Uber Just Reinvented the Bus Again

Post by ahtihn » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:21 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #7

afavour wrote: post #3

> Meanwhile, the federal government is cutting support for public services, including transit systems — many of which still haven’t fully recovered from Covid-era budget crunches. Though ridership nationwide is up to 85 percent of prepandemic levels, Bloomberg News recently estimated that transit systems across the country face a $6 billion budget shortfall. The gameplan is clear. Take the high value, richer customer…

I don't especially like Uber as a company, but it's not reasonable to spin a service that outcompetes a publicly-funded competitor as a conspiracy against the public, and in many of the cities Uber operates in, the transit authorities had been faceplanting all on their own without any help.

Post by steveBK123 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:35 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #20

tptacek wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't especially like Uber as a company, but it's not reasonable to spin a service that outcompetes a publicly-funded competitor as a conspiracy against the public, and in many of the cities Uber operates in, the transit authorities had been faceplanting all on their own without any help.

> it's not reasonable to spin a service that outcompetes a publicly-funded competitor as a conspiracy against the public Hardly a conspiracy theory to think Uber might be trying to undercut their competitors and put them out of business before raising their prices when they have an established history of doing exactly that.

Post by ajb » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:36 PM UTC

kvakerok wrote: post #10

1970-01-01 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't true. What Uber is attempting is on-demand and completely flexible bus routes. It's not revolutionary, but it is a logical innovation.

My city is several years into on-demand bus routes. It's a clusterfck to say the least.

Post by steveBK123 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:41 PM UTC

ahtihn wrote: post #21

tptacek wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't especially like Uber as a company, but it's not reasonable to spin a service that outcompetes a publicly-funded competitor as a conspiracy against the public, and in many of the cities Uber operates in, the transit authorities had been faceplanting all on their own without any help.

It's pretty easy to outcompete public transit on specific profitable lines. The problem is that public transit has to serve a lot of unprofitable lines and by having a private competitor putting pressure on the only parts that actually make money, the overall economics of public transit become much worse.

Post by throe83949449 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:42 PM UTC

mousethatroared wrote: post #14

kortilla wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buses are very unpleasant in the US. They stop too frequently so they are extremely slow. Most cities do not have enough routes or frequency to be useful. The cities that do have them tolerate belligerent people on them making the ride unpleasant. In other words, the high value, richer customers are already not riding the bus.

And they smell like urine, are generally filthy and they are the most likely place a middle class person is to be trapped in a small environment with a mentally ill person. If: - America solved its mental health crisis - Americans became cleaner - Americans became better behaved in public Then Americans who can afford not to take the bus would reconsider it.