compared to europeans, americans are relative...

compared to europeans, americans are relatively infrequent users of public transit. in a recent report on transit systems in various u.s. cities, researchers from the university of minnesotas center for transportation studies attempted to address this issue. although underscore the public transportation is a complex problem with many contributing factors, the reports authors noted one significant factor: when cities limit how tall buildings can be, they tend to end up with more of what urban planners call sprawl. sprawl is the uncontrolled expansion of a citys population away from an urban center into suburban areas. sprawl makes public transit impractical for many residents because they must travel long distances to and from many different points. the authors recommend that cities pass laws to encourage people and businesses to cluster together in centralized areas. the idea is that the resulting high - density areas will be easier to serve with public transit. it introduces and defines the term sprawl. it questions the influence of sprawl on public transit use. it explains how sprawl discourages the use of public transit.

Answer

# Brief Explanations: The text first mentions the problem of low - public - transit use in the US compared to Europe. Then it defines sprawl as the uncontrolled expansion of a city from the urban center into suburban areas. It further explains that sprawl makes public transit impractical for many residents as they have to travel long distances, thus discouraging public transit use. # Answer: It explains how sprawl discourages the use of public transit.