評論
打印
This is a headache for the operators of public-transport systems.
這就是令公共交通運營者頭疼的地方。
It is also a problem for cities.
對于城市來說，也是一個問題。
Like it or not—and many people do not—mass public transport does some things very well.
不管你喜歡公共交通與否（很多人都不喜歡），公共交通都確實在某些方面做得很好。
It provides a service for people who are too old, too young, too poor, too fearful or too drunk to drive or ride a bike.
公共交通為老人、稚子、窮人、害怕開車或騎單車的人、醉酒的人提供服務。
Trains and subways cause less pollution than cars and move people at far higher densities.
火車和地鐵造成的污染比汽車要少，而且人們的出行密度要高得多。
The danger is that public transport could become a rump service,
而風險就是，公共交通可能成為一種剩余服務，
ever less popular and ever less good, partly because of its unpopularity.
沒有以前那么受人喜愛，也沒有以前那么好用，部分原因是它不受歡迎。
Fewer passengers mean fewer trains and buses,
乘客更少意味著火車更少，公共汽車也更少，
which leads to longer waits for those who persist with them.
這就導致堅持使用公共交通工具的人等待的時間也就越來越長。
Cars, whether driven or driverless, will clog the roads.
無論是有人駕駛還是無人駕駛的汽車，都會堵塞道路。
To some extent, that dystopian future can be seen off by pricing road use properly.
在某種程度上，通過合理收取公路運輸管理費，可避免以上反烏托邦未來的出現。
Many cities, particularly in America, generously subsidise driving by forcing developers to provide lots of parking spaces.
許多城市，尤其是美國的城市，通過強令開發商提供大量的停車位，以此大力補貼開車。
Elsewhere, cities have created congestion-charging zones.
在其他地方，城市建立了擁堵收費區。
But that is a hopelessly crude tool.
但該制度不夠嚴謹，收效甚微。
Most congestion zones in effect sell daily tickets to drive around as much as you like within the zone,
實際上，大多數擁堵區每天都在出售進區券，只有有了此券才能在這個區域任意駕車，
and charge nothing to vehicles such as taxis and minicabs.
對出租車和小型出租車等車輛不收費。
It would be much better to charge for each use of a road, with higher prices for busy ones.
如果每條道路都收費，而擁堵路段收費更高，這樣收效可能會更好。
Transport agencies should also embrace the upstarts, and copy them.
交通運輸機構也應接納并效仿新興運輸方式。
Cities tend either to ignore app-based services or to try to push them off the streets.
在大城市，要么傾向于忽略基于應用程序的交通服務，要么想將之驅離。
That is understandable, given the rules-are-for-losers attitude of firms like Uber.
鑒于優步這樣的公司秉持“輸家才談規則”的態度，這種做法可以理解的。
But it is an error.
但是這是不對的。
Although new forms of transport often compete with old ones in city centres,
雖然在市中心，新舊交通方式時有競爭，
they ought to complement each other in suburbs.
但在郊區，兩種交通方式卻應實現互補。
Taxi services and e-bikes could get people to and from railway stations and bus stops,
火車站和公交車站往往遠離市中心，不便到達，
which are often inconveniently far apart outside the urban core.
出租車服務和電動自行車可以讓人們快捷出入這些站點。
It is doubtful that most people make hard distinctions between public and private transport.
多數人是否能夠將公共交通工具和私人交通工具辨別清楚還很難說。
They just want to get somewhere, and there is a cost in time, money and comfort.
人們就是想去一個地方，花費時間、金錢，并忍受出行的不適。
An ideal system would let them move across a city for a single payment,
一個理想的系統可以讓他們只需支付一筆錢就能在城市中穿梭，
transferring from trains to taxis to bicycles as needed.
根據需要選擇火車或出租車或自行車。
Building a platform to allow that is hard, and requires much sweet-talking of legacy networks as well as technology firms—though a few cities, like Helsinki and Birmingham, in England, are trying.
盡管如赫爾辛基和英國的伯明翰等一些城市正在嘗試這種做法，但搭建這樣一個平臺是十分困難的，而且還需要同時迎合傳統交通部門和新型技術公司。
It is probably the secret to keeping cities moving.
這可能是保持城市運轉的秘訣。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
