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.
拉美洲人和与他们对等的 Rio Grande 人一样，都爱车如命。由于拉丁美洲经济的持续增长，越来越多的人拥有车，这也导致了该地区许多城市都有严重的交通堵塞问题，进而人们开始广泛提倡在城市以自行车代步。
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.
继波哥大和墨西哥城带头之后，布宜诺斯艾利斯也效仿开始了首都的自行车推行活动。1月，骑在亮黄色的城市公共自行车上的市长宣布长第100公里的自行车专用车道完工。两年前推出的”骑车更好计划”还包括无利率贷款以促进自行车购买以及分放在28个站的1000辆免费公共自行车和自行车道。
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.
一开始这一活动几乎无人问津，开车的人尤其没有兴趣。“自行车一向被当作健身和娱乐的工具，人们认为我们提倡把自行车当做交通工具简直就是疯了。”负责项目的官员 Guillermo Dietrich如是说。
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.
公众开始渐渐接受这个想法，一部分原因是在阿根廷的首都骑车去哪儿更快，至少在 Macri领导的中心城区是这样的。 当地报纸La Nación报道从市中心出发或者到市中心的七公里在高峰时段骑车比公交或者开车要快几乎两倍。 Dietrich先生通过在绝大多数自行车道和机动车道之间建立隔离栏杆让人们减少对骑车安全的担心。
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.
骑自行车上下班的仍只是极少数人，占总数的2%，但这一数字自项目开始已经翻了五倍。今年，项目打算增加30千米的自行车道，再增加一倍的公共自行车和72个存车点。从大小上来讲，布宜诺斯艾利斯将会在完工时拥有区域内最密集的自行车基础设施。对于被称作港口人（ porteños）的当地居民来说，就更没有理由不骑自行车了。