A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University's Institute for Science and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. 由默多克大学科学技术政策学院（ISTP）为世界银行做的一项最新研究表明，公共交通比私家车更为有效。 The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities around this world. 此项研究比较了世界上 37 个城市在交通上的资金投人比例。 This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system. 这包含了公共机构及私人在建设、维护和使用交通体系上的花费。

The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal public transport. 研究发现澳大利亚西部城市 Perth 是一个使用公共交通体系非常少的典型案例。 As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. 因而，17% 的财政收入投入到了交通中。 Some European and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. 而另一方面，一些欧洲和亚洲的城市的公共交通支出仅为 5%。 Professor Peter Newman, ISTP Director pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live. ISTP 的主管Peter Newman 教授指出，这些更有效率的城市能为其自身的招商、就业或居住环境的改善带来很大改变。

According to Professor Newman, the larger Australian city of Melbourne is a rather unusual city in this sort of comparison. Newman 教授声称，作为澳大利亚较大的城市，Melbourne 在这样的比较中是一个不同寻常的城市。 He describes it as two cities: 'A European city surrounded by a car-dependent one'. Newman 教授把它描述为两个城市的结合体：“一个被包裹在严重依赖汽车的城市中的欧洲城市。 Melbourne's large tram network has made car use in the inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other Australian cities. ”Melbourne 的巨大有轨电车网络已经使得内城中的汽车使用率降低了很多，但是其外围的郊区与其他大多数澳大利亚城市一样，还是采用以汽车为主的交通结构。 The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests a recent change in many people's preferences as to where they live. 对 Melbourne 近郊区住宅的巨大需求显示了人们近期对居住环境喜好的改变。

Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. Newman 教授认为对于公共交通事务，这是一个全新的、更全面的视角。 In the past, the case for public transport has been made on the basis of environmental and social justice considerations rather than economics. 过去，对于公共交通问题，人们的考虑是基于环境和社会的公平性，而非经济。 Newman, however, believes the study demonstrates that' the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in economic as well as environmental terms'. 但是，Newman 教授认为，研究表明“依赖汽车的城市模式既不环保，也不经济”。

Bicycle use was not included in the study but Newman noted that the two most 'bicycle friendly cities considered - Amsterdam and Copenhagen - were very efficient, even though their public transport systems were 'reasonable but not special'. 自行车的使用并没有纳入到这次研究中，但是 Newman 教授指出，两个最为“自行车友好”的城市———Amsterdam 和 Copenhagen，交通效率很高，尽管它们的公交系统是“还算合理但不突出的”。

It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good public transport by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. 支持发展公路网络的人们普遍反对公交发达的城市模式，他们提出这样的体系不适合他们所在的城市。 One objection is climate. 其中一个反对的理由是气候。 Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. 由于天气不是太热就是太冷，因而有些人认为公共交通发挥不了太大的作用。 Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars against climate and found 'zero correlation'. 但 Newman 教授反对这样的观点，他指出在多伦多和新加坡，公共交通已经非常成功了，事实上，他研究了在不同气候条件下的汽车使用情况，发现两者之间“无任何关联”。

When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. 说到其他的自然条件，道路支持者有更充足的论据。 For example, Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really good rail network. 比如，Newman 教授承认，对于像Auckland 这样的山地城市，很难发展顶级的铁路网络。 However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities in the world as hilly. 但是，他也指出，虽然香港和苏黎世的陡峭地形甚于世界上其他的城市，但是它们仍然在铁路和轻轨两方面都取得了成功。

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A In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over another is politics: 'The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.' A.实际上，Newman 教授认为交通方式的选择主要取决于政治：“进程越民主，大家越支持公共交通。 He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. ”他认为 Oregon 的 Portland 就是一个很好的例子。 Some years ago, federal money was granted to build a new road. 几年前，美国联邦政府批准投资兴建一条新的公路。 However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over whether to spend the money on light rail instead. 然而，当地的一些压力团体强烈要求通过公民投票决定是否应该把钱投入到修建一条轻轨上。 The rail proposal won and the railway worked spectacularly well. 关于轻轨的提议得到通过并在之后的运营过程中十分成功。 In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. 接下来的几年中，政府又修建了更多的铁轨，从而显著地改变了城市的面貌。 Newman notes that Portland has about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time. Newman 教授指出当时 Portland 与 Perth 的人口和密度都差不多。

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B In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work. B.在英国，上班所花的时间在至少 6 个世纪中保持稳定，人们尽量避免出现花半小时以上的时间去上班的情况。 Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination. 刚开始，火车和私家车可以让人们住在很远的地方，但是不用花很长的时间就能到达目的地。 However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl, causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher. 然而，城市交通的基础建设跟不上城市的扩张，导致大量的交通堵塞，大大延长了通勤的时间。

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C There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. C.很多人认为由于财富的增长，人们越住越远，私家车成了唯一可行的交通工具， The example of European cities refutes that. 而欧洲的情况反驳了这一点。 They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. 他们往往比他们的美国伙伴更为富有，但却没有达到美国那样的汽车使用水平。 In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. 实际上在 Stockholm，近些年由于城市的扩张和富裕程度的提高，汽车的使用反而减少了。 A new study makes this point even more starkly. 一项新的研究使得这一点更加明确。 Developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. 一些亚洲的发展中城市，如 Jakarta和 Bangkok，汽车的使用要比诸如 Tokyo 和Singapore这样的亚洲富裕城市还要多。 In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities. 在后期发展起来的城市中，世界银行和亚洲发展银行不提倡发展公共交通，因而人们不得不依赖汽车，从而导致这些城市特有的严重交通堵塞现象。

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D Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. D.Newman 教授认为《城市乡村》很好地诠释了为汽车而构建的城市如何能转变为尽量多地利用铁路，这份报告援引 Melbourne 为例。 It found that pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. 报告发现把人们赶进城市中心并不是最好的解决问题的方法。 Instead, the proposal advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations. 与之相反，报告提倡以各个火车站为中心，建立多个城市村庄。

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E It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. E. 人们曾经以为，电讯的发展可以使人们住得更加分散而不必挤在城市里。 However, the ISTP team's research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. 然而，ISTP 团队的调查研究显示，经过了数十年的大衰退后，城市的人口和工作密度在 20 世纪 80 年代保持稳定或者开始增加。 The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together, 'The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.' 我们也许可以这样理解，把工作领域相关的人聚合在一起是很有意义的。 “新世界在很大程度上依赖于人类的创造力，而在人们可以面对面交流的地方，这种创造力就会被激发。