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A bus of Boltbus in an undated file photo. Many Americans have abandoned their love of getting behind the wheel during the last year, and opted to hop on buses instead, according to a study released this week.
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Many Americans have abandoned their love of getting behind the wheel during the last year, and opted to hop on buses instead, according to a study released this week.
Inter-city bus service jumped 9.8 percent between the fourth quarters of 2007 and 2008, the highest growth rate in more than 40 years.
"The growth in intercity bus traffic is being driven by a number of factors, chiefly the spiking price of fuel over the past year," said Joseph Schwieterman, professor of public service and director of the Chaddick Institute, who directed the study, released on Monday.
"The basic economic efficiencies of bus travel are proving to be extremely attractive in this difficult economic climate," he said.
The revival of downtown districts and a growing acceptance of bus travel among younger travelers are also partly responsible for the U.S. bus renaissance, the study found.
The study includes all arrivals and departures of all conventional intercity bus companies, such as Greyhound Lines and Continental Trailways, as well as curbside bus operators, but not commuter-bus operators.
Much of the growth was driven by two companies, Megabus and Boltbus, a joint venture of the Greyhound and Peter Pan bus companies, which started curbside pick-up service in northeastern states in spring 2007.
The two companies offer high-frequency service between major U.S. cities and wireless Internet service on board.
Growth in passengers choosing to take the bus has also had an environmental impact. Over the past year, bus route growth has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 36,000 tons and 3.48 million gallons of fuel, according to the study.
The number of Americans who traveled by car dipped 3.3 percent in the first eight months of 2008.
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(Agencies)
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本周公布的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，在過去一年中，很多美國(guó)人“忍痛割愛“，以乘公共汽車代替開車出行。
今年第四季度，美國(guó)城市間公交客運(yùn)量比去年同期增長(zhǎng)了9.8%，漲幅為40多年來最高。
查迪克研究所負(fù)責(zé)人、指導(dǎo)該研究的公共服務(wù)學(xué)教授約瑟夫?施韋特曼說：“公交客運(yùn)量的增大有很多原因，主要原因是去年油價(jià)飆升。”
他說：“事實(shí)證明，在經(jīng)濟(jì)困難時(shí)期，乘公共汽車出行的基本經(jīng)濟(jì)效率還是具有很大吸引力的。”
此外，調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，市區(qū)的復(fù)蘇和越來越多的年輕人選擇乘車出行也是目前公交客運(yùn)量增長(zhǎng)的部分原因。
該調(diào)查的主要對(duì)象包括“灰狗長(zhǎng)途汽車公司”和“大陸客運(yùn)公司”等美國(guó)所有老牌長(zhǎng)途汽車公司以及經(jīng)營(yíng)搭車業(yè)務(wù)的客運(yùn)公司，但不包括通勤班車公司。
經(jīng)過調(diào)查這些公司所有班車的出發(fā)和抵達(dá)情況，調(diào)查人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，其中Megabus和Boltbus兩家公司的客運(yùn)量最大。Boltbus是”灰狗“和Peter Pan長(zhǎng)途汽車公司的合資公司，從去年春季開始在美國(guó)東北部的一些州經(jīng)營(yíng)搭車業(yè)務(wù)。
這兩家公司主要經(jīng)營(yíng)大城市間的客運(yùn)業(yè)務(wù)，車次頻繁，而且提供車內(nèi)無線上網(wǎng)服務(wù)。
選擇乘車出行的人增多對(duì)環(huán)境也有一定的好處。由于公交路線的增多，去年二氧化碳排放量減少了約3.6萬噸，燃油消耗量減少了348萬加侖。
今年前八個(gè)月，美國(guó)開車出行的人減少了3.3%。
（英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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