经济学人2019.4.27/Can Uber ever make money？/part2（完）
The trouble is, as competition increases, ride-hailing becomes a commodity business. Customers care little whether they ride with Uber or Lyft, as long as it gets them from a to b. That means neither firm can easily increase profits by raising fares, but may instead have to offer discounts. Likewise, the ride-hailing firms do not own their cars: their drivers do, and so have no reason to be loyal. That forces the firms to pile on incentives to stop drivers from deserting, kicking profits even further down the road.
问题是，随着竞争加剧，叫车服务变成了一项大宗商品业务。顾客并不在乎他们是乘坐优步还是Lyft，只要它能把他们从a带到b。这意味着这两家公司都不能通过提高票价轻松增加利润，而是或许不得不提供折扣。同样，网约车公司并不拥有他们的汽车而是司机们各自有汽车，因此司机没有理由对公司忠诚。这迫使这些公司加大激励政策，阻止司机退出，以至于在今后的发展之路上不得不进一步缩减利润。
词汇
down the road/【非正式】在将来，今后
Throughout taxi history, the answer to such a race to the bottom has been regulation. In 1635 the number of Hackney carriages in London was restricted to reduce congestion (Taylor must have breathed a sigh of relief). In 1937 the Haas Act introduced the medallion system in New York, putting strict curbs on the number of medallions and driving up their value. Recently the city’s regulators have moved to control ride-hailing, capping the number of vehicles and introducing a minimum wage for drivers. That could become a trend.
纵观出租车行业的历史，对于这种“打破底线”的竞争，结局闲来是监管。1635年，伦敦限制了出租马车的数量，以减少交通堵塞(泰勒一定松了一口气)。1937年，《哈斯法案》(Haas Act)在纽约引入了奖章制度，严格限制了奖章的数量，并推高了它们的价值。最近，该市的监管机构已经开始控制网约车，限制车辆数量，并为司机引入最低工资。这可能成为一种趋势。
词汇
race to the bottom/打破底线
Congestion/拥挤；拥塞；
So much for the past. What about the future? Uber’s foray into Uber Eats, its food-delivery service, may be an even tougher business proposition than ride-hailing; it has to give restaurateurs a cut of each sale, as well as drivers. Its core measure of revenue at Uber Eats fell in the second half of 2018 compared with the first half. That was not encouraging. The firm is expanding into broader mobility services, such as scooters and electric bikes, and is building a platform that includes public transport, so customers can travel more seamlessly across a city. But again, competition will be intense: city governments will be loth to link access to their public-transport systems to a single platform, for safety, data-privacy and other reasons.
过去就是这样。未来呢?Uber进军其外卖服务Uber Eats，可能比叫车服务更难做;它必须让餐馆老板和司机从每笔销售中分得一杯羹。2018年下半年，其衡量优步餐饮收入的核心指标同比下降。这并不鼓舞人心。该公司正在向小型摩托车和电动自行车等更广泛的移动服务领域扩张，并正在打造一个包括公共交通在内的平台，以便客户能够更无缝地在城市间旅行。但同样，竞争将是激烈的:出于安全、数据隐私和其他原因，城市政府将不愿将其公共交通系统接入单一平台。
词汇
Foray/涉足，初次尝试；
Scooters/踏板车；小轮摩托车；滑行艇
Uber’s long-term goal is autonomous vehicles (avs), which would reduce its need to share revenues with human drivers. On April 18th Toyota and other investors put $1bn into Uber’s av division. On April 22nd Tesla unveiled plans to roll out robotaxis next year. That promise is subject to huge regulatory uncertainty, plus an Elon Musk bravado discount. But many other companies are keen to enter the fray. Expect fisticuffs.
优步的长期目标是自动驾驶汽车(avs)，这将减少它与真人司机分享收入的环节。4月18日，丰田和其他投资者向优步的自动驾驶汽车部门注资10亿美元。4月22日，特斯拉公布了明年推出机器人出租车的计划。这一承诺受制于巨大的监管不确定性，加上埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)虚张声势的打折。但许多其他公司也热衷于加入这一行列。期待大打出手。
词汇
fisticuffs/拳击，拳斗；互殴；一击
Too Uber to fail
太多的优步打车导致了失败
Uber will surely have a place in the future of transport. It may be able to increase rider and driver loyalty by replacing fares with monthly subscriptions. It may settle for dominating some cities, leaving others to rivals, provided that does not violate antitrust rules. History suggests that profits will be hard to come by. But at least its name should live on, just as Taylor’s hated Hackney “Hellcarts” do in London’s black cabs, 400 years later.
优步肯定会在未来的交通领域占有一席之地。它可能会通过月票来取代票价，从而提高乘客和司机的忠诚度。在不违反反垄断规则的情况下，它可能满足于控制一些城市，而将其他城市留给竞争对手。历史表明，利润将很难获取。但至少它的名字应该流传下来，就像400年后泰勒讨厌的哈克尼“地狱车”在伦敦的黑色出租车里一样。
