Step outside on a busy street in any major city, and the air tells a story. It carries the smell of engines, the haze of exhaust, and the invisible particles that enter our lungs with every breath. Urban passenger transport (cars, buses, motorcycles, and taxis) remains one of the most significant sources of harmful air pollutants worldwide. In dense cities, where millions live and work in close quarters, these pollutants do not just linger in the air; they enter our homes and workplaces, magnifying risks of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
In fact, transport causes more than one-tenth of worldwide deaths from air pollution, with nearly 400,000 fatalities around the world in 2015 alone, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. PM2.5, or fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers, is one especially harmful type of vehicle pollutant that can cause diseases, strokes, cancers, asthma, and related illnesses. Other atmospheric pollutants from vehicles, like NOx (nitrogen oxides) and CO (carbon), further contribute to health issues. They are precursors to ‘ground-level ozone’ effects like thick smog, which aggravate breathing issues and reduce lung function.
The post How We Can Transform Urban Air Quality for the Better first appeared on Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
