美國舊金山灣區運輸系統初探

SF Bay Area Transit Systems: A Preliminary Study

運輸系統在舊金山灣區都會發展歷史中扮演重要角色；與美國其他地區相同，早期道路運輸係由商人出資興建。十九世紀後半期的鐵路運輸吸引大量移民定居灣區，並促進當地農業與商業擴張，強化灣區在加州經濟的地位。廿世紀初葉的電車系統使屋崙等城市的房地產業迅速擴充及人口增加，並使東灣領先灣區各郊區。汽車成爲主要交通工具後，灣區鐵路與渡輪運輸逐漸衰微。海灣大橋與金門大橋的興建，代表政府資金直接投入改善灣區交通，州政府與地方政府相繼在灣區修築高速公路與地區道路。三零年代美國經濟蕭條時期，經濟受重創的奧克拉荷馬等州居民移居加州與灣區。二次世界大戰期間，灣區造船業與相關軍事工業提供大量就業機會，大眾運輸再度成爲主要交通工具，由於地方政府缺乏統合規畫，嚴重影響戰時生產效率。戰後，聯邦與加州政府主導都會區與郊區的運輸計畫，開始強力推動灣區城市運輸機構間的合作。六零年代興建的灣區捷運系統僅三縣參與，其路線以舊金山市和屋崙市爲核心，車站設立在灣區部分城市與郊區。灣區運輸由商人主導投資渡輪、鐵路和電車，州與聯邦政府興建公路、金門橋海灣大橋，直到七零年代時，各級政府終於完成合作，整合運輸系統。

The pattern of growth in the San Francisco Bay Area was to be shaped largely by transit lines in the 1850s, wherever the opportunity for private gain appeared. With land and credit subsidies from federal and state governments, the Central Pacific built the transcontinental railroad. Transcontinental and local railroads helped open the entire western coast and the Bay region for settlement and promoted the development of Bay industry. Electric rail network, the Key System, maintained the East Bay's advantage over other Bay area suburban regions. The advent of automobile caused the downfall of the interurban electric railway, which in the early 20th century was the chief agent of population dispersal in the Bay Area. Completion of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges in the thirties initiated the slow decline of what had once been the world's most extensive ferry system. The state and federal governments took on a larger planning role in Bay region transportation projects after World War II. Rapid population growth and suburban expansion led to the construction of the mass transit system. BART construction in the 1960s was the first large-scale public transit to be built in the nation for nearly half a century. The consolidation of transportation which required mechanism for intergovernmental coordination was undertaken in the metropolitan regions in the 1970s.