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Waze Carpool

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Re: Waze Carpool

#131

Post by intopieces »

jobigoud wrote: post #123
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #99

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

A few month ago I would have read your comment and thought that bus can't really compete for the fine grained point to point transportation. Then I went to Sydney in December. The public transportation system there is super impressive. You have a location-based app where you can tell you want to go from point A to point B (from an address, a click on the map, your favorites), it will instantly provide you with many o…

Hong Kong is this way, too. People gush about the train system in Tokyo (which I have love for) but the sheer number of fast, frequent, and comfortable ways to get around in HK edge it out for me.

It seems like every 5 meters there’s a bus stop, and the busses are not old style clunkers but double deckers like Googles take.

Re: Waze Carpool

#133

Post by kristopolous »

jobigoud wrote: post #123
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #99

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

A few month ago I would have read your comment and thought that bus can't really compete for the fine grained point to point transportation. Then I went to Sydney in December. The public transportation system there is super impressive. You have a location-based app where you can tell you want to go from point A to point B (from an address, a click on the map, your favorites), it will instantly provide you with many o…

It's amazing how many other places have figured out how to make this work. Even in sprawling cities like Berlin, which was cut in half by a wall for 30 years, it's clean, well maintained, goes nearly everywhere and costs the commuter about as much as a tank of gas a week for unlimited travel.

Americans have really failed to capture and maintain a civic imaginary.

Re: Waze Carpool

#134

Post by scrollaway »

sneak wrote: post #81
scrollaway wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making my point. They made a domestic cell phone service and, despite the service working worldwide, failed to bring it to other countries.

“working” in this sense could mean “operating at a loss”.

Uber is operating at a loss worldwide. So, yes, "working" could mean "operating at a loss", it's still a valid example.

Also it's not like Fi was my entire point. My actual point was that Google has an utter crap track record at launching stuff outside the US.

Re: Waze Carpool

#135

Post by [deleted] »

mabbo wrote: post #18
dawhizkid wrote: post #12

The reason why I would not consider Google to legitimately compete with Uber/Lyft at scale in this arena is because it's not part of their nature to staff customer support at the level required to run operationally-intensive businesses. The rate in which something goes wrong in the real world (esp where money in exchanged) is much higher than in a pure software world, and Google is going to try to take the FAQ/chatbo…

When you put it that way, I start to think Amazon should get into this business. I'm sure everyone has one bad customer experience incident with them, yes, but overall they're one of the highest rated for customer experience. Then Amazon would say "Hey, while you're on your way there, mind taking a few packages with you?"

[deleted]

Re: Waze Carpool

#136

Post by WhiteOwlLion »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #54
cornholio wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike Uber, they appear to talk about a real carsharing system, as opposed to a taxi service with a lower entry barrier. The prices will be much lower since we are talking about the marginal cost of adding another passenger to an already happening trip - and with full info on where people are going, Waze effectively has an endless supply of trips that are happening, it's just a matter of displaying a pop-up "Hey, Al…

You just described the pure software world solution. What happens when the commuter I pick up vomits in my car? Or steals something from my car? What happens if I get picked up by a person who changes their mind about where they're going? Or decide to take an unplanned detour to go to the store, or back home to grab the laptop they forgot, or to score some heroin? What happens when the driver gropes me? Or I grope th…

These things could happen, but since the product/service is about carpooling, I tend to pick up the same people repeatedly. Any time you work with a new person, there is a risk. That risk goes down significantly with repeated rides. I initially had issues with pick up and drop off location, due to Waze letting you pick how many minutes you're willing to walk. With new riders, I have a chat before accepting so they understand the nuances of Waze Carpool.

Re: Waze Carpool

#137

Post by scrollaway »

untog wrote: post #82
scrollaway wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making my point. They made a domestic cell phone service and, despite the service working worldwide, failed to bring it to other countries.

You're ignoring my point. The costs internationally are far higher than they are domestically. The roaming agreements they have with those networks almost certainly prohibits full time use by a customer. Sometimes there are valid reasons to not launch a service, particularly when the whole point of it is to be low cost! I agree with criticism when Google doesn't internationally launch something they control entirely…

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, I'm not claiming there isn't a valid line of reasoning that gets us to the end state. Of course there are reasons and of course some of them might be outside Google's control.

Re: Waze Carpool

#138

Post by kristopolous »

mulletbum wrote: post #129
scarmig wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd pay at least 2x the Muni fare if they would guarantee I wouldn't be mugged or spat on by a mentally disturbed homeless person.

If the bus was just built with a compartment for just you instead of everyone clumped together, I would pay a lot more.

Are you talking about the small rooms inside of trains you see in Black and White movies?

Re: Waze Carpool

#139

Post by Newtopian »

We had a similar service 20-30 years ago operating mostly out of Quebec and Ontario (Canada). Sadly regulators did not see it very kindly (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/province-stops-allo-stop-1.211...). Story does not say though how thik was the kraft envelop that was exchanged, if there was ever such exchange, or was just an overzealous civil servant. The service had been operating for some time already and was quite successful and popular. That decision came out of nowhere and the service was forced to stop operations. All this well before smart phones apps and the web... well technically the web was present but the service had started well before that and was mostly operating with phone calls to an actual office and bulletin boards and such.

For Allo-Stop yes there was exchange of money but the amounts were such that it would be barely more than the split expenses for gas for the trip.

Wonder if this will be allowed, seeing how Uber is being forced to get taxi licences and such for it's drivers, I doubt this will go very far around here.

Re: Waze Carpool

#140

Post by SirZimzim »

jobigoud wrote: post #123
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #99

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

A few month ago I would have read your comment and thought that bus can't really compete for the fine grained point to point transportation. Then I went to Sydney in December. The public transportation system there is super impressive. You have a location-based app where you can tell you want to go from point A to point B (from an address, a click on the map, your favorites), it will instantly provide you with many o…

My favorite part is the amazing train that goes into the suburbs into the city. Fast, clean, and cheap.
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