Hailing a cabbie may seem convenient enough to reach your desired destination, but a new research has revealed that travelling by taxis results in the highest levels of exposure to pollution and walking the least.
The researchers looked at five modes of transport, including walking, cycling, car, taxi and bus, and measured levels of exposure to ultrafine particles when travelling on them using a newly developed system that uses in combination an ultrafine particle counter and video recorder.
Research published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, describes how the team from Imperial College London and the Health and Safety Laboratory, Buxton, measured and visualised exposure to pollution levels, while using a variety of different transport methods for travelling across London.
As a result, most activities and behaviours that cause high exposures can be visibly identified, such as being trapped on traffic islands and waiting in congested traffic.
On average, while travelling in a taxi, passengers were exposed to over 100,000 ultrafine particles counts per cubic centimetre (pt/cm3), travelling in a bus resulted in exposure to just under 100,000 pt/cm3, travelling in car caused exposure to 40,000 pt/cm3, cycling was around 80,000 pt/cm3, and walking was just under 50,000 pt/cm3.
"It was a real surprise to find the extent to which walking resulted in the lowest exposure. The higher exposure from travelling in taxis may come from actually sitting in the vehicle while being stuck in traffic where you are directly in the path of the pollutant source," Surbjit Kaur, from Imperial College London, was quoted as saying.
{{/usCountry}}"It was a real surprise to find the extent to which walking resulted in the lowest exposure. The higher exposure from travelling in taxis may come from actually sitting in the vehicle while being stuck in traffic where you are directly in the path of the pollutant source," Surbjit Kaur, from Imperial College London, was quoted as saying.
{{/usCountry}}"Also the fact that taxis are probably on the road for much longer than your average car could cause an accumulation of ultrafine particles," she added.