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Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

csail.mit.edu

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Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#11

Post by cashmonkey85 »

LordKano wrote: post #4
JBReefer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I bet you can't name 15 cities larger than LA that depend on an outdated tech like trains. When's the last time you saw one of those at TechCrunch Disrupt? Seriously though, this is a solved problem everywhere but major US cities. Paris - which once loved cars - has totally changed over to being bus, bike, and train promoting, and it works.

There are cultural reasons why what works in Europe won't work in most of the US. If I can't take my car or park for a reasonable fee, I simply won't go somewhere and most of the people I know are the same.

I see this in Tokyo. Americans just stuck at home, stranded and helpless because of their culturally reasons. Oh no wait they just use the awesome public transport system. But it's very difficult for them to enjoy such efficience because...you..know...culture

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#12

Post by ebiester »

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability.

That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other people -- else, they would take the subway, no?

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#13

Post by Moral_ »

ebiester wrote: post #12

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability. That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other peopl…

They're called buses

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#14

Post by [deleted] »

LordKano wrote: post #4
JBReefer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I bet you can't name 15 cities larger than LA that depend on an outdated tech like trains. When's the last time you saw one of those at TechCrunch Disrupt? Seriously though, this is a solved problem everywhere but major US cities. Paris - which once loved cars - has totally changed over to being bus, bike, and train promoting, and it works.

There are cultural reasons why what works in Europe won't work in most of the US. If I can't take my car or park for a reasonable fee, I simply won't go somewhere and most of the people I know are the same.

[deleted]

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#15

Post by chongli »

cashmonkey85 wrote: post #11
LordKano wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are cultural reasons why what works in Europe won't work in most of the US. If I can't take my car or park for a reasonable fee, I simply won't go somewhere and most of the people I know are the same.

I see this in Tokyo. Americans just stuck at home, stranded and helpless because of their culturally reasons. Oh no wait they just use the awesome public transport system. But it's very difficult for them to enjoy such efficience because...you..know...culture

Huh? Americans don't have a cultural aversion to using world class public transit when in a place like Tokyo. They have a cultural aversion to altering their cities in the radical ways that'd be necessary to build a functional public transit. They call this NIMBY.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#16

Post by geofft »

ebiester wrote: post #12

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability. That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other peopl…

Apart from the subway and bus systems in New York, we have the 10-seat-car-on-a-fixed-route system too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_vans_in_the_New_York_me...

Most of the time in NYC when I take a cab, it's because there isn't sufficient subway or bus coverage for the route I want: either I'm going to/from somewhere deep into Brooklyn or Queens where it's a 10+ minute walk to the nearest subway (and I'll need at least one transfer once I'm on the subway system), or I'm trying to take some particular trip across Manhattan that requires multiple transfers and is much faster by cab. As you'd expect, the trips that aren't well-served by subway are rare, but they do exist.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#17

Post by [deleted] »

chillingeffect wrote: post #8

This is great news, until we look at the open space and say, "Wow! Now we can fit so many more commuters on these streets." Nature abhors a vacuum. Not to denigrate the science, I respect the math greatly. It's just that NYC culture is about trying to cram the most things in one place. Few open resources like Central Park remain so very long.

[deleted]

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#18

Post by astrange »

LordKano wrote: post #4
JBReefer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I bet you can't name 15 cities larger than LA that depend on an outdated tech like trains. When's the last time you saw one of those at TechCrunch Disrupt? Seriously though, this is a solved problem everywhere but major US cities. Paris - which once loved cars - has totally changed over to being bus, bike, and train promoting, and it works.

There are cultural reasons why what works in Europe won't work in most of the US. If I can't take my car or park for a reasonable fee, I simply won't go somewhere and most of the people I know are the same.

You must have trouble filling out the activity rings on your Apple Watch.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#19

Post by lloyd-christmas »

ebiester wrote: post #12

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability. That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other peopl…

My anecdata from 30 years in the city is that commuters only take cabs if work pays for it, or they have phone calls to make. I don't know anyone who takes one daily, except in the case of a recent job change and they haven't had a chance to move apartments to a more convenient commute.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#20

Post by geofft »

Anecdotally, the times I see taxis most crowded/unavailable in New York is in the East Village / Lower East Side on weekend nights, headed towards the bridge; my guess is that most of the passengers are drunk and trying to get home, and I don't particularly want to share a normal-sized car with three drunk strangers. (Enhancing subway coverage between that area of town and Brooklyn would help; if someone vomits on a subway, it's easy enough to move to the end of the car or to the next car.)

Also it's not clear to me if this research assumes that every cab is carrying a single person. That's often not true, especially for the going-home-from-a-night-out crowd.

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