外媒：电子商务带来便利 快递交通安全等问题也不容忽视
最近几年，电子商务在世界各地蓬勃发展，而中国已经成为全世界最大的电子商务市场。
有机构预计，中国2019年的网上零售额将增长30%，达到近2万亿美元（约合人民币13.76亿元），占到全球网上零售总额的一半以上。
2009年至2018年，美国邮政局投递的包裹数量翻了一番，达到每年62亿个。与此同时，快递交通安全、包装垃圾回收等问题也开始凸显。
Drivers of the food delivery service Ele.me begin their morning shift after an internal security check in Beijing, Sept 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]
数字商务正给上海的交通造成切实损失。根据上海市政府新闻办公室的消息，今年上半年，上海市共发生涉及快递、外卖行业各类道路交通事故325起，造成5人死亡。
Digital commerce is exacting a very analog toll on the streets of Shanghai. According to the city’s Information Office, there were 325 traffic accidents -- and five deaths -- involving delivery drivers during the first half of 2019.
中国是全球最大的电子商务市场。在上述事故中，超过80%的快递员在为美团点评和阿里巴巴旗下饿了么等公司投递包裹和送餐。这标志着市场的飞速扩张：2017年全年，上海市仅发生了117起涉及快递的交通事故。
China is the world’s biggest e-commerce market and more than 80% of those drivers were dropping off packages and meals for services such as Meituan Dianping and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ele.Me. It’s a sign of how fast the market is expanding: For the whole of 2017, there were only 117 delivery-related accidents in the city.
这一数据凸显出一个全球性问题：城市还没有准备好应对电子商务带来的实际影响。目前，大多数问题暂时还只是有些恼人。但如果在制定城市法规和建设基础设施时，开发商和市政部门尚未开始将电子商务纳入考量，风险就会迅速增加。
Shanghai's data highlights a global problem: Cities are unprepared to absorb the physical impact of e-commerce. For now, most problems don’t yet rise above the level of annoyances. But the risks will grow quickly if developers and municipal leaders don’t start to account for e-commerce when developing urban regulations and infrastructure.
与众多技术创新一样，早期的电子商务推动者宣扬电商更加环保。网上购物曾被描述成一种更加健康的消费方式。分组送货将取代个人前往商店购物，从而减少交通流量和碳排放量。实体店的减少将使人们能够更加高效和更可持续地利用城市空间，包括增加医疗设施和公园，这在郊区尤为显著。
As with many technological innovations, early boosters of e-commerce championed its environmental virtues. Digital shopping was portrayed as a healthier way to consume. Grouped deliveries would replace the individual trip to the shop, thereby reducing traffic and carbon emissions. Fewer brick-and-mortar stores, especially in suburban locations, would allow for more productive and sustainable uses of space, including by health care facilities and parks.
champion ['tʃæmpɪən]：vt.支持；拥护
brick-and-mortar store：实体店
A courier puts a parcel inside a self-service package locker in Beijing. [Photo/VCG]
然而，从早期开始这一行业就在快速发展。自2009年至2018年，美国邮政局投递的包裹数量翻了一番，达到每年62亿个。公寓垃圾处理室里堆积如山的纸板就是明证：在纽约，大约四成的居民每周至少收到一份快递。
The industry has grown exponentially since those early days, however. Between 2009 and 2018, the number of parcels delivered by the US Postal Service doubled to 6.2 billion annually. The mountains of cardboard in apartment trash rooms are proof: In New York, roughly four in 10 residents receive at least one delivery per week.
exponentially [ˌekspəʊˈnenʃəlɪ]：adv.以指数方式
而且，很多快递包裹都是在工作高峰时段递送到办公室而不是家里。在德国，货运只占全部交通量的30%，但却占到市中心高峰时段交通量的80%。
And many packages are sent to offices rather than homes, during peak business hours. In Germany, freight transportation accounts for only 30% of all traffic but 80% of peak-hour inner-city traffic.
