首页
登录
职称英语
Public transit. In North America, public transportation has been the major ca
Public transit. In North America, public transportation has been the major ca
游客
2025-01-04
32
管理
问题
Public transit. In North America, public transportation has been the major casualty of the commitment to the automobile. Ridership on public transportation declined in the United States from 23 billion per year in the late 1940s to 7 billion in the early 1990s. At the end of World War I, U.S. cities had 50,000 kilometers of street railways and trolleys that carried 14 billion passengers a year, but only a few hundred kilometers of track remain. The number of U. S. and Canadian cities with trolley service declined from about fifty in 1950 to eight in the 1960s: Boston, Cleveland, New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto.
Buses offered a more flexible service than trolleys, because they were not restricted to operating only on fixed tracks. General Motors acquired many of the privately owned streetcar companies and replaced the trolleys with buses that the company made. But bus ridership has declined from a peak of 11 billion riders per year in the late 1940s to 5 million in the 1990s. Commuter railroad service, like trolleys and buses, has also been drastically reduced in most U.S. cities.
The one exception to the downward trend in public transportation in the United States is the subway, now known to transportation planners as fixed heavy rail. Cities such as Boston and Chicago have attracted new passengers through construction of new lines and modernization of existing service. Chicago has been a pioneer in the construction of heavy rail rapid transit lines in the median strip of expressways. Entirely new subway systems have been built in recent years in a number of U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Public transportation is particularly suited to bringing a large number of people into a small area in a short period of time. Consequently, its use is increasingly confined in the United States to rush-hour commuting by workers in the central business district. A bus can accommodate thirty people in the amount of space occupied by one automobile, while a double-track rapid transit line can transport the same number of people as sixteen lanes of urban freeway.
Despite modest recent successes, most public transportation systems are caught in a vicious circle, because fares do not cover operating costs. As patronage declines and expenses rise, the fares are increased, which drives away passengers and leads to service reductions and still higher fares. Public expenditures to subsidize construction and operating costs have increased, but public officials in the United States do not consider that public transportation is a vital utility deserving subsidy to the degree long assumed by European governments.
In contrast, even in the relatively developed Western European countries and Japan, where automobile ownership rates are high, extensive networks of bus, tram, and subway lines have been maintained, and funds for new construction have been provided in recent years. Since the late 1960s, London has opened 27 kilometers of subways, including two new lines, plus 18 kilometers in light rail transit lines to serve the docklands area. During the same period, Paris has built 65 kilometers of new subway lines, including a new system, known as the Reseau Express Regional (R. E. R.) to serve outer suburbs.
Smaller cities have shared the construction boom. In France alone, new subway lines have been built since the 1970s in Lille, Lyon, and Marseille, and hundreds of kilometers of entirely new tracks have been laid between the country’s major cities to operate a high-speed train known as the TGV. [br] The decline of bus ridership in the U.S. is caused by ______.
选项
A、the rise of bus fares
B、the increased number of private cars
C、the improvement of the commuter railroad service
D、the poor condition of the transportation infrastructure
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3898384.html
相关试题推荐
InAmerica,highschoolgraduateshavetotake______inordertoenterprestigi
Whichofthefollowingcitiesiscalledthe"cradleofAmericanliberty"?A、Bosto
NoonepersonhasdonemoretoshapemodernsexualvaluesinAmerica—andther
Americancultureisdefinedbyrathergradualmovementsfromonestageofsoc
Americancultureisdefinedbyrathergradualmovementsfromonestageofsoc
Publictransit.InNorthAmerica,publictransportationhasbeenthemajorca
PubLictransit.InNorthAmerica,publictransportationhasbeenthemajorcas
PubLictransit.InNorthAmerica,publictransportationhasbeenthemajorcas
[originaltext]AseniorAmericandefenseofficialsaysthePentagonmayrepla
TheAgeofRealisminAmericarangesfrom1865to______.A、1945B、1914C、1870D、1
随机试题
灭火器维修工作包括维修前检查、拆卸灭火器、灭火剂回收处置、受压零部件的水压试验、
下列关于舞弊事项的相关表述中,正确的有( )。A、小型被审计单位内部控制一般不健
下列法律部门中,《劳动合同法》属于()。A、经济法 B、社会法 C、行政法
阅读下面得文字,完成问题太虚中的絪缊之气,气聚而生成人物,人物死而散为气而归于
2020年12月,我国网民规模达9.89亿,较2020年3月增长8540万。其中
城市是人类文明精华的汇聚之地,数千年来政治、经济、文化和科技的光芒在此交相辉映,
1,4,3,1,1/5,1/36,( )
“自我概念比真实自我对个体的行为及人格有更为重要的作用”,这是()的观点。单选
某股份有限公司2014年12月31日的资产负债表显示:公司流动资产总额200万元
主营业务收入是指企业为完成其经营目标而从事的经常性活动所并实现的收入,主要包括(
最新回复
(
0
)