允许还是被禁止？——拼车软件在温哥华

Stop and go

允许还是被禁止？——拼车软件在温哥华

Originated byThe Economist, August 3

翻译：凤梨是只胖柯基

校阅：Yates

图源：网络，版权归原作者所有，侵删

A hold-out province gives ride-hailing a cautious go-ahead

不列颠哥伦比亚省（加拿大省名，位于加拿大西部），一个拒不为拼车软件让步的省份，现谨慎地允许拼车出行

IF YOU LOOK Chinese and speak Mandarin you can summon a ride in Vancouver by using an app, as long as it’s Chinese. The drivers normally call to confirm the order, says Daniel Merkin, who lives in the Canadian city. “Sometimes they’ll hang up on me when they realise I don’t speak Mandarin,” he says. But he keeps trying, because popular ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, are not available. Vancouver is the only big North American city where they do not operate. The Chinese service is not legal, but it is tolerated.

如果你长得像中国人，又会说普通话，你可以在温哥华用中文拼车软件叫车。住在这座加拿大城市的丹尼尔·默金(Daniel Merkin)说，司机通常会打电话来确认订单。“有时候，当他们意识到我不会说普通话时，就会挂断我的电话，”他说。但他一直在努力使用中文拼车软件，因为优步(Uber)和Lyft等流行的叫车服务在温哥华都无法提供。温哥华是北美唯一一个不可以使用优步和Lyft等拼车软件的大城市。中文叫车软件虽然不合法，但可以容忍。

Mr Merkin hopes that his options will soon expand. In July the province of British Columbia, which licenses drivers, said it would allow the big ride-hailing services in. They could start operations by late September. But British Columbia has made their entry difficult by requiring drivers to hold commercial licences. That may deter part-timers who provide much of the services’ workforce. Lyft does not operate in places that require such licences.

默金希望他的选择能很快扩大。今年7月，为司机提供执照的不列颠哥伦比亚省表示，将允许大型叫车服务进入该省。这些软件可能在9月底开始运作。即便但不列颠哥伦比亚省要求司机持有商业运营执照，他们也很难参与到这些服务中来。这可能会阻碍提供大部分服务的兼职司机。打车软件Lyft并不在需要此类商业执照的地方运营。

The regulators have reason to proceed cautiously. In many cities where ride-hailing has taken off, congestion has worsened and use of public transport has dropped. In San Francisco, congestion, as measured by extra time required to complete a journey, increased by 60% from 2010 to 2016, according to Greg Erhardt, a professor at the University of Kentucky. More than half of the rise was caused by the growth of ride-hailing. Population and employment growth accounted for the rest. Ride-hailing led to a 12% drop in ridership on public transport in the city. San Francisco’s experience is a “cautionary tale for Vancouver”, says Joe Castiglione, who analyses data for its transport authority.

该省的监管机构有足够的理由谨慎行事。在许多网约车已经起步的城市，交通拥堵加剧，公共交通使用量下降。据肯塔基大学(University of Kentucky)教授格雷格·埃哈特(Greg Erhardt)说，从2010年到2016年，旧金山的交通拥堵(以完成一段旅程所需的额外时间来衡量)增加了60%。超过一半的拥堵增长是由叫车服务的增长引起的，剩下的原因是人口和就业的增长。叫车服务导致该市公共交通客流量下降12%。为温哥华交通局分析数据的乔·卡斯龙（Joe Castiglione）说，旧金山的经历给了“温哥华的一个警示”。

Even without Uber and Lyft, Vancouver is one of North America’s most traffic-jammed cities, in part because its downtown is small. Ride-hailing might worsen congestion. Its absence has made Vancouver one of the few North American cities where public transport is attracting more passengers. The number of journeys started on TransLink, the city’s public-transport system, rose by 7.1% to 437m in 2018, making it “another record-breaking year” for the network of buses and trains. From 2016 to 2018 the number rose by 18.4%. British Columbia’s higher petrol prices and growth in employment and population explain some of that rise. Not allowing Uber and Lyft helped, says Andrew Curran, TransLink’s head of policy. (It has also boosted car-sharing services, which let people book vehicles they drive themselves. Vancouver has 3,000 cars that can be hired for such services, double the number in San Francisco, which has more people.)

