Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. Its population has increased eightfold since 1980 and swells by half a million people every year.United Nations projections anticipate it will become a megacity within seven years as its population passes 10 million, reaching 13.4 million by 2035. Daniel Hoornweg for the Global Cities Institute forecasts the city could be home to an incredible 73.7 million people by 2100.

坦桑尼亚的达累斯萨拉姆是非洲发展最快的都市之一。自1980年以来，其人口增长了八倍，每年新增约50万人。联合国预测，该市将在七年之内成为特大城市，人口突破1000万，并预计到2035年达到1340万。全球城市研究所的丹尼尔·霍恩韦格预测，到2100年，这座城市的人口可能高达7370万。

Today, four out of five of its people live in single-storey informal settlements on the spreading edges of the city, where the journey to and from the centre regularly takes over two hours. It can be longer if rain turns the dirt roads to mud.

如今，五个人中有四人居住在城市边缘的单层非正式聚居区，往返市中心通常需要两个小时以上。如果下雨导致土路变泥泞，时间可能会更长。

Even in the middle of the day, traffic frequently slows to a stop without warning. It is not unusual for cars and minibuses to queue for 20 minutes at a key intersection.A single suburban rail line serves residents in a few areas to the south but is tiny in the context of the wider city. Outside the centre many rely on boda boda (motorbike taxis) to navigate the narrow side streets and potholed mud roads that make up much of the metropolis. Their safety record is scandalous.

即使在白天，交通也常常毫无预警地陷入停滞。在关键的交叉路口，汽车和小型巴士排队等候的时间往往长达20分钟。一条郊区铁路线仅服务于南部少数地区，与整个城市相比显得微不足道。市中心以外的许多居民则依赖“博达博达”（摩托车出租车）来穿梭于狭窄的侧街和坑洼泥泞的道路上，这些道路构成了大都市的重要部分。他们的安全记录令人震惊。

Dar es Salaam's reliance on four arterial roads into the city is a legacy of the colonial government that planned the city at the start of the 20th century to cater for a population of 35,000. Most of the current growth is made up of young people arriving from the countryside to find work, and as the population has exploded, Dar es Salaam has grown around those four highways. Nearly all the expansion is happening on the periphery, and nearly all takes place informally without any agreed strategy.

达累斯萨拉姆依靠四条主干道进入市区，这是殖民政府在20世纪初规划城市时留下的遗产，当时为容纳3.5万人口而设计。如今的大部分增长来自农村青年前来寻找工作，随着人口急剧膨胀，达累斯萨拉姆的发展围绕这四条公路展开。几乎所有扩张都发生在城市边缘地带，且几乎全部以非正式方式进行，缺乏任何统一的战略规划。

But Dar es Salaam is pinning its hopes on a solution that could offer a different model for Africa's megacities, giving them an alternative to a future controlled by the private car. Unlike many cities on the continent, Dar es Salaam isn't trying to build a metro.It has chosen a less exciting but cheaper and more achievable method: the bus.

但达累斯萨拉姆正寄希望于一种可能为非洲大都市提供不同模式的解决方案，为这些城市提供一种摆脱未来由私人汽车主导的替代选择。与非洲大陆上的许多城市不同，达累斯萨拉姆并未试图建设地铁系统，而是选择了更不引人注目却成本更低、更易实现的方式：公交。

The DART bus rapid transit (BRT) system runs on bus lanes separated from other traffic, mostly in the middle of the road to reduce stoppages. Ticket purchase and control takes place at stations prior to boarding and the buses are step-free, which means the entire route is accessible to people using wheelchairs or who are travelling with baby buggies.

DART快速公交（BRT）系统运行在与其它交通分离的公交专用道上，主要位于道路中央，以减少停靠时间。乘客在上车前于车站购票并完成刷卡，且公交车为无障碍设计，意味着整个线路对使用轮椅或携带婴儿推车的乘客均开放。

'The new buses are much, much better,' says Paulas George, a young IT worker.He takes the bus every day and it has cut his journey time by two-thirds. He says it is not perfect, though, complaining that drivers often refuse to turn on the air conditioning to save fuel.

“新公交车好太多了，”年轻IT工作者保罗·乔治说。他每天乘坐公交车，通勤时间已缩短了三分之二。但他表示这并不完美，抱怨司机常常拒绝开启空调以节省燃料。

That is not the only problem. A shortage of buses after a serious flood at the main depot during the rainy season means the system is carrying 200,000 people a day - half the expected capacity. Smartcards can't be used as the mechanical readers aren't working either, forcing passengers to buy individual paper tickets for every journey. Each is printed with a scannable QR code, but there are no scanners. Staff stand by the gates and tear tickets as people enter. As a result, queues are considerable at peak times.

这并非唯一的问题。雨季期间，主车站遭遇严重洪灾后，公交车数量不足，导致系统每天只能运送20万人，仅为预期容量的一半。由于机械读卡器也已无法使用，智能卡无法正常使用，乘客每次出行都必须购买纸质单程票。每张票上都印有可扫描的二维码，但现场没有扫描设备。工作人员在车站门口值守，待人进入时便撕下车票。因此，在高峰时段，排队人数相当可观。

Morogoro Road to the north-west of the city was phase I of the BRT project. Phases I| and III will install bus lanes along Nyerere Road to the south-west and Kilwa Road to the south. Construction on both routes is due to start imminently. Phase IV, towards Bagamoyo in the north, is in the preliminary design stage. 'Much of the city will have access to a world-class transport system within the space of a few years,' says Chris Kost, the Africa director of ITDP (the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy). All phases are being planned to high standards and, once complete, a third of city residents will be within a short walk of the BRT network.

位于城市西北部的莫罗戈罗路是BRT项目的第一阶段。第一阶段和第三阶段将沿西南方向的尼雷尔路以及南部的基尔瓦路铺设公交专用道，两条线路的建设即将启动。第四阶段通往北部的巴加莫约，目前尚处于初步设计阶段。“几年内，城市大部分地区都将拥有世界级的交通系统，”ITDP（交通与发展政策研究所）非洲事务主任克里斯·科斯特表示。所有阶段均按照高标准进行规划，项目完成后，约三分之一的城市居民将可在步行范围内抵达BRT网络。

The ITDP regrets Africa's obsession with metros. 'With a metro, an international firm will often just parachute in its own system, ' says Kost. 'Bus rapid transit allows existing stakeholders to get involved. That's what we did in Dar es Salaam and what we're planning in Nairobi, where the bus bodies will be built in the city and local operators will look after tickets, fare collection and IT...Bus rapid transit has been transformational for Dar es Salaam. For millions of people in African cities, this is their best hope of ever being connected.'

ITDP对非洲人过度依赖地铁表示遗憾。科斯特说：“有了地铁，国际公司往往只会直接将自己的系统强加进来。而快速公交系统则能让现有利益相关方参与其中。我们在达累斯萨拉姆就采取了这种方式，目前也在内罗毕规划类似项目，即公交车车身将在城市内制造，由本地运营商负责售票、收费和信息技术管理。快速公交系统对达累斯萨拉姆带来了彻底的变革。对于非洲城市数百万居民而言，这正是他们实现交通连接的最佳希望。”