在伦敦，拥堵费降低了白天上路的私家车数量，而货车和优步等叫车服务又使得路上车辆大增。西雅图的研究人员发现，在市中心运送货物的卡车中，约有一半违章停车，导致交通堵塞，车行缓慢。
In London, where congestion charges have reduced the number of private cars on the road during the day, delivery vans and ride-hailing services such as Uber have more than made up the difference. Researchers in Seattle found that roughly half of the trucks making deliveries downtown parked illegally, blocking and slowing other traffic.
再来看看中国。在中国，仅美团一家送餐公司就雇佣了近60万名骑手，每年在2800个城市为4亿多消费者服务。骑手们大多骑乘两轮电动车，穿梭于车流和人行道上，而且几乎可以停在任何需要送货的地方。大量的电动自行车堵塞了人行道，甚至在通常为中国电子商务巨头们叫好的媒体上引发了愤怒的批评。
Then there's China, where just one food-delivery company -- Meituan -- employs 600,000 drivers to serve 400 million customers annually in 2,800 cities. Drivers mostly use electrified two-wheelers that swerve through traffic and along sidewalks, and park pretty much wherever a delivery is to be made. The swarm of e-bikes clogging sidewalks has even prompted irate columns in media outlets that ordinarily cheer on China's e-commerce champions.
swerve[swɜːv]：vi.转弯；突然转向
clog [klɒg]：v.阻塞
这些问题只会变得更糟糕。在亚马逊公司总部所在地西雅图，预计在2018到2023年间，电子商务的复合年增长率将达到20%，货物配送量将增长一倍以上。中国的数字更惊人：预计中国2019年的网上零售额将增长30%，达到近2万亿美元（约合13.76亿元人民币），占到全球网上零售总额的一半以上。
The problem is only going to get worse. In Seattle, home of Amazon.com Inc., a compound annual e-commerce growth rate of 20% between 2018 and 2023 is expected to more than double goods deliveries. The numbers for China are even more staggering: Online retail sales are projected to grow by 30% in 2019 and reach nearly $2 trillion, accounting for more than half of all global online retail sales.
没有简单的解决办法。对于感到不便的人来说，给停在自行车道或堵塞道路的送货卡车开罚单或是把它们拖走，可能会在情绪上得到满足，但却是治标不治本。要从根本上解决问题，就需要城市、电子商务公司、业主和开发商之间建立更具创造性的伙伴关系。
There are no easy fixes. Ticketing or towing delivery trucks for parking in bike lanes and blocking roads is emotionally satisfying for those inconvenienced, but will only address symptoms rather than underlying causes. To do that will require far more creative partnerships between cities, e-commerce companies and housing owners and developers.
例如，纽约和其他一些城市已经证明，鼓励非高峰时段（或禁止高峰时段）送货有助于缓解城市拥堵。在上海等发展中国家城市，更多的自行车道和停车位将减少交通事故和交通量。
For instance, New York and other cities have demonstrated that providing incentives for off-peak deliveries (or forbidding peak-hour ones) can help reduce urban congestion. More bike lanes and parking spots would cut down on accidents and traffic in developing-world cities such as Shanghai.
市政府应考虑要求新建小区设置快递停车位。小区还可以与电子商务公司合作，在转运中心附近设置快递柜，以减少送货途中的停车次数。从长远来看，电子商务公司之间可以找机会开展送货合作，整合个人快递。
Municipal governments should consider requiring new multi-unit developments to include space for delivery parking. They could work with e-commerce companies to set up lockers near transit hubs in order to reduce the number of delivery stops. Long-term, companies could look for opportunities to partner with one another on deliveries and consolidate individual shipments.
最后，公众教育活动可以让消费者更好地了解到电子商务对共享城市环境的影响。很多消费者可能会为了更安全和更有秩序的城市而选择放弃一些个人的便利。
Finally, public education campaigns could better inform consumers about the impact of e-commerce on the shared urban environment. More than a few customers might choose to forgo some individual convenience for a safer and less chaotic city.
forgo [fɔː'gəʊ; fə-]：vt.放弃；停止
来源：中国日报网英语点津 编辑：许雅宁
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