紐約的煩惱 人行道大擁堵

Ivette Singh hardly bothers to walk on the sidewalk on her way to work in Midtown Manhattan anyMore. Too many people, too little space. Not enough patience.

在去曼哈頓中城上班的路上，伊維特·辛格(Ivette Singh)幾乎不再走人行道。因爲人太多，空間太小。耐心不夠。

Instead, Ms. Singh can be found on the wrong side of the curb as she makes her way from Pennsylvania Station to her job on Third Avenue near 40th Street, and then back again. She prefers dodging yellow cabs and bicyclists to navigating sidewalks teeming with commuters, tourists and cart-pushing vendors, all jostling for elbow room.

倒是可以在馬路邊看到她在賓夕法尼亞站(Pennsylvania Station)和位於40街附近的第三大道上的工作單位之間往返的身影。她寧願躲避黃色的出租車和騎自行車的人，也不願在擠滿了爭搶活動空間的上班族、遊客和推車小販的人行道上穿行。

“I don’t mind the walk, it’s just the people,” Ms. Singh, an account coordinator for the Univision television network, said. “Sometimes, they’re rude. They’re on top of you, no personal space. They’re smoking. It’s tough.”

“我不介意走路，就是人太多，”在Univision電視網擔任客戶協調員的辛格說。“有時候，他們行爲粗魯。緊挨着你，沒有個人空間。還有人抽菸。太難受了。”

Ms. Singh is just one among many pedestrians experiencing a growing phenomenon in New York City: sidewalk gridlock.

在紐約市，很多人和辛格一樣，都正在經歷一個越來越嚴重的現象：人行道擁堵。

While crowding is hardly a new problem in the city, the sidewalks that cemented New York’s reputation as a world-class walking city have become obstacle courses as more people than ever live and work in the city and tourism surges. The problem is particularly acute in Manhattan. Around Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, two of the city’s main transit hubs, commuters clutching coffee cups and briefcases squeeze by one another during the morning and evening rushes. Throngs of shoppers and visitors sometimes bring swaths of Lower Manhattan to a standstill, prompting some residents of the area to cite clogged sidewalks as their biggest problem in a recent community survey.

儘管擁擠幾乎算不上該市的新問題，但隨着在這裏居住和工作的人比以往任何時候都多且旅遊業發展迅猛，鞏固了紐約世界級步行城市聲譽的人行道變成了障礙訓練場。這個問題在曼哈頓尤爲嚴重。早晚高峯期間，在該市兩個主要的交通樞紐賓夕法尼亞站和港務局公交總站周邊，緊握着咖啡和公文包的上班族在摩肩接踵中穿梭着。有時候，成羣結隊的購物者和遊客會讓曼哈頓下城的部分地帶堵得舉步維艱，導致該地區的部分居民在最近的一次社區調查中把人行道擁堵列爲最大的問題。

Foot traffic has slowed to a shuffle along some of the city’s most famous corridors. On Fifth Avenue, between 54th and 55th Streets, 26,831 pedestrians — enough to fill Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall combined — passed through in three hours on a weekday in May 2015, up from 20,639 the year before, according to city data.

在該市最有名的一些人行道上，人們只能曳足而行，緩慢前進。該市的數據顯示，2015年5月的一個工作日，三個小時內經過位於54街和55街之間的第五大道的行人爲26831人，足以同時填滿麥迪遜廣場花園體育館和無線電城音樂廳，同前一年的20639人相比大幅增加。

Transportation officials are taking measures to alleviate the congestion. To help accommodate foot traffic, they are adding more pedestrian plazas around the city, expanding the presence of a streetscape feature first embraced by the Bloomberg administration. One is scheduled to open soon on 33rd Street near Penn Station. There are also plans to widen a half-dozen sidewalks in Flushing, Queens, in the next year (the city’s sidewalks vary in width, but must be at least five feet wide).

負責交通事務的官員正在採取措施，緩解人行道上的擁堵。爲了幫助滿足步行需求，他們正在全市增加步行區，擴大了最先由布隆伯格政府採納的這個街道景觀設施。其中一處步行區位於賓夕法尼亞站附近的33街，按計劃將很快開放。相關部門還計劃明年拓寬皇后區法拉盛的六條人行道（該市的人行道寬度不一，但必須達到至少5英尺寬）。

While a crowded sidewalk is simply a symptom of a crowded city, it resonates deeply because it affects almost everyone. Unlike overstuffed subways or tourist attractions like, say, Times Square, there is no going around the sidewalks. They are to New York what freeways are to Los Angeles: an essential part of the city’s infrastructure. Sidewalks not only get people from Point A to Point B, but also serve as a shared public space for rich and poor, native and tourist alike.

