Escape pods have always been the space-equivalent of lifeboats. We know that terrestrial lifeboats are required as ships can sink and floating for long periods is not necessarily advised. In sci-fi fiction we've seen lifepods/escape pods in many movies and tv series. They've become a relative norm.
Traveller has basically poo-pahed the idea as unnecessary, with the idea that ships won't explode, you can use small craft, rescue balls and/or you'll always be near a planet (100D) because that's how travel works.
I think the game probably takes too much liberty with the idea that they aren't needed, especially with passenger liners. Of course large liners aren't really in any of the books and even the few that are don't have enough parasite capacity to lift all their crew/passengers off. We know with people willing to do endure things you can cram a lot in a small space - witness some of the last evacuation flights out of Afghanistan and how many people were crammed into a military transport. The difference there is that no life support was needed. Oxygen was freely available, and while there may not have been enough bottles to share to pee in, I'm sure that those who got out were OK with that since they thought they were gonna live.
There is traffic outside the 100D limit, meaning that vessels will travel between planets and be potentially days away from any other ship. This matches historical transport on sea lanes. Lanes in space are not as far-fetched as one would think since planets are relatively slow travelers and if the path for ship 1 is the least time path, then it's pretty much the same for ship 2, and ships traveling in the opposite direction. So one can reasonable expect ships flying these sorts of routes would be able to lend emergency assistance. However if the ship had suffered too much damage then evacuation may be the passengers only hope till help arrives. Rescue balls are too short-lived, space suits don't have a lot of endurance, so you'd need a small craft - and they may not be available or even enough of them. Hence the reasonable idea of a lifepod/lifeboat.
It's fair to argue that it may be better to have a 10ton cutter or craft as your lifeboat, since you only need the lifeboat in an emergency. Perhaps you could have temporary seats along the sides instead of acceleration couches since comfort is secondary to living. There are many ways to possibly work it out, but sometimes dedicated craft do a better job.
Like with everything else, you still have some limitations. Tonnage to store emergency vehicles is the biggest factor. Then cost, then operation of them. It's probably pretty fair to argue both sides of this with a reasonableness. Would the future say "sayanora suckers - you better hope you only have to evacuate where someone is around to save you", or would it take a reasoned approach and mandate some backup and safety for both passengers and military personnel for ships of X size? I dunno. Like many of the rules, it's one that you can take or leave since you can play the game as you want.
Rule designers seem to operate more like business owners and see safety as an unnecessary expense and not really needed. Personally I'd hope for the latter (a reasonable approach to safety). That seems to match more modern-day safety factors. I'm not sure when the last time an aircraft had to ditch in the ocean, but they still make sure that every passenger jet of a certain size has emergency rafts, seats that double as a floatation cushion and inflatable life vests - even when that plane never flies over an ocean. It took a few disasters with enough death to mandage safety.
