Japan recently introduced the world’s first Dual-Mode Vehicle (DMV), a vehicle that runs both on roads, like a bus, and on rails, like a train.

The unique bus-train vehicle was introduced last month, in the town of Kaiyo, Japan's Tokushima Prefecture. The mini-bus-like vehicle didn't win anyone over with its looks, but it definitely made an impression in terms of practicality. It runs with normal rubber tires on the road, but when it needs to switch to train mode, a pair of metal wheels drop down from the vehicle's underbelly. The front tires are lifted off the track, while the back wheels stay down to drive the vehicle. Switching between road and train modes takes only about 15 seconds.

“This DMV can reach the locals as a bus and carry them onto the railway as well,” Shigeki Miura, CEO of Asa Coast Railway, told Reuters. “Especially in the countryside with an aging population, we expect it to be a very good form of public transport.”

The DMV has been in the works for over ten years, and the government in Tokushima hopes that it will not only improve the lives of locals but also attract tourists curiosity to see the dual-mode vehicle in person.

The dual-mode vehicles, which come in a variety of colors, can carry up to 21 passengers and run at a speed of 60 km/h in train mode, and up to 100 km/h as a bus.

Shigeki Miura is confident that the unique vehicle could help small towns like Kaiyo with an aging and shrinking population, where traditional transportation companies struggle to make money. The vehicles will soon cover part of the coast of Shikoku island, connecting several towns and offering riders breathtaking seaside views.

Many young people want to be a driver. 【小题1】. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to help your teen become a more confident driver.

Teach your teen the rules of the road

Before your teen gets behind the wheel of a car, he or she should know well the rules of the road.【小题2】. If your teen understands the basic rules and how the car works, then he or she will feel a little better about getting on the road.

【小题3】

Actions speak louder than words. Many people will tell you that they learned how to drive by watching one of their close family members drive. You should show good driving skills with examples.

Practice

Practice makes perfect. The more your teen practices, the more confident he or she will become. Your teen should start off by driving in a place that is free of barriers (障碍).【小题4】. After your teen has gotten comfortable about this, he or she can start practicing on the road.

Drive in different conditions

In order for your teen to become a good driver, he or she has to practice driving in different conditions. 【小题5】.

Get car insurance (保险)

Many teens are worried about how much their parents would have to pay if an accident occurs. You should explain to your teen that car insurance can help one save a lot of money.

Public transport is declining in the rich world. To those who have to squeeze onto the number 25 bus in London, or the A train in New York, the change might not be noticeable. But public transport is becoming less busy in those places, and passenger numbers are flat or falling in almost every American city. That is despite healthy growth in urban populations and employment.

Although transport agencies blame their unpopularity on things like roadworks and broken signals, it seems more likely that they are being outcompeted. App-based taxi services like Uber and Lyft are more comfortable and convenient than trains or buses. Cycling is nicer than it was, and rental bikes are more widely available. Cars are cheap to buy, thanks to cut-rate loans, and ever cheaper to run. Online shopping, home working and office-sharing mean more people can avoid travelling altogether.

The competition is only likely to grow. More than one laboratory is developing new transport technologies and applications. Silicon Valley invented Uber and, more recently, apps that let people rent electric scooters(滑板车) and then abandon them on the pavement. China created sharing-bicycles and battery-powered "e-bikes", both of which are spreading.

Transport agencies should accept the upstarts, and copy them. Cities tend either to ignore app-based services or to try to push them off the streets. That is understandable, given the rules-are-for-losers attitude of firms like Uber. But it is an error.

It is doubtful that most people make hard distinctions between public and private transport. They just want to get somewhere, and there is a cost in time, money and comfort. An ideal system would let them move across a city for a single payment, transferring from trains to taxis to bicycles as needed. Building a platform to allow that is hard, and requires much sweet-talking of traditional networks as well as technology firms. It is probably the secret to keeping cities moving.