Borrowing to buy cars

With the number of cars in Jordan jumping from some 600,000 in 2004 to about 1.2 million in 2013, the problems they pose also increase exponentially.

Traffic congestion is one immediate outcome, making life miserable for drivers, but also damaging the environment and leading, all too often, to loss of life and money that could be otherwise invested to help the economic development of the country.

According to the director general of the Association of Banks in Jordan, loans for buying cars are increasing by leaps and bounds. He also confirms that no less than 70 per cent of all cars in Jordan were bought through bank loans.

One in every five Jordanians owns a car, which makes the Kingdom one of countries with the highest private car ownership in the world.

While some officials, the Amman mayor included, suggest tighter banking facilities for car buyers, the solution lies elsewhere.

Making it more difficult for people to own a car is just adding to their hardships.

In the absence of a decent public transportation system, one cannot expect people to ride bicycles or horses to go about their business. Not in hilly Amman, anyway.

Making obtaining loans more difficult is neither realistic nor viable as long as the public transportation system remain as dismal as it is now.

Citizens cannot be expected to deny themselves the right to own their own mode of transportation as long as concerned officials across the country ignore the pressing need for an efficient public transportation network.

The Greater Amman Municipality has been talking about introducing a rapid bus for years, without being able to translate this ambitious plan into reality.

Even a less “rapid” bus network is lacking and not being contemplated.

Citizens cannot be expected to forgo going to work or doing other chores while waiting for some decent public transportation system to materialise.

True, money spent on cars could be better spent on economic projects and industries, but as long as the public is not given the choice, it will no doubt opt to continue to buy cars through local credit facilities.

It should not take too much to contrive a workable transportation system: quite a few new buses, coloured destination diagrams, and frequent and regular time schedules for the public to work by, the right lane of any street dedicated to the buses, but not restricted to them, anywhere in the city, reasonable fees and, presto, the system is in place.

It only takes some will to do it.