ANGELINE: We were also late for school for the same reason as you Yong Wei.

MEI XUAN: But you all didn’t leave early for school today?

YONG WEI & KE CHIN & ANGELINE: We already leave early for school today but are still in a traffic jam.

MEI XUAN: Recently everyone has also heard a lot of news reports that many traffic incidents occurred
in the city and town such as car accidents and traffic congestion. So what are the effective methods to
solve this issue? Any idea do you all think?

KE CHIN: Ermm, in my opinion, widening the road is one of the methods to solve traffic congestion. The
effects of widening roads depend on whether treated highways are substitutes or complementary to
adjacent highways. For example, parallel roads tend to be substituted, but the roads may also feed into
each other. Usually, except when the Braess paradox exists, average travel time within the highway will
not increase, because of widening. Therefore, everyone can prevent traffic congestion when roads have
been widened. Did you all agree with my opinion?

MEI XUAN & ANGELINE: Yeah!

YONG WEI: But I think that widening roads also have some drawbacks. When congestion on roads is
high, people are more likely to use sustainable transport as there is the perception that travel times will
be shorter.  When new roads are opened it temporarily increases the supply of road space and traffic
decreases.  Traffic is now slightly better, and people get back in their cars, resulting in congestion
returning to the same level as before and sometimes worse.

MEI XUAN & KE CHIN: That’s right, how about your opinion to solve traffic congestion, Angeline?

ANGELINE: 讲你的 point

MEI XUAN: 讲 angeline point 的坏处, 然后接下去 how about your solution to ease traffic congestion,
Yong Wei?

YONG WEI: I think there was another solution to ease traffic solution. It may seem that increasing tax on
private cars may solve traffic congestion. It is undeniably true that traffic in most major cities around the
world is becoming increasingly congested as more and more cars are used. As a result, some states
proposed that car owners pay higher taxes to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road. The
country’s administration believes that this will always exist as I will now discuss with you all. One of the
advantages of increasing the tax on private cars is will benefit the public in terms of convenience and
safety. More funds for transportation improvement were collected as more money was collected.

MEI XUAN & ANGELINE & KE CHIN: Did you have any examples for your opinion?

YONG WEI: Ya. For example, in Singapore, the government strictly enforced a blue badge card as a form
of tax for private vehicles passing through their major cities such as Changi, Sentosa, and China Town. As
a result, more government trains and inter-city buses were built, and the majority of Singaporeans now
use them.

KE CHIN: However there were also some disadvantages from your point of view Yong Wei. For starters,
many people live in areas that are not served by public transportation, such as those living in rural or
rural areas. If there are any public buses or trains that pass through those areas, they may only run once
or twice a day. These people require private vehicles, and a significant increase in motor vehicle taxes
would be a significant burden and problem for them. Above is my point of view, how about your solution
Mei Xuan?

MEI XUAN: 讲你的 point, 然后写 did u all agree?

ANGELINE: 讲 meixuan point 的坏处

YONG WEI: So, which solution did you all think is the best solution to solve traffic congestion?