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B. clean
C. the amount of energy used
Transcript:
Today the world’s urban areas hold more than 4 times the population in the 1950’s. traffic is pilling up in nearly every major metropolitan area. In Bangkok, the Capital of Thailand, traffic jams last for hours while the economy loses an estimated 6% of output. Many governments are promoting above and underground transit systems to fight such congestion.
The sounds of public transit systems are spreading throughout the world. Urban trains are appearing even in the wide expanses of the western United States, in places like Dallas, a Texas city known for oil riches and big cars.
“In Texas, we are not very used to riding a train to travel around the city. But actually, Dallas and Houston have both started light rail systems. It is very popular in both cities.” This is Brewster McCracken, a city council member in the Texas capital, Austin. Its citizen recently voted ofr a new public train similar ot those in Dallas and Houston. Then Sustin plan will use existing railroad tracks already in place throughout the city. What is happening in Texas reflects a growing trend elsewhere in the United States, says William Millar. He’s president of the non-profit
American Public Transportation Association. “In the last several years, public transportation in America has undergone a renaissance.” Voters across the United States are supporting public transit systems like the one in Austin. “What is shows is that the public in many places is ready to invest in public transportation.”
But a majority of Americans still commute with cars and most transportation funds are spent on building roads. Alan Pisarski is a transportation consultant and author of “Commuting in America.” He says the excitement over public transportation in America is “an expression of people’s frustration. There is a lot of discomfort and unhappiness around the country about congestion and about transportation services in general.”
In 1900, many US cities had extensive urban rail systems. But with the arrival of the automobile most of them disappeared by the 1950s. now many cities are returning to with they had 100 years ago.
In other countries, riding buses, trains or subways are part of everyday life. “Many, many countries support public transportation to a much greater degree than happens in the United States, particularly in Europe. In other places in the world that are developing cities, there is a tremendous growth of investment in public transit. In China, for example, city after city now is building metro systems. Throughout Southeast Asia, certainly the capital cities, over the last tow or three decades, have built
major rail systems. Throughout South America we see not only rail systems being built, but we see some of the most innovative use of public transit buses as anywhere in the world.”
Rising levels of pollution from cars is leading to more investment in public transportation. Mike Ashforth is a historian of London’s underground system. He says urban transport can help cities develop without spoiling the environment with excessive greenhouse gas emissions. “The main impact of the underground is that it can reduce the amount of surface transport which in many cities largely depends on the internal combustion engine. The one advantage that electrically delivered urban passenger transport has it that it is relatively clean at the point of delivery. It can also, of course, actually carry far more people in terms of the amount of energy used.”
Many analysts say the growth of public transportation does not challenge the automobile but provides another choice to commutes. As a rising number of people want to go to an infinite number of places at any time, public transportation may be the answer. Part III Tapescript:
1. EuroRoute is a scheme that operates at much lower running costs than each coast.., er... ten kilometers out from the coast and connect up with a
twenty-kilometer submerged concrete tube tunnel made on two man-made islands in the English Channel. Er... the.., roadways spiral gently down to the level of the tunnel, It's the same principle as the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in the U. S. A., and it ... it's well-researched technology. Thinking ahead to the twenty-first century, er ... I believe that people will prefer, will want to drive across, not queue up waiting for trains.
And finally, there are also two separate supplementary rail-only tunnels, and they can take up to 30 high-speed passenger and freight trains in each direction per hour.
2. The Channel Expressway is a scheme consisting of two tunnels which carry both road and train traffic. The rails are laid flush with the road surface like tram tracks in the fast lane which is closed to traffic once every half hour for the trains to pass through. Er... really, both the passenger trains and the freight trains are able to use the tunnel, but the freight trains will mostly run during the night when there's less road traffic. There will be special pumps at regular intervals along the tunnel to clean the air and remove the exhaust fumes from it.