Text City And City Transport

1. The problem of urban (городской) transportation has become very important. A large number of new transport systems is known to have been proposed in the past decade or so.

But before describing the new systems and their applications it is necessary to look back ((мысленно) обращаться к прошлому, вспоминать) briefly to see how cities got their present layout (зд.: облик), and what are the factors that have caused the present problems of urban transport.

2. The first factor is the growth of population. The cities developed as a rule (как правило) because of (из-за) the need for people to gather (собираться)) for mutual protection, for commerce, and for education. In England since 1801 the rural (сельский) population remained almost constant, while the urban population has grown by more than twenty times. The population growth of the last two decades has greatly enlarged (to enlarge - увеличиваться), разрастаться) the movement of passengers in big cities.

The second factor is the changing distribution of population within (в пределах; в рамках) cities. There has been a steady drift (зд.: перемещение) of population from the high density (плотность) centre to the lower density suburbs. The increase and improvements of transport are believed to be the main reasons (причины) for this drift.

3. One should remember that walking was the major transport mode both in and out of cities until the end of the eighteenth century. The cost of a horse in terms of (с точки зрения) a labourer's (labourer - (черно)рабочий) wages (заработок; зарплата) was about three times that of a mass produced motor car (автомобиль массового (серийного) производства) today. (The fare (плата (за проезд)) for a coach (зд.: поездка) from Paddington to the City of London was about two shillings or 1% of a labourer's annual (годовой) income (доход)).

This lack (отсутствие, нехватка) of cheap transport led to the development of very high density (плотность) building (строительство, застройка) within the city center. The situation was changed by the introduction of horse buses (horse bus - "омнибус" на конной тяге) and urban railways in the middle of the nineteenth century, followed by (за которыми последовал(и)) horse trams (horse tram - конка) and electric trams towards the end of that century. This allowed a city to grow beyond the radius set by a walking distance (set by ... - ограничиваемый пешим расстоянием (т.е. расстоянием, преодолеваемым пешеходом).

The introduction of the motor car and motor bus in the 1920s allowed the residential (жилой) areas along the railways lines to broaden and the increase of car ownership (владение чем-либо; собственность) since about 1950 has led to both residential and industrial development in open areas around cities. This growth leads to longer journeys (journey - поездка) to work, school; or shopping, and more travel per day, even without population growth.

The third factor is the growth of private cars. To own a car has become not only pleasant, but in many cases simply necessary. However, car ownership leads to road congestion (перегруженность). The congestion is partly the result of the peaks in demand for (потребность в) travel to and from work, school, and at present it is usual for 25% of the whole day's travel to occur (происходить) in a two-hour period.

Of course, transport is only a service industry, and must be coordinated with developments in communications and with planning. The first thing to do is to develop transport systems which are cheaper to install, cheaper to operate and aesthetically more acceptable than some of the existing ones.

The examples of such (такие примеры) are the use of buses in a demand-activated mode (dial-a-bus (mode)) (= по вызову (со стоянки)); the use of electronics for the presentation of information to car drivers and the automatic control of cars on motorways; and the design of improved vehicles, such as monorail or automatically controlled trams.

Any automatic vehicle that operates at much greater than walking speed (walking speed - скорость пешего хода; скорость пешехода) will need a reserved track (путь; колея), and to avoid creating a barrier to the movements of pedestrians (pedestrian - пешеход) and vehicles the track must be above or below the ground. Some of these systems are known to be under development (to be under development - разрабатываться, находиться в стадии разработки) in a number of countries.

The vehicles would be propelled by electric motors to reduce pollution and noise, and would be supported by rubber tyres (tyre = tire - шина, пневматик; покрышка), air cushion or magnets.

At present much thought is given (= much attention is given – уделяется много времени) to the development of minitrams for application as distribution systems in central city areas, for links ((транспортные) линии связи) between car parks and high activity areas, and for circulation systems at airports.

Apart from (кроме) these systems, other new forms of urban transport may involve (включать (в свой состав)) low speed moving pavements (движущиеся тротуары), never-stop railways and buses on specially constructed reserved tracks. These do not involve significant (значительный) quantities of new technology..

Moving pavements are already in use at some airports, transit stations and shopping centres. Their disadvantage is that human limitations (ограничение) at getting on* and off ** restrict their speed to (ограничивать что-л. какой-л. величиной) 2 ½ - 3 ½ km/h, as compared to (по сравнению с) a normal walking speed of 5 km/h.

Improved transport will not solve, of course, all the problems facing (стоящие перед) cities today. But it will no doubt (= undoubtedly - несомненно, без сомнения) lead to changes which will make city life more pleasant.

* to get on - входить (садиться) в какое-л. транспортное средство

** to get off - выходить из к.-л. трансп. средства)

Омнибус (от латинского omnibus - для всех) - многоместная конная карета, совершавшая регулярные рейсы в городах и между ними; первый вид общественного транспорта. Появился в Париже в 1662г. Использовался в ряде европейских стран до начала 20 века.