即使没有优步和Lyft，温哥华也是北美交通最拥堵的城市之一，部分原因是因为它的市中心很小。叫车服务可能会加剧该市的拥堵。温哥华是北美少数几个公共交通吸引更多乘客的城市之一。2018年，该市公共交通系统TransLink的发车量增长7.1%，达到4.37亿人次，使公交和火车网络“再创新高”。2016年至2018年，这一数字增长了18.4%。不列颠哥伦比亚省较高的汽油价格、就业和人口的增长是部分原因。TransLink的政策主管安德鲁•柯兰(Andrew Curran)表示，不允许优步和Lyft的进入帮助了他们。(它还促进了汽车共享服务，让人们可以预订想自己驾驶的汽车。温哥华有3000辆汽车可以提供这种服务，是旧金山的两倍，而旧金山人口更多。)

Vancouver was among the first cities Uber tried to enter, in 2012, and “the first city that Uber ever left”, in the same year, says Michael van Hemmen, who leads the company’s operations in western Canada. Forbidding rules, such as classifying it as a limousine service, which for some reason must charge a minimum of C$75 ($57) per trip, killed its business. British Columbia is now inviting it back to Vancouver (and other cities in the province) in hopes of complementing its public-transport system rather than undermining it. It will not be classified as a limousine service.

温哥华是优步2012年试图进入的首批城市之一，该公司加拿大西部业务负责人迈克尔•范•海曼(Michael van Hemmen)表示，同年，温哥华又是“优步离开的第一个城市”。一些禁令：比如将其归类为豪华轿车服务；出于某种原因，每趟行程必须收取至少75加元(合57美元)的费用，扼杀了它的生意。不列颠哥伦比亚省现在邀请优步回到温哥华(以及该省的其他城市)，希望能作为城市公共交通系统的补充，而不是破坏它。优步现在不会被归类为豪华轿车服了务。

Mr Curran says ride-hailing could increase use of public transport by ferrying people from their houses to a bus or train stop. It could also improve transport for people with disabilities. Currently, TransLink hires taxis to give door-to-door rides to some disabled people. The requirement for drivers to have commercial licences will contain the services’ growth and protect taxi-drivers, ride-hailing’s fiercest foes, or so the province hopes.

柯兰还表示，叫车服务可以把人们从家里送到公交车站或火车站，从而增加公共交通的使用量。它还可以改善残疾人的交通状况。目前，TransLink的出租车为一些残疾人提供上门服务。拼车司机必须持有商业运营牌照的要求将抑制该服务的增长，并保护出租车司机，至少该省希望如此。出租车司机是网约车服务的最大敌人。

But the commercial-licence requirement could have the opposite effect. Analysts think it will reduce the number of drivers available to pick up passengers in distant suburbs. Instead, they will cluster in the centre. Some of Uber’s future competitors say they are not worried. The commercial-licence rule will discourage most drivers, believes Chris Iuvancigh of Sharenow, which runs Car2go, one of Vancouver’s four car-sharing services. A driver who offers rides in his Mercedes SUV to people who hire him via WeChat, a Chinese app, thinks they will stay loyal. If ride-hailing does come to Vancouver, he predicts, it will just slow their journeys down.

但是商业运营执照的要求可能产生相反的效果。分析人士认为，这将减少在偏远郊区搭载乘客的司机数量。相反，这些司机将聚集在市中心。优步未来的一些竞争对手表示，他们并不担心。Sharenow的克里斯·卢文奇（Chris Iuvancigh）认为，商业执照的规定将使大多数司机望而却步。Sharenow经营着温哥华四家汽车共享服务公司之一的Car2go。一位司机通过中国社交软件微信向雇佣他的人提供奔驰SUV接送服务，他认为（即使网约车到来）这些客户也会保持忠诚。他预测，如果网约车真的来到温哥华，只会减慢他们的出行速度。

允许转载，转载可联系后台，需标明出处及作者、翻译、校阅。