儘管人行道擁擠只是城市擁擠的一個症狀，但卻引起了深深的共鳴，因爲它幾乎影響到了每一個人。不同於人滿爲患的地鐵或是旅遊景點，比如時報廣場，人行道無法避開。它們之於紐約，就相當於高速公路之於洛杉磯：是城市基礎設施的基本組成部分。人行道不僅能讓人們從一個地方去往另一個地方，還是一個窮人和富人、本地人和外地遊客共同享有的公共空間。

“Sidewalks are the unifying glue of the city,” said Mitchell L. Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University. “It’s the one part of the city that everyone has to use. You cannot avoid sidewalks.”

“人行道是城市的粘合劑，”紐約大學魯丁交通政策和管理中心(Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University)主任米切爾·L·莫斯(Mitchell L. Moss)說。“是城市裏所有人都會使用的地方。根本避不開人行道。”

Crowded sidewalks are not just a New York problem. They have created bottlenecks and logistical hurdles and have raised safety concerns in cities across the country. Since 2013, public works officials in San Francisco have widened two sidewalks in Fisherman’s Wharf and the Castro, popular tourist areas with a lot of foot traffic. A third sidewalk project is planned for Second Street, one of the main routes to AT&T Park, the baseball stadium where the Giants play.

人行道擁堵的問題不僅限於紐約。它們給全美的城市造成了瓶頸和物流障礙，引起了對安全的擔憂。自2013年以來，舊金山的市政工程官員拓寬了漁人碼頭和卡斯特羅的兩條人行道。這兩個地方頗受遊客歡迎，步行的人流量很大。計劃中的另一個人行道項目涉及的是第二街。它是通往巨人隊(Giants)的棒球場AT&T球場(AT&T Park)的主要道路之一。

In Seattle, a busy stretch of East Pike Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood that is lined with restaurants, bars and clubs was closed to cars on three Saturday nights last summer to make room for pedestrians overflowing from the sidewalks. “It just feels so jammed with humanity it becomes a rough situation,” said Joel Sisolak, sustainability and planning director for Capitol Hill Housing, a community development corporation that has worked with city officials to address the issue of crowded sidewalks.

在西雅圖，東派克街經過國會山地區的路段交通繁忙，路兩邊遍佈着餐館、酒吧和夜總會。去年夏天，爲了給被擠出人行道的行人留出空間，該路段有三個週六的晚上禁止車輛通行。“就感覺太擠了，環境變得很惡劣，”社區發展公司國會山住房(Capitol Hill Housing)的可持續與規劃總監喬爾·西索拉克(Joel Sisolak)說。該公司與市政官員合作，在解決人行道擁擠問題。

Space on New York City’s sidewalks is at a premium at a time when the city’s population of 8.5 million is higher than ever. Add in the record 59.7 million visitors who are expected to descend on the city this year, up from 48.8 million in 2010, and it’s a recipe for thoroughfares packed like sardine cans. Chris Heywood, a spokesman for NYC & Company, which oversees the city’s tourism efforts, said his group was increasingly highlighting attractions outside Manhattan in hopes of dispersing visitors across the city.

隨着紐約城人口突破850萬，人行道的稀缺程度達到前所未有的水平。2010年有4880萬遊客前來紐約觀光，預計這個數字今年將達到創紀錄的5970萬，所以交通要道就像沙丁魚罐頭一樣擁擠。克里斯·海伍德(Chris Heywood)在市裏負責旅遊事務的紐約城公司(NYC & Company)擔任發言人，他說，公司團隊在加強對曼哈頓之外景點的宣傳，希望將遊客分流到城市各處。

Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said the department had conducted research into pedestrian behavior at crosswalks and had monitored pedestrian volumes at 100 street locations around the city to track long-term trends in neighborhood commercial corridors. Along bustling 34th Street, the city has added about 20,000 square feet of pedestrian space in recent years, including so-called bus bulbs that extend the sidewalk pavement to give bus riders more room to wait.

