You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

More and more city workers are deciding to live in the country and travel into work every day. The result is traffic congestion and damage to the environment. What measures do you think could be taken to encourage people not to travel such long distances into work?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience.  Write at least 250 words.

MODEL ANSWER:

 There are an increasing number of people who like the life in the countryside, and travel long distances to work in the cities, and this causes traffic congestion and pollution. Even though this is a personal preference, and is hard to change, there exist some suggestions to improve the condition.

 Analysing the issue of traffic congestion and environmental damage, it is clear that when there are more number of passengers who seek entry to the city roads, especially during the peak hours, there would be bottleneck congestion and an increased amount of carbon emission. When there are more workers who adopt this lifestyle, these conditions would go worse.

 The first option which is feasible is the initiative taken by the companies to encourage their workers to work from home. This not only appears to be beneficial for an employee, but also an employer. For example, when an employee can save the long duration of travel and can save more time with his family, an employer can make his work done more effectively by better delegation of work.

 The second option is to develop satellite towns in the suburbs and open branches of the company there, with an integrated network to the main branch. This cuts short the distance an employee travels from the countryside. In addition to this, it provides more job opportunities. A less feasible option is to provide accommodation for employees in and around the cities.

 To conclude, it is clear that when more people prefer to live in villages and travel to work in cities, the results are not so desirable for the people and for the environment. Albeit there are no tangible ways to discourage people to do this, options like work from home and developing satellite towns appears to be feasible ways.

Word count: 297