101–110 of 129 posts
I wonder how much this service costs. If it is as expensive as taxi services in Tokyo, it could fail. While I don’t think it’s possible for the cost to match that of a train, if this service materializes successfully, it could become the most disruptive innovation in Japan. How about California or Phoenix?
You mean cheap? How are taxi services in Tokyo expensive?
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There are late night fees, and taxis in general are 3-10x expensive relative to trains. Trains in Japan cease operations during nights, and last stops of trains move progressively towards core Tokyo to position vehicles for morning operations. This means you can't just stay at the table until stations close and catch the very last one, but people have varying time limits for train rides home. So binge drinking train…
One thing to add, which is the thing that surprised me: not only the trains stop; _there are no replacement bus services_. Where I'm from, where the rail services when they stop for the night, have _some_ replacement — you might need to wait 30 minutes for a bus, and then ride it along the U-Bahn tracks and the trip will take 45 minutes instead of 15; but there is _a_ way to get home before the trains resume.
Seriously, if I stay out drinking past 1 I don’t generally care any more whether I stop at 2 or 5am.
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The city where I live—Yokohama—is very different in layout and density from the U.S. cities shown in that video. My neighborhood consists of many small plots of land, each with a different owner, separated by narrow streets. Unless it all gets wiped out by a tsunami, it’s never going to be rebuilt or have its layout changed—the landowners, many of whom live on their plots of land, would not stand for it. My house is…
Cars are the most age discriminatory mode of transport of all: only 18+ and not too old can use it, and most disabled cannot use it. A Bicycles work to all ages, all abilities. In your case an ebike, trike (etrike?) or even mobility scooter might be a much lighter, cheaper, scalable option. Hey why not a self-driving e-scooter? Why does it have to weight 2 tons in the first place? Bike infrastructure is not only for…
This will be interesting. As an aging nondriver living in Yokohama, I’ve been both hoping that self-driving cars become available here before I develop mobility issues and wondering how feasible they will be. Since I don’t drive, I don’t have a sense of what the roads here are like from the vehicle’s perspective. But many of the streets, including in the neighborhood where I live [1], are narrow, have no sidewalks, a…
Don't fall on the trap of self-driving cars will make our lives better. They won't. Building cities for people first is what will improve our lives. Watch: How Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0
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In my experience the cars are highly regulated and very predictable on the main roads. Marked out lanes, low speed limits, many red lights. But pedestrians and bikes are everywhere , and they don't always obey the rules. I wonder how well collision detection handles sharing lanes with bikes without suddenly braking in the middle of the road.
> I wonder how well collision detection handles sharing lanes with bikes without suddenly braking in the middle of the road. I would say that is the easy problem. > In my experience the cars are highly regulated and very predictable on the main roads. Marked out lanes, low speed limits, many red lights. A city without this is the harder problem. I wait for the day Waymo comes to Italy or better yet India.
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Nothing about autonomous vehicles has ever prevented municipalities from improving public transit and in all likelihood, never will. They're two entirely separate pots of money by two entirely separate sets of organizations. American transit sucks. It's sucked for decades. It's going to continue sucking as long as we keep playing this stupid game of "let's discuss maybe eventually building something in 50 years" that…
Actually all traffic modalities are tied together by relative or induced demand. Making one method easier induces demand for it. So perhaps not the same pot of money, but impacts it all the same.
This will be interesting. As an aging nondriver living in Yokohama, I’ve been both hoping that self-driving cars become available here before I develop mobility issues and wondering how feasible they will be. Since I don’t drive, I don’t have a sense of what the roads here are like from the vehicle’s perspective. But many of the streets, including in the neighborhood where I live [1], are narrow, have no sidewalks, a…
Don't fall on the trap of self-driving cars will make our lives better. They won't. Building cities for people first is what will improve our lives. Watch: How Self-Driving Cars will Destroy Cities (and what to do about it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=040ejWnFkj0
Going to be very interesting to see how the Japanese people react to this. The service the taxi drivers provide when you take the taxi in Japan is on another level, such as waiting for you with the open door and closing the door for you as you enter. A driverless car will never be able to copy that. Japan also has very good public transportation reducing the need for a car for day to day travel so cost might be less…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing to add, which is the thing that surprised me: not only the trains stop; _there are no replacement bus services_. Where I'm from, where the rail services when they stop for the night, have _some_ replacement — you might need to wait 30 minutes for a bus, and then ride it along the U-Bahn tracks and the trip will take 45 minutes instead of 15; but there is _a_ way to get home before the trains resume.
Difference is that if you don’t go drinking extremely far from home you can generally just walk back. Sure, may be more sensible to just drink a few hours longer and take the first train, but it’s never impossible to get home. Seriously, if I stay out drinking past 1 I don’t generally care any more whether I stop at 2 or 5am.
Living in Asakusa, meeting up with friends that live in Tanashi; and drinking in Shinjuku — nobody is able to walk home. We either stay out all night, say goodbyes at ~11PM, or the party moves to Asakusa (we have a relatively larger place).