市交通局發言人斯科特·加斯特爾(Scott Gastel)稱，他們對人行橫道上行人的行爲進行了研究，在全市100處街頭地點對社區商業走廊的長期趨勢進行了追蹤。近幾年來，市裏在繁華的34街增加了2萬平方英尺左右的步行空間，其中包括“公共汽車等候處”(bus bulbs)。這指的是延伸到路上的人行道，可以讓公交乘客有更多的空間來等車。

In Lower Manhattan, overcrowded sidewalks topped the list of residents’ concerns in a survey conducted last year for the local community board. The problem was aggravated in some areas by sidewalk clutter such as construction scaffolding, large garbage bags, vendors and fixtures like lights, signs, newsstands, benches, planters and recycling bins. “You add all that up, and it’s difficult to walk on the narrow sidewalk,” said Catherine McVay Hughes, the community board’s chairwoman.

在曼哈頓下城，地方社區委員會去年做的一項調查顯示，在最受居民關注的問題中，擁擠的人行道位居榜首。人行道上的障礙物，比如施工腳手架、大垃圾袋、攤販，以及路燈、招牌、報攤、長椅、花架和垃圾回收箱這些東西，讓部分地區的這一問題更加嚴重。“所有這些加在一起，要在狹窄的人行道上走路就很困難了，”社區委員會主席凱瑟琳·麥克維恩·休斯(Catherine McVay Hughes)說。

If there is an epicenter of crowded sidewalks in New York, it is near Penn Station, where pedestrians, food carts and newsstands all vie for space. Only London and Tokyo have sidewalks as congested, said Daniel A. Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership, which oversees the business district in the area. As many as 14,000 pedestrians an hour walk in front of the Modell’s Sporting Goods store on Seventh Avenue near West 34th Street, according to 2015 data collected by the partnership.

如果說紐約擁擠的人行道上有個震中位置，那就是在賓州車站附近了。在這裏，行人、食品車和報攤互相爭奪空間。負責該地商務區的34街合作管理委員會(34th Street Partnership)主席丹尼爾·A·比德曼(Daniel A. Biederman)表示，這裏人行道的擁擠程度只有倫敦和東京可以相提並論。他們2015年蒐集的數據顯示，每小時有至多1.4萬行人走過第七大道近西34街的麥多體育用品店(Modell’s Sporting Goods)門前。

The commuter crowd is also growing. An average of 92,314 riders boarded New Jersey Transit trains at Penn Station each weekday in fiscal year 2015, up from 79,891 riders in fiscal year 2010. In the same period, average weekday boardings on New Jersey Transit buses at the Port Authority terminal also increased, to 78,006 riders from 72,506.

通勤人數也越來越多。在2015年財年，平均每個工作日有92314名乘客在賓州車站搭上新澤西公共交通(New Jersey Transit)列車，而在2010年財年這個數字爲79891人。在同一時期，在港務局碼頭搭乘新澤西公共交通大巴的乘客也從72506人增加到78006人。

Veteran pedestrians have tried to adapt. They shoulder their way into bike lanes or walk purposefully on the street alongside cars — eyes ahead, earphones in — forming a de facto express lane. They move en masse along Seventh and Eighth Avenues like a storm system on a weather map, heading north in the mornings and south in the evenings.

長期路過這裏的行人試圖適應這種情況。他們擠到自行車道上，或故意在街上和汽車並行——眼看前方、戴着耳機——形成了一條事實上的快行道。他們集體沿着第七和第八大道移動，像天氣圖上的風暴一樣，早晨朝北捲過去，晚上朝南捲過來。

“You know how the system works,” said Roque Santos, 48, a stagehand who commutes daily from Jersey City. “I cross the street even before the light changes to beat the crowd.”

“你知道這種事是怎麼個情況，”48歲的羅克·桑托斯(Roque Santos)說。他是舞臺工作人員，每天往返澤西市。“爲了搶在人羣前面，我甚至會在變燈之前就穿過馬路。”

Peter Raskin, a sports marketing executive, has made walking in the street part of his daily routine. He zipped north on Seventh Avenue the other morning, even when there was room on the sidewalk. “I’m used to it,” he said. “I stay in the street with my head down.”

在街上步行是體育營銷高管彼得·拉斯金(Peter Raskin)每日例行的活動。有天早上，他在第七大道的車道上快步朝北走着，儘管人行道上也有地方。“我習慣了，”他說。“低着頭在街上走。”

But bad things can happen when foot traffic spills into the streets. In 2016, there have been 55 pedestrian fatalities as of Sunday; still, that was an improvement from the 79 fatalities for the same period in 2013.

