They should be. Artificially keeping jobs alive that are better, safer and cheaper performed by machines is bad for everyone in the long run, even the train drivers.
So let's train the train drivers to be train automation experts.
Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
11–20 of 52 posts
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#12I'm not from the bay area-- do the train operators seem to have any public support? I feel like it's hard to sympathize with striking workers who are already among the highest paid in the country for this line of work.
I'm not from the bay area either, but have you see the rent prices out there? Just seeing how much rent prices over the last 20 or so years have increased, mostly because of the tech industry, it's easier for me to sympathize with them.
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#13I'm not from the bay area-- do the train operators seem to have any public support? I feel like it's hard to sympathize with striking workers who are already among the highest paid in the country for this line of work.
I'm not from the bay area either, but have you see the rent prices out there? Just seeing how much rent prices over the last 20 or so years have increased, mostly because of the tech industry, it's easier for me to sympathize with them.
Speaking as someone who tried to use the godawful abomination that is Caltrain, I have no sympathy for any Caltrain employees, and never will.
You could replace the entire staff with San Francisco homeless and it couldn't get any worse.
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#14Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#15I wonder if TechCrunch articles could be automated. Have the TC editors ever bothered to ask, or are they too afraid of the interests of the contributors to explore the question?
If there's a point behind your sarcasm, I'm not getting it. Would you mind fleshing it out a bit?
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not from the bay area either, but have you see the rent prices out there? Just seeing how much rent prices over the last 20 or so years have increased, mostly because of the tech industry, it's easier for me to sympathize with them.
Speaking as someone who tried to use the godawful abomination that is Caltrain, I have no sympathy for any Caltrain employees, and never will. You could replace the entire staff with San Francisco homeless and it couldn't get any worse.
This isn't Caltrain.
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#17I'm not from the bay area-- do the train operators seem to have any public support? I feel like it's hard to sympathize with striking workers who are already among the highest paid in the country for this line of work.
The most recent polls show 68-77% of the public are against yet another union strike. In terms of general public opinion, there are, of course, contingents of uber-liberal/uber-conservitive outliers on either end; but the majority of the public are simply fed up with what is perceived as an increasingly petty and entrenched stalemate with little transparency as to what is actually being negotiated.
BART employees and their unions say salaries are too low for the (high) cost of living in the area, and should be increased by 23% to correct that. However, BART (and increasingly, the public) argue that BART jobs require no technical skills or education (beyond a HS diploma) and are benefitted and secure jobs already paying far above the average wage for jobs of similar (low) skill levels; and in light of the context (economic and otherwise), only a 4% raise should be granted. The percentage raise rates have gone back and forth on both ends, but that's the general gist.
source (on the 68-77% strike disapproval): http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2013/10/10/bart...
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#18I'm not from the bay area-- do the train operators seem to have any public support? I feel like it's hard to sympathize with striking workers who are already among the highest paid in the country for this line of work.
The cost of living in SF is outrageous.
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#19The technology already exists. Take the money that's saved and invest it back into the system. Run trains more frequently and have them run 24 hours.
Re: Could San Francisco Automate Strike-Threatening Train Drivers?
#20My understanding has been that the a significant role of a BART driver is crowd control as people get on and off. Some of that seems less automatable than the travel itself. I could easily be wrong about that, though, or automating the rest might be worth doing anyway.