经济学人下载:城市公共交通脱离正轨(1)

Urban transport: Off the rails
城市交通：脱离正轨

Public transport is ailing in the rich world. It should co-opt the competition
发达国家的公共交通发展情况不容乐观，应当引入竞争机制

To those who have to squeeze onto the number 25 bus in London, or the A train in New York,
对于那些不得不挤上伦敦25路公共汽车或纽约A号火车的人来说，

the change might not be noticeable.
公共交通的变化可能并不明显。

But public transport is becoming less busy in those cities, and in others besides.
但是在伦敦、纽约这样的城市，公共交通越来越没那么拥挤了。

Passenger numbers are flat or falling in almost every American metropolis, and in some Canadian and European ones, too. That is despite healthy growth in urban populations and employment.
在美国、加拿大以及欧洲，尽管城市人口和就业在不断增长，但是几乎每座大城市的乘客数量都不再增长或已在下降。

Nose-to-armpit travellers may be even more surprised to hear that the emptying of public transport is a problem.
公共交通系统因为乘客太少而成为问题，天天被挤扁了的旅客们知道这一点可能会倍感惊讶。

Although transport agencies blame their unpopularity on things like roadworks and broken signals,
尽管交通运输机构将其不受欢迎的原因归咎于道路施工和信号故障，

it seems more likely that they are being outcompeted.
但公共交通似乎更有可能在竞争中败下阵来。

App-based taxi services like Uber and Lyft are more comfortable and convenient than trains or buses.
“优步”和“来福车”等基于应用程序的出租车服务比火车或公交车更舒适、更方便。

Cycling is nicer than it was, and rental bikes are more widely available.
单车服务比以前更好，租自行车也更普遍。

Cars are cheap to buy, thanks to cut-rate loans, and ever cheaper to run.
低息贷款使得购车门槛降低，同时汽车的使用成本也比过去低廉。

Online shopping, home working and office-sharing mean more people can avoid travelling altogether.
网络购物、在家办公以及共享办公室意味着更多人能避免在同一时间点出行。

The competition is only likely to grow.
竞争只会越来越激烈。

More than one laboratory is churning out new transport technologies and applications.
很多实验室正在全力研发新的运输技术和应用程序。

Silicon Valley invented Uber and, more recently, apps that let people rent electric scooters and then abandon them on the pavement.
创造优步的硅谷最近发明的应用让人们可以租用电动车，用完后放在人行道上即可。

China created dockless bicycles and battery-powered "e-bikes", both of which are spreading.
中国创造了共享单车和电池驱动的“电动自行车”，这两种自行车都在迅速普及。

Some inventions will fail, or will be regulated out of existence
某些发明要么失败，要么被禁止

(at one point, Segways were the future).
（曾经一度，电动代步车“赛格威”就代表着未来的发展趋势）。

But new ideas, including driverless taxis, are coming around the corner.
然而，包括无人驾驶出租车在内的一些新模式即将出现。

Mass transport is much less nimble.
公共交通缺乏敏捷灵巧性。

As New York's Second Avenue subway, London's Crossrail and Amsterdam's North-South metro line have shown,
纽约的第二大道地铁、伦敦的横贯城铁、阿姆斯特丹南北地铁线已经表明，

building new train lines is now incredibly complicated and expensive.
现在修建新轨道交通线非常复杂，且造价高昂。