Essays

The most common form of transport that does not require petrol or oil-driven engines is the bicycle- Many people, especially school children and those who cannot afford cars and motorcycles make use of this cheap form of transport. The bicycle is a very simple machine to use. It takes only a short time for an average person to master it. Also, one feels the inner urge to hop on to it and pedal off, unless of course, if a tyre is punctured or one does not know how to ride a bicycle.

In big towns and cities, however the bicycle is not very popular. This may be due to two things. Firstly, the cars and the lorries tend to disregard cyclists on the road and often the poor cyclists are bullied mercilessly. Cyclists have to give way to the racing cars, get honked at, are left to breathe the foul exhaust fumes and dust,  get pushed around and often get knocked down by some careless motorists. The other reason is that cycling requires hard work. In the heat of the afternoon sun it is not an easy task to pick one's way through heavy traffic beside having to struggle up an offending hill. So usually when a person can afford it even a second-hand motorcycle is clearly a much better alternative to the bicycle.

I have read somewhere that Holland is a country where most people use bicycles. Also in Chinese Capital Beijing, a lot of people use bicycles. We can do it here, in our country provided we restrict the number of cars and lorries in the middle of towns and cities and make dedicated cycle ways along all the major roads of the cities thereby making it a more pleasant experience for the cyclists. However, factors like the sun and the hilly roads may deter less fit people from using the bicycle.

Besides the bicycle, there is hardly any other kind of non-petrol based transport that is widely used. Bullock carts and horse-drawn carriages are the things of past, They may well be the means of transport for the future, but their utilities for the present are almost zero indeed- Compared to cars, bullock carts are too slow. Furthermore, caring for the bulls is again too much work. Nobody likes to step into a pile of cow-dung either.

So the alternative to the oil-based engine seems to fall on vehicle powered by electricity and solar energy. There are considerable research going on concerning these two forms of transports but economically they are still not viable as compared to a motor-car. Even though a solar-powered aeroplane has crossed English channel and various other smaller achievements have caught the attention of the general public, however, a commercially feasible solar powered car is still some years off. Maybe one day we may be able to walk into a showroom to buy a solar-powered car but the day has not come as yet.

Electric cars and trains, however, are slowly increasing in number. We have now electric cars and buses being used daily in the more advanced countries. Japan has high speed 'bullet' electric trains. We still have to wait until the time when electric car technology has reached a level, high enough for it to be introduced cheaply and efficiently in mass rapid transports. Those two possible alternatives to the motorcars are actually imperative, considering the fact that we may run short of oil in not so distant near future. Also pollution by the motorcars are actually threatening our environment. Other alternatives such as vehicles that use hydrogen as fuel are being developed. The future of these vehicles is still uncertain. More research needs to be pursued- As far as nuclear power is concerned, I hope we do not have to use it. It is too uncontrollable a source of energy and we can do well without it. Considering the mood of the younger generation towards nuclear power. I do not think that it will be used as commonly as we use oil till now. There may even be better forms of transport that will be developed in future. No one knows exactly what they will be. We will know when they arrive and become viable.