Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
rideleap.com
Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
1–10 of 79 posts
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#2I can't shake the feeling that the existence of leap and that it seems compelling are symptoms of deeply flawed urban planning.
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#3A privatized intracity bus service? Somewhat interesting. But how can this compete with heavily subsidized, existing public bus service - without hitting all the same pitfalls that it does? (Like buses getting steadily less "express" as time goes on)?
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#4I can't shake the feeling that the existence of leap and that it seems compelling are symptoms of deeply flawed urban planning.
That's because it is a symptom of "deeply flawed urban planning", but we work with work we've got in SF...
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#5the seats look sparse ..how are they going to get by with so few seats and still be competitive on price ?
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#6How in the world do you keep from falling on that thing when it comes to a stop? I'm a big fan of always sitting at the back of the bus. Whenever I am nearing my stop on a traditional city bus I really need to use all the hand holds to get to the front or side door to keep from falling down. This thing looks like it has none of those.
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#7A privatized intracity bus service? Somewhat interesting. But how can this compete with heavily subsidized, existing public bus service - without hitting all the same pitfalls that it does? (Like buses getting steadily less "express" as time goes on)?
Well for one: privatized bus services generate more revenue as ridership increases as opposed to subsidized buses which have to stretch the same amount of resources further.
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#8Google Bus as a service. This would be a great way for a startup to offer that benefit without the huge costs. I like it.
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#9A privatized intracity bus service? Somewhat interesting. But how can this compete with heavily subsidized, existing public bus service - without hitting all the same pitfalls that it does? (Like buses getting steadily less "express" as time goes on)?
Because the heavily subsidized public bus service in San Francisco, Muni, operates abysmally.
Buses are usually filthy, massively overcrowded during rush hour, often very late, and make frequent stops. In many cases, taking the bus is only slightly faster than walking. Compounding the problem is the lack of buses on many popular commute routes, such as the Lombard-downtown route that Leap follows.
They will either avoid these pitfalls or go out of business, because nobody will pay 3x more for a private bus service that is just as bad as the 1x public bus.
Re: Leap: Your daily commute redesigned
#10A privatized intracity bus service? Somewhat interesting. But how can this compete with heavily subsidized, existing public bus service - without hitting all the same pitfalls that it does? (Like buses getting steadily less "express" as time goes on)?
It competes by doing things like not complying with existing regulation, laws, or unions. It's an "app" and thus except from all regulation. So they don't pay a driver $70,000/yr and give him or her a pension. They can pick stops based on profitability, not access. They carry the bare minimum of liability insurance because if anything happens they can just close up shop. They don't have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. They don't have to pay for any kind of additional safety or environmental inspections that public transit must comply with. They don't answer to the residents.