双语新闻：德国不该对Uber喊停

2014-10-10 15:43:53来源：可可英语

　　The company, which raised $1.2bn in funding from backers including Google Ventures andKleiner Perkins at a $17bn valuation in June, is in a hurry to establish its network before Lyftand other rivals. Treating legal challenges as a cost of doing business is characteristic of itsaggression – it is also poaching drivers from Lyft in the US.

　　今年6月，Uber从Google Ventures和Kleiner Perkins等资金后台筹得12亿美元，使其估值达到170亿美元。Uber急于抢在Lyft等竞争对手之前建立自己的网络。把法律挑战视为一种经营成本，是Uber咄咄逼人特点的体现;它在美国正试图吸引Lyft的司机跳槽。

　　Taxi Deutschland, the consortium of taxi operators that brought the Frankfurt case, accusesUber of “[wrapping] itself in a start-up look and selling itself as a new economy saviour” whilehurting the public good. It is not alone in being sceptical – Berlin’s DIW research instituteargued recently that the taxi market should not be subjected to “full deregulation”.

　　出租车运营商联盟Taxi Deutschland在法兰克福法庭对Uber提起了诉讼，指责Uber“把自己‘装扮成’一家初创企业，以新经济救世主的身份进行自我推销”，同时损害了公共利益。不仅该联盟产生怀疑，柏林的德国经济研究所(DIW)不久前也声称，出租车市场不应“完全放开管制”。

　　Regulation of taxis clearly has benefits – people climb into taxis and private hire cars withoutknowing who the driver is or how safe the vehicle is, and they need some safeguards. Theyalso benefit from official taxis being required to take a passenger to any destination, basedon a clear fare structure.

　　对出租车实施监管显然有很多好处——人们钻进出租车和私租汽车时，不知司机是谁，也不知车辆是否安全，他们需要一些安全保障。官方许可的出租车必须按乘客要求前往任何地点，收费结构清清楚楚，乘客从中受益。

　　It makes sense to give taxis privileges, such as the right to be hailed in the street, tocompensate for being tightly regulated (and not, for example, applying “surge pricing” attimes of scarcity, as Uber does). It would be short-sighted to permit a free-for-all private hire,or unfettered amateur ride-sharing, and put taxis out of business.

　　对出租车给予特权是合情合理的(比如有权在街头接纳招手打车的乘客)，这些特权是对受到严密监管的补偿(比如说，他们不能像Uber那样，在供应紧缺时段实行“峰时价格”)。放行所有私车出租，或任由业余司机提供拼车服务，从而把出租车赶出市场，将是短视做法。

　　The problem, however, is not that taxis are endangered, but the opposite – they are overlyprotected. “The private for-hire market is very extremely locked down in many cities,” saysPierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, the head of Uber in western Europe. Two legislative efforts toliberalise private hire in Germany have failed amid taxi opposition.

　　但问题不是出租车被置于危险之中，而是相反，它们受到了过度保护。Uber西欧业务主管皮埃尔-迪米特里•戈尔-柯提(Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty)表示，“在很多城市，私车出租市场非常受限。”在德国，由于出租车行业的反对，两次放开私车出租市场的立法努力以失败告终。

　　As a result, the bulk of the market in many cities is taken by taxis, with a slice of private hireoperators at the top and bottom. These provide executive limousines for companies and radiocabs for people who do not want to pay the taxi fare. Taxis face very weak competition in themiddle – well-trained and courteous drivers in smart, clean cars.

　　其结果是，许多城市的大部分市场份额由出租车占据，私车出租运营商仅在顶层和底层市场占据很小份额。后者向企业提供高管豪车，向不想付打车费的人提供电话预约的出租车。在中层市场，受过良好培训、彬彬有礼的司机开着整洁的出租车，他们面临的竞争非常弱。

本文关键字: 双语新闻德国不该对Uber喊停