然而，步行的人走到車道上，往往就會有糟糕的事情發生。截止週日，2016年共有55名行人死亡；不過，相比於2013年同期的79人，算是有所改善。

Michael D’Angelo, an accountant who works in Midtown, said that in the past year he had seen a half-dozen pedestrians walking in the street struck by cyclists. Still, Mr. D’Angelo said he often had no choice but to step off the curb because he could not get by all the people along Eighth Avenue. His bus home to Pennsylvania leaves the Port Authority at 5:55 p.m., with or without him.

在曼哈頓中城工作的會計師邁克爾·迪安傑洛(Michael D’Angelo)表示，去年他看到過五六起行人在車道上走而被自行車撞到的事故。但迪安傑洛說他通常沒有選擇，只能離開人行道，因爲他無法從第八大道上擁擠的人流中穿過。他的家在賓夕法尼亞州，回家的公交車每天下午5點55從港務局出發，晚了車就開走了。

“Everybody is trying to beat everybody,” he said, “because everybody has someplace to go.”

“每個人都想擠出一條路來，”他說，“因爲每個人都在往某個地方趕。”

Then there are the inattentive walkers, those who text on their phones or read newspapers while moving, and the meandering tourists who seem oblivious to the ways of the street. They stop midstride, step on someone’s heel or cut off people without warning. The result? Sidewalk rage.

況且，路上還有漫不經心的行人，那些一邊走一邊用手機發信息或讀報紙的人，還有搞不清要走的路、折過來折過去的遊客。他們會停步不前，踩到別人的腳後跟，不經提醒插到別人前面。結果呢？人行道上怒氣很大。

“When you get out-of-towners and New Yorkers, it’s like mixing Clorox with ammonia, it doesn’t work — there’s a chemical reaction,” said Jato Jenkins, a street worker, as he swept a stretch of Seventh Avenue. “The New Yorkers walk their normal route, and the out-of-towners are going the opposite direction, like salmon going upstream.”

“外地人和紐約客碰到一塊，就像把漂白劑和氨水兌在一起，行不通——會有化學反應，”清潔工哈託·詹金斯(Jato Jenkins)說，他正在打掃第七大道上的一片地方。“紐約客走自己慣常的路線，外地人則走相反的方向，就像逆流而上的鮭魚。”

Mr. Jenkins said everyone was miserable and on edge, especially in the sweltering summer months, so that even the slightest bump could set off tempers. He said he had seen women cursing at each other and men pushing each other and grabbing each other’s shirts.

詹金斯表示，所有人都情緒不太好、容易發火，尤其是在酷暑炎炎的幾個月裏，所以即便是最輕微的碰撞也可能引得人大發脾氣。他說自己曾經看到過有女人相互咒罵，男人相互推搡，揪對方的襯衣。

Virginia Garcia said she had been on the receiving end of such outbursts. “People are running around like crazy, and they don’t stop,” said Ms. Garcia, who stands at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and West 36th Street with a sign advertising a local pub. “They push you, they hit you and they don’t care.”

維爾吉尼婭·加西亞(Virginia Garcia)說有人就朝她發過火。“人羣像瘋了一樣東奔西跑，停不下來，”加西亞說。她站在第七大道和西36街的交叉口處，手裏舉着一家本地酒吧的廣告牌。“他們推你，打你，根本不在意。”

David Wentz, a mail carrier who pushes a 50-pound cart around the garment district, said he tried to arrange his day around the busiest times for foot traffic. “It’s chaotic,” he said. “It’s like Disney World down here.”

郵遞員戴維·溫茨(David Wentz)推着一輛50磅重的推車在服裝區附近走，他說自己努力安排如何在行人最多的高峯期前後工作。“很混亂，”他說。“就好像這裏是迪士尼樂園。”

But for Mr. Moss, of the Rudin Center at N.Y.U., crowded sidewalks show how far the city has come. During the 1970s, he pointed out, people used to avoid the sidewalks in the East Village and other parts of the city for a different reason: They feared criminals and felt safer walking out in the open, down the middle of a street.

不過，對於紐約大學魯丁中心的莫斯而言，擁擠的行人顯示出這個城市的變化有多大。他指出，在70年代，出於另外一個原因，人們習慣於在東村和紐約其他一些地方避開人行道：他們擔心碰到罪犯，感覺走在敞亮的車道中間更安全。

Today, “people want to be in New York,” he said. “A crowded sidewalk is a sign of vitality.”

如今，“大家想待在紐約，”他說。“擁擠的人行道象徵着活力。”