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New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

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Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#221

Post by propogandist »

sprw121 wrote: post #149
thisisit wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part? The cost of rides being subsidized or people eschewing mass transit in favor of these ride sharing apps or was it the insinuation that people are eschewing mass transit because it is cheaper or more convenient for the price? Cost of ride: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9a3vye/uber-true-... 2nd point is the highlight of the linked article. 3rd point has been made repeatedly in this very thread.

It's been shown many times over that this 59% number is terribly miscalculated.

sources?

my colleague recently took a ~79 mile uber from one airport to a location 1.5hr away, his Uber cost was <$88.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#222

Post by madars »

bartread wrote: post #40
yardie wrote: post #18

I’m a big proponent of mass transit and when it’s available I use it if I can. But I can get Lyft door to door for just $1-2 more than a bus or train. If mass transit wants to keep with rideshare and livery they need to: expand routes, increase availability, update their equipment. When I was a kid I knew how to read a bus schedule and train map to plan my trip. Now, there is an entire generation of kids in school an…

You make a good point here, and mass transit has done the square root of bugger all to improve accessibility for a new generation. For example: I live in the countryside and want to get a bus into town. Fair enough but sometimes the buses run late, and sometimes they run really late - like half an hour plus. I often don't have that kind of time to waste, especially not if it means standing or sitting around in the ra…

You should install CityMapper: it is a very smart app that supports public transit in major cities, integrates with Uber/Lyft, bike sharing programs, etc, and even knows how to combine rides (e.g. plan most efficient ride that is part subway, part Uber, etc). I never check timetables for public transit, as the app shows GPS-sourced arrival times for buses in its route planner. Plus it can send a tracking link to your friends so they know when you'll arrive.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#223

Post by nhaehnle »

criddell wrote: post #117
untog wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a certain point the comparison breaks down. Yes, public transit is subsidised. But it isn't subsidised in such a way that it is expected to eventually become self sustaining - tax-payer funding is expected to continue in perpetuity. That's not the case with Uber and Lyft. VCs are subsiding their rides on the expectation that eventually the company will dominate the market enough to not require subsidy any more.

> That's not the case with Uber and Lyft. I mentioned this elsewhere, but I wonder if maybe cities should run light rail and buses along the most used routes then subsidize private companies (like Lyft and Uber) to service people outside of those routes. I used to ride #43 Taylor's Ferry in Portland twice a day and I was sometimes on the bus by myself or with three or four other people. I bet it would have been far c…

IIRC, Switzerland actually has some on-demand minibus routes. Basically, you have to call a number N minutes in advance, and the minibus will show up. This could easily be appified as well (and maybe it already is today, it's been a while).

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#224

Post by colechristensen »

jblow wrote: post #188
colechristensen wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm regularly bothered by the fact that mass transit is more expensive than driving. Alone it is definitely cheaper disregarding sunk costs (price of car, etc.), it's still cheaper as long as I don't have to have a new car every few years, and if I have passengers mass transit is many times as expensive as driving. Shouldn't it be the opposite? I figure I can take 4 people from Mountain View to San Francisco and back…

The problem is that your car-driving case presumes the driver already wants to go to MV and is bringing his friends and they don’t mind coordinating to make that happen. If you change your thought-experiment to a paid service, good luck being cheaper than CalTrain.

>The problem is that your car-driving case presumes the driver already wants to go to MV and is bringing his friends and they don’t mind coordinating to make that happen.

This doesn't really make sense. My original point is that for me personally going alone, it is cheaper to drive than to use public transit. If I bring friends it is _much_ cheaper.

At this moment I could take a CalTrain to SF for $33/person or a 4 person UberX to SF for $47.85.

So yup, if I'm traveling alone it's cheaper taking the train than having a driver. Easily stops being true if there's more than one person.

Once there are autonomous cars, paying the driver will go away too and I'd expect that to be cheaper than CalTrain.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#225

Post by serf »

Impossible wrote: post #181
toomuchtodo wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most bars have the names of taxi services to call if you're over the limit. To still drive because that's inconvenient is quite literally criminal.

In many smaller towns, and even larger cities where taxies are not common, this isn't an option. When I lived in Mesa years ago I'd call cab services multiple times and they'd just never show up. Many smaller towns just don't have taxi services.

It's espescially cruel when you consider that rural/small towns are usually the ones least set up for pedestrian traffic. Not only are there no taxis/uber/buses , there are no sidewalks, street lights, few traffic signals, etc.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#226

Post by isostatic »

smsm42 wrote: post #171
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But most people don't bring luggage to work. It is doable with (ugh, they really do impact transit usage) multiple bus/light rail transfers to work without luggage. And good luck getting transit to get you to the airport at 0500 on a Saturday morning.

There's not only luggage. There are groceries. There are other purchases. There's just a strain of standing on your feet for an hour, which may not be easy for someone who is not in the peak physical condition.

Standing up for an hour does not require a "peak of physical fitness"!!! It's probably a good thing to do - that's why standing desks are so popular.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#227

Post by majormajor »

madeofpalk wrote: post #210
yardie wrote: post #18

I’m a big proponent of mass transit and when it’s available I use it if I can. But I can get Lyft door to door for just $1-2 more than a bus or train. If mass transit wants to keep with rideshare and livery they need to: expand routes, increase availability, update their equipment. When I was a kid I knew how to read a bus schedule and train map to plan my trip. Now, there is an entire generation of kids in school an…

This is an exceptionally US-centric study (which is fine) which all kind of centres around the atrocious state of US mass transit. I'm sure Uber has had an impact of how people get around in other countries, but I would avoid taking this study and drawing overarching conclusions on it, like that mass transit has the same drawbacks at US does.

I've noticed in my traveling that London and Beijing deal with some terrible traffic despite having transit systems far more developed and comprehensive in coverage than the vast majority of the US's. Which is still being fought e.g. with congestion pricing.

So despite all the comparative advantages of transit in those places, and the higher costs of car ownership, for whatever reason people really want private automobiles. So is it really a US-specific problem or just most obvious in the US, where cities that grew up when the majority of people had cars see no real need for super nice mass transit systems?

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#228

Post by isostatic »

TylerE wrote: post #91
DrScump wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding more units, where existing units are underutilized , makes no sense.

Imagine a subway that only runs one train per line, such that on average each station only gets visited once an hour. No one would use it. Now add 10 more trains so trains stop every 5 minutes. Many many people use it.

Depends on the distance - plenty of people get the hourly train from my local station into Manchester (or change at Crewe for trains to Liverpool, Birmingham, etc), as long as it's timetabled. But the train is about 30 minutes faster than the car and far more productive.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#229

Post by lucb1e »

benbristow wrote: post #200
ibejoeb wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That all seems like a net positive to me, especially in major urban areas that a very car dependent like Los Angles, Atlanta, Houston... In LA, driving drunk was just the way of life, and it was a real problem. Now, I don't know anyone who prefers driving over ridesharing given the option. Uber Pool makes getting from the east side to the west side faster that public transit for about $10-15, which is less than 1 dri…

$10-15 for a drink? Of liquid gold?

I was thinking the same thing, especially when a bus across town is €1.50 or so. But I also hear stories about high rent and high salaries... I suppose it makes sense if everything there is just very expensive.

Re: New Research on How Ride-Hailing Impacts Travel Behavior

#230

Post by khuey »

colechristensen wrote: post #224
jblow wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that your car-driving case presumes the driver already wants to go to MV and is bringing his friends and they don’t mind coordinating to make that happen. If you change your thought-experiment to a paid service, good luck being cheaper than CalTrain.

>The problem is that your car-driving case presumes the driver already wants to go to MV and is bringing his friends and they don’t mind coordinating to make that happen. This doesn't really make sense. My original point is that for me personally going alone, it is cheaper to drive than to use public transit. If I bring friends it is _much_ cheaper. At this moment I could take a CalTrain to SF for $33/person or a 4 p…

Caltrain is not cheap but even a one way fare to SF from the end of the line in Gilroy is only $15.
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