拉美国家的城市交通：在城市骑车吧！

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 regions long boom， more and more have bought vehicles. That is leading both to terrible traffic jams in many of the regions cities—and to the swift spread of efforts to promote urban cycling.

拉丁美洲人和与他们对等的Rio Grande人一样，都爱车如命。而多亏该地区经济的持续增长，越来越多的人拥有汽车。这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. Recently， while sitting on one of the citys bright-yellow public bicycles， the mayor， Mauricio Macri， announced the completion of the 100th kilometer of protected bike lanes. Launched barely two years ago， the citys Mejor en Bici （Better by Bike） scheme has also involved interest-free loans to promote cycle-buying， as well as 1，000 free public bikes at 28 stations and the lanes.

继波哥大和墨西哥城带头之后，最近的自行车推行活动的首都是布宜诺斯艾利斯。最近，骑在亮黄色的城市公共自行车上的市长Mauricio Macri宣布第100千米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个站点的1，000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，人们认为我们鼓励把自行车当作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 Argentinas 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 center 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.

公众现在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都更快，或者至少在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7000米在高峰时段骑车比乘公交车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已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 porte?os， as the citys residents are called， not to get on their bikes.

骑自行车上下班的人仍只是极少数，占总数的2%，但这一数字自项目开始已经翻了五倍。今年，该市打算增加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（porte?os）的当地居民来说，就更没有理由不骑自行车了。