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Usain Bolt Brings His E-Scooters to Japan

Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt co-founded the company Bolt Mobility¹ last year in the U.S.

奥运会金牌得主塞恩·博尔特去年在美国联合创办了博尔特移动公司。 

Now, he is bringing his electric scooters to Japan.

他正带着他的电动滑板车进军日本。 

He hopes officials will see the environmental value in the vehicles and amend² some laws on their use.

他希望官员们能看到这些车的环保价值，并修改一些关于它们使用的法律。 

Under current Japanese laws, electric scooters, also known as e-scooters, must be used on roads and have license³ plates.

根据日本现行法律，电动滑板车必须在道路上行驶，并持有车辆牌照。 

And riders must have a motorcycle license.But Bolt Mobility wants to limit scooter use in Japan to private land, which is not required to follow traffic laws.

骑车的人必须有机动车驾驶执照。但博尔特移动公司希望将日本的滑板车使用限制在私有土地上，在私有土地不需要遵守交通法规。

And company representatives are talking with regulators about easing other restrictions⁴.

公司代表正在与监管机构讨论放松其他限制。 

They say Bolt scooters can reduce traffic, which can lead to lower emissions⁵.

他们说，博尔特滑板车可以减少交通流量，从而降低排放。 

Usain Bolt hopes his celebrity⁶ can help persuade lawmakers to his companys message.

尤塞恩·博尔特希望他的名望能帮助说服立法者接受他公司的意见。 

“We’re still talking and trying to figure out how to push forward and do better things for the environment, because that’s where it started,” he said in an interview with Reuters News Agency. “This is the future.”

他在接受路透社采访时表示：“我们仍在讨论，并试图找出如何推动环保，以及为环保做出更大的贡献，因为这是我们的出发点，这就是未来。”

Bolt Mobility aims to be in 20 cities worldwide by the end of 2019, and 50 cities across eight countries in 2020.

博尔特移动公司的目标是到2019年底在全球20个城市开展业务，到2020年在8个国家开展50个城市业务。

Earlier this year, the company launched its scooters in New York, Paris and Washington.

今年早些时候，该公司在纽约、巴黎和华盛顿推出了滑板车。 

E-scooter sharing has become popular for “last-mile” transit⁷, but they have also created problems.

电动滑板车共享已经成为“最后一英里”交通运输系统的流行方式，但它们也带来了一些问题。 

In San Francisco, riders often leave the vehicles on public walkways.

在旧金山，骑手们经常将它停在公共人行道上。 

Many people, including a city official, have called them a “public nuisance.”

许多人，包括市政官员在内的很多人称其为“公害”。 

Paris has amended⁸ rules on where scooters can be ridden following two deaths and several injuries.

在发生了两起死亡和几起受伤事故后，巴黎修改了滑板车的使用规则。 

And in Singapore, a bicyclist died after being hit by an e-scooter in September.

在新加坡，一名骑自行车的人在9月份被一辆电动滑板车撞死。 

In Tokyo, e-scooters are still rare.

在东京，电动滑板车仍然很少见。 

There is a growing demand for making them more common.

然而，对它们的需求越来越多使电动滑板车变得更加普遍。 

At the Tokyo Motor Show this month, visitors tried electric scooters built by Japanese and foreign companies.

在本月的东京车展上，观展者试驾了日本和外国公司制造的电动滑板车。 

The world’s largest e-scooter company, Lime, recently joined the Japanese interest group Micro Mobility Promotion⁹ Council.

全球最大的电动滑板车公司Lime最近加入了日本利益团体“微移动促进委员会”。 

Under current Japanese laws, e-scooters are treated as low-powered motorcycles.

根据日本现行法律，电动滑板车被视为低功率机动车。 

A change in regulation may take some time, even with the support of some Japanese government officials.

即使得到一些日本政府官员的支持，改变监管也需要一些时间。 

An official at Japan’s transportation ministry¹⁰ said, “Even though everyone says it’s very convenient,” safety has to be the top concern.

日本交通部的一名官员说，“尽管每个人都说这很方便，但安全必须是首要考虑的问题”。 

The official did not permit use of his name because he was not authorized¹¹ to speak with the media.

这位官员要求匿名，因为他没有被授权与媒体对话。