Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

ridecabin.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 175 posts

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#91

Post by parsimo2010 »

Svip wrote: post #86
parsimo2010 wrote: post #84

The claim that their bus is 1.6x smoother than a train is impossible, and indicative of marketing taking priority over honest metrics. How is 1.6x smoother impossible? Imagine a maglev train has bumps with a peak amplitude of 2 cm. Then 1.6x of that is 3.2 cm. So to be 1.6x smoother they would need their cabin to reduce bumps to -1.2 cm, which is impossible. The truth is often the inverse of this, such as, “maglev tr…

I am more impressed to hear that California apparently have incredibly smooth roads. I mean otherwise, they'd need some suspension that would relinquish all control of the bus itself. Or are they only referring to the seating? I mean they can have independent suspension, that might achieve that.

They were talking about their special suspended cabins, which there are only a few of on each bus. The regular cabins are not as smooth.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#92

Post by markdown »

selectodude wrote: post #58
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, Japan has long had extensive rail lines, so it's not like they had to raze thousands of homes to cut the Shinkansen tracks. Also, the Shinkansen was built in the early 1960s, when Japan was quite a bit smaller population-wise and less built up.

And in Japan your property rights don’t go to the center of the earth so they can tunnel under your house with zero recourse. Not so here in the US of A.

What a ridiculous idea! How did the US come up with that?

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#93

Post by wahern »

markdown wrote: post #92
selectodude wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in Japan your property rights don’t go to the center of the earth so they can tunnel under your house with zero recourse. Not so here in the US of A.

What a ridiculous idea! How did the US come up with that?

It didn't, it inherited it. And it's not literal. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuius_est_solum,_eius_est_usqu...

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#94

Post by AndyMcConachie »

ummwhat wrote: post #81
jmpman wrote: post #79

The concept has just one niche I can see (besides people who are scared of flying)... getting into downtown SF before 8am without the chance of your flight being delayed due to fog. If you absolutely need to be at a meeting at 8am, currently you’re flying in the night before, grabbing an Uber from SFO to a hotel generally close to your morning meeting, hoping you’ll get a good night sleep and then dealing with the mo…

The thing that kills this niche is booking a sleeper car ticket on the capitol corridor. Amtrak does all this but better. Train is quieter, there's a full dining car with meals cooked in a legit kitchen, more space to walk around, fantastic view in the observation car. Only thing they don't do right is advertising. Did you know the sleeper car comes with 3 meals a day? I didn't. On reflection the other issue is that…

I love taking Amtrak, but my god the food is terrible.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#95

Post by jedberg »

seandougall wrote: post #47
a13n wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2x the price and 4x the duration. I think the innovation is that instead of dealing with the hassle of going to the airport, going through security, and sitting in a cramped seat, you just spend a good night's sleep traveling.

Don't underestimate that hassle when comparing durations. I once dropped my spouse off at OAK, drove down the 5, and picked her up at BUR. She had time to eat dinner at the airport, but otherwise she really didn't get there much before me.

It was always a tough call for me when I went home from Berkeley. The door to door time was almost identical, including going to airport, security, and going home from the airport.

Pretty much the only time I flew was when there was just one of us and I would either need to leave or arrive during rush hour.

But I'm curious, why did you drop off your spouse and then pick her up? Why not go together? Are you really afraid of flying and she's afraid of driving? I'm just trying to imagine a scenario where it makes sense to split up like that.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#96

Post by leoedin »

latchkey wrote: post #75
colordrops wrote: post #4

I tried a sleeper bus in China and to be frank I was scared to death the whole ride. Now traffic in the US is safer but by no means perfect. It just takes one idiot to take out a bus full of sleeping passengers. I don't think I could sleep.

I'm in Vietnam and we call them rolling coffins. There is a major accident daily somewhere in the country with them. Usually a head-on collision with another vehicle. Usually a factor of drivers being high on meth to stay awake, or being unlicensed or the pure insanity of the roads here.

Sleeping on a Vietnamese sleeping bus is definitely the most terrifying nights sleep of my life.

You wake up at 2am, look out the front window and see a truck powering straight at you, before one of the drivers swerves at the last minute.

Saying that, Vietnamese sleeping busses are terrifying because Vietnamese roads are terrifying. Most Western countries have relatively safe roads - bus crashes are really rare events.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#98

Post by gambiting »

jmpman wrote: post #79

The concept has just one niche I can see (besides people who are scared of flying)... getting into downtown SF before 8am without the chance of your flight being delayed due to fog. If you absolutely need to be at a meeting at 8am, currently you’re flying in the night before, grabbing an Uber from SFO to a hotel generally close to your morning meeting, hoping you’ll get a good night sleep and then dealing with the mo…

>>having it drive out to Tracy each evening and parking in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Do American supermarkets not have any time limits on parking? In the UK every single supermarket will have a 2-3 hour time limit on parking with anywhere between £70-100 fine for parking there for longer.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#99

Post by skunkworker »

gambiting wrote: post #98
jmpman wrote: post #79

The concept has just one niche I can see (besides people who are scared of flying)... getting into downtown SF before 8am without the chance of your flight being delayed due to fog. If you absolutely need to be at a meeting at 8am, currently you’re flying in the night before, grabbing an Uber from SFO to a hotel generally close to your morning meeting, hoping you’ll get a good night sleep and then dealing with the mo…

>>having it drive out to Tracy each evening and parking in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Do American supermarkets not have any time limits on parking? In the UK every single supermarket will have a 2-3 hour time limit on parking with anywhere between £70-100 fine for parking there for longer.

Wal-Mart has allowed for overnight parking for quite awhile.

It's even in their corporate Q&A[1] Q: Can I park my RV at a Walmart store? A: While we do not offer electrical service or accommodations typically necessary for RV customers, Walmart values RV travelers and considers them among our best customers. Consequently, we do permit RV parking on our store parking lots as we are able. Permission to park is extended by individual store managers, based on availability of parking space and local laws. Please contact management in each store to ensure accommodations before parking your RV.

[1] https://corporate.walmart.com/frequently-asked-questions

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#100

Post by synaesthesisx »

While this is a cool concept (especially the suspended, likely over-engineered sleeping platforms), I can’t see sense in the business model with this type of pricing. Cabin charges $120 each way for an 8 hour bus ($240 round trip), while you can get a round-trip flight for less than half that with any of the major carriers ($107 for LAX - SFO, $91 for LAX-OAK RT).

As someone that regularly travels between LA and SF, I would rather fly Delta at half the cost and a fraction of the time. Time is money, and it doesn’t make sense to charge more for an 8 hour bus than an hour-ish flight, especially when the majority of travelers would rather get from point A->B as fast as possible.

Post reply on HN