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THOSE Latin Americans who can afford one are just as wedded to the car as their counterparts north of the Rio Grande. And thanks to the region’s long boom, more and more have bought vehicles. That is leading both to terrible traffic jams in many of the region’s cities—and to the swift spread of efforts to promote urban cycling.
拉美洲人和與他們對等的 Rio Grande 人一樣，都愛車如命。由于拉丁美洲經濟的持續增長，越來越多的人擁有車，這也導致了該地區許多城市都有嚴重的交通堵塞問題，進而人們開始廣泛提倡在城市以自行車代步。
Following in the tyre-tracks of Bogotá and Mexico City, the regional pioneers, the latest capital to boost the bike is Buenos Aires. In January, while sitting on one of the city’s bright-yellow public bicycles the mayor, Mauricio Macri, announced the completion of the 100th kilometre (62nd mile) of protected bike lanes. Launched barely two years ago, the city’s Mejor en Bici (Better by Bike) scheme has also involved interest-free loans to promote cycle-buying, as well as the lanes and 1,000 free public bikes at 28 stations.
繼波哥大和墨西哥城帶頭之后，布宜諾斯艾利斯也效仿開始了首都的自行車推行活動。1月，騎在亮黃色的城市公共自行車上的市長宣布長第100公里的自行車專用車道完工。兩年前推出的”騎車更好計劃”還包括無利率貸款以促進自行車購買以及分放在28個站的1000輛免費公共自行車和自行車道。
At first this was unpopular, especially among car drivers. “Bikes were seen solely as tools for exercise and recreation, and people thought we were completely mad to encourage them as a means of commuting,” says Guillermo Dietrich, the official in charge of the scheme.
一開始這一活動幾乎無人問津，開車的人尤其沒有興趣。“自行車一向被當作健身和娛樂的工具，人們認為我們提倡把自行車當做交通工具簡直就是瘋了。”負責項目的官員 Guillermo Dietrich如是說。
Public opinion now seems to be warming to the idea, partly because cycling is a quicker way to get about Argentina’s capital, or at least its inner core, which Mr Macri governs. La Nación, a newspaper, found that a 7km journey to or from the city centre at rush hour took nearly twice as long by bus or car as by bike. Mr Dietrich has allayed fears about safety by erecting barriers between most cycle lanes and the traffic.
公眾開始漸漸接受這個想法，一部分原因是在阿根廷的首都騎車去哪兒更快，至少在 Macri領導的中心城區是這樣的。 當地報紙La Nación報道從市中心出發或者到市中心的七公里在高峰時段騎車比公交或者開車要快幾乎兩倍。 Dietrich先生通過在絕大多數自行車道和機動車道之間建立隔離欄桿讓人們減少對騎車安全的擔心。
Cyclists are still a tiny minority of commuters, accounting for just 2% of journeys, but that proportion has quintupled since the scheme began. This year the city plans to add 30km of cycle lanes, to double the number of public bikes and add another 72 docking stations. In relation to its size, Buenos Aires will by then have the densest cycling infrastructure in the region. Even less excuse for porteños, as the city’s residents are called, not to get on their bikes.
騎自行車上下班的仍只是極少數人，占總數的2%，但這一數字自項目開始已經翻了五倍。今年，項目打算增加30千米的自行車道，再增加一倍的公共自行車和72個存車點。從大小上來講，布宜諾斯艾利斯將會在完工時擁有區域內最密集的自行車基礎設施。對于被稱作港口人（ porteños）的當地居民來說，就更沒有理由不騎自行車了。
