Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

It seems like San Francisco is one of the few places where you can have a company completely fail, only to see it revamp its product in a way that it will probably completely fail again.

While I can't speak for San Francisco's bus system, everything about this product video screams to me that the solution that is being provided here does not actually solve a problem other than "I am white, privileged, and want to ride on a fancy looking bus where I can buy a Vita Coco. I also want to pay as much as $6 per ride, which is egregiously more expensive than something that amounts to little more than public transit needs to be."

This whole thing is basically the epitome of the tech bubble and offers little to nothing of real value.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#5

Post by cpursley » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 1:58 PM UTC

AWolfAtTheDoor wrote: post #4

It seems like San Francisco is one of the few places where you can have a company completely fail, only to see it revamp its product in a way that it will probably completely fail again. While I can't speak for San Francisco's bus system, everything about this product video screams to me that the solution that is being provided here does not actually solve a problem other than "I am white, privileged, and want to rid…

Yeah, they should drop all the frills. And those seats without backs looks terribly uncomfortable if not unsafe.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#6

Post by jsprogrammer » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 2:03 PM UTC

AWolfAtTheDoor wrote: post #4

It seems like San Francisco is one of the few places where you can have a company completely fail, only to see it revamp its product in a way that it will probably completely fail again. While I can't speak for San Francisco's bus system, everything about this product video screams to me that the solution that is being provided here does not actually solve a problem other than "I am white, privileged, and want to rid…

You might also want to look at the discussion of their TOS from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9220210

Basically, the TOS disclaims pretty much everything claimed by their marketing material (ie. they are not a transportation company, don't claim to be one, don't make any guarantees or promises about what they do, etc; also, you are dependent on the bus driver to actually transport you because the driver is the 'third party' you are actually contracting with and they won't refund you if they fail to transport you [which they most definitely won't, because they aren't a transport company]).

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#7

Post by sgrove » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 2:04 PM UTC

AWolfAtTheDoor wrote: post #4

It seems like San Francisco is one of the few places where you can have a company completely fail, only to see it revamp its product in a way that it will probably completely fail again. While I can't speak for San Francisco's bus system, everything about this product video screams to me that the solution that is being provided here does not actually solve a problem other than "I am white, privileged, and want to rid…

An alternative comment (that would likely be more useful and spark more interesting conversation) might focus on listing the ways in which you see public transportation in SF as broken, and thoughts on how they might be sustainably (and profitably) fixed.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#8

Post by untog » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 2:04 PM UTC

I'll be interested to see how this works from afar in New York. To my mind it's likely to just make for more traffic and not take a sizable number of cars off the road, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#9

Post by solve » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #5

AWolfAtTheDoor wrote: post #4

It seems like San Francisco is one of the few places where you can have a company completely fail, only to see it revamp its product in a way that it will probably completely fail again. While I can't speak for San Francisco's bus system, everything about this product video screams to me that the solution that is being provided here does not actually solve a problem other than "I am white, privileged, and want to rid…

Yeah, they should drop all the frills. And those seats without backs looks terribly uncomfortable if not unsafe.

Take away the bus-style seats, and it's now more like a tram/trolly/subway/european busses, from the rider's perspective.

This open layout is vastly better than the traditional US bus layout. Feels safer, less trapped. This is the right direction to be going, as public transportation in most of the rest of the world has already proven long ago.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz-Backed Leap Buses Are Hitting SF Streets This Week

#10

Post by nsnick » Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 2:06 PM UