Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice graphs, but these numbers are not reflecting the reality. As both count heat deaths differently. Europe does calculate it based on excess mortality studies and US only counts them if it is listed as contributing cause on the death certificate. With similar statistics, US numbers are several times higher. And as Europe has an older population, rates are likely higher, but the real difference is much smaller.
> With similar statistics, US numbers are several times higher. And as Europe has an older population, rates are likely higher, but the real difference is much smaller. Cool, so if you have the numbers or graphs, paste a link I of course believe you're lying. Probably out of the standard xenophobia. It wouldn't make sense considering average US household infrastructure vs average EU household infrastructure so I sinc…
Waymo in Dallas
591–600 of 752 posts
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#592Surprisingly low hype for a company running perhaps the most advanced consumer-interactive robots. I’m quite fond of these machines and will periodically rescue them when someone has misused them (door not closed, most commonly). Hope they do well. Very good road participants.
I want trains.
What are you willing to give up to get them?
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#593Earlier quoted context omitted.
the simple fact of the matter is the Waymo is a better public transport solution for Dallas than the bus. The bus doesn't work very well in endless cul-de-sac suburbia, and that's what the Dallas/Fort Worth area (and indeed most of America) is. Like, you have to understand that most of Dallas isn't even commuting into downtown Dallas every day to work. They are just commuting to other suburbs and then back to their s…
Why is a bus not fit for endless culdesac suburbia where people are commuting between the suburbs instead of to the downtown? I really don't get it. Pretty much everywhere outside of US buses work no matter the city layout. Just add some stops and run some buses.
A bus isn't going to be able to pull into my driveway, obv.
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#594Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's talk about trains. We tore out the light passenger rail lines that once quite commonly connected cities and towns together, and to points within those places. These cities once grew around (and because of) these features, but now it is like like they never even existed. We can't just put them back where they used to be. The landscape has changed. In order to do something different, we'd need to have new routes…
> We can't just put them back where they used to be. The landscape has changed. A lot of old train right of ways still pretty much exist. For many areas it often isn't too outlandish for those lines to be brought back, if there was a will to do so.
They exist but not as a continuous empty space. Every few miles something else is in the way and blocks the whole route not just that few meters, the entire route). If not that means it is a bike trail and the bikers won't give it up.
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#595Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. I promise you that a bus can get through winding narrow loops just fine. All medieval old towns are like that. 2. You either create loops or hubs where people transfer. The hub can be just a regular bus stop where lines meet. 3. Looking up the density of Dallas suburbs I can tell you that buses can work well in far less dense places. 4. The math doesn't add up, if you can get somewhere by car in 20 - 30mins drivin…
What happens, is your underserved bus has to increase stops per loop for viability. You have areas where leaving the cul-de-sac zone takes 15-20 minutes on foot; so you need a stop or two in the zone. Now you have a short walk to the stop; but if you want this to be a viable alternative, you need some frequency of service. And that means that the routs need to be active across the whole week, not just the hypothetica…
"You have areas where leaving the cul-de-sac zone takes 15-20 minutes on foot…"
Holy shit, you have to walk a mile from a cul-de-sac just to get to a street with an intersection?
Who the hell designed these streets? (I guess Big Auto?)
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#596Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it’s not surprising that a report written by a forthrightly anti-car public interest group managed to screw that up: https://www.openplans.org/who-we-are
I had never heard of them. But anybody can make a mistake and it shows integrity to immediately remove a section with a disclaimer when prevented with contrary evidence. Not enough folks do this. You can have strong anti- "car-culture" views and still be committed to the truth.
Per the excellent Reddit thread linked below, if their analysis had been more thoughtful and careful, they likely would have concluded that Waymos are as safe or moreso than NYC yellow cabs.
Would they have published that result with the same fanfare?
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#597Earlier quoted context omitted.
100%. Most bus routes are terribly expensive to run, multiple drivers, benefits and then the physical equipment. It would be interesting if you could work out a subsidy program for low income riders.
A route is expensive to run, but there is no reason you cannot automate a bus driver just like a car driver.
Sure but most folks don’t want to take a bus in the US. Perhaps you build mini ride share busses that are driverless and I think this is where something like Waymo would actually go to.
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#598As someone who works in commercial real estate, involved in about $300M of housing development, some of it affordable, i will say without any doubt that driverless cars are a very effective affordable housing policy that is not being considered or discussed by anyone. Any public dollar that gets contributed to housing, basically adds a 50% cost factor and assume whatever it is used for will take 2-3x as long to deliv…
With respect to you as a person and your ideas presented, this is one of the most car-brained posts I've ever read. > it's way more efficient than building $100 billion in transit that will take 200 years to build. What is efficient about a $13 highway widening project in Houston or the $24 billion (inflation-adjusted) and 15 years it cost to bury a highway in Boston? (It's not even much of a new highway, it's just u…
> That paradigm is how Japan funds its entire public transit system as a profitable enterprise: allow the rail company to own and develop real estate in close proximity to the stations.
We did that though!
It's just so much more profitable to sell of the real estate and then let the government run the rails at a loss.
Ex. Penn Station's real estate - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Station_(1910%E2%...
I suspect this will only work in the US if the "rail company" is actually public.
- https://www.bart.gov/about/business/tod
- https://www.wmata.com/business/real-estate-and-development.h...
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#599Earlier quoted context omitted.
For sure , this is gonna kill driver jobs and/or lower their wages due to the increased competition. The upside is cheaper mobility for everyone - in general tech like this should have a deflationary effect (We're still not seeing this enough). Think robots building an entire city in months/couple of years instead of a decade, that would cheapen housing dramatically. We're obviously not there yet.
>The upside is cheaper mobility for everyone Why should Google leave money on the table? They will raise the price until it's just below what people are already paying.
Because they aren't going to be alone doing this for very long. Competitors will just undercut each other until just above the cost threshold. And people will simply pick the one that gets them from A to B fast and cheap. I've never cared about who drives my Uber/Taxi, what car shows up, etc. It's just a service that I buy without knowing any of that. It's only a problem if they don't show up.
The cost threshold should be pretty low. No fuel (only electricity), and no drivers. Those are two of the larger cost factors here.
Re: Waymo in Dallas
#600Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waymo is not doing any carpooling optimizations. They're right now a luxury service that is priced above the normal Uber ride prices. This will obviously change in future, once they start a truly mass rollout.
Yeah, all the people who refuse to ride busses to the point they're willing to spend many many thousands of dollars on their own cars are just yearning to carpool in a much more compact vehicle than a bus.
I know it's not popular in some circles to say it, but people (not just evil, rich racists) dislike riding the bus because of homeless people and other people who have little reason (or ability) to conform to social norms. I only saw one a couple altercations on the bus in my years riding it in Austin, but that's enough to get a lot of people to decide it's not worth it, especially women or people with kids.
We're not willing to enforce basic safety on buses, let alone other norms. If Waymo is willing to do that, that will make it available to many more people. Even just not having to wait at the bus stop before sunrise can be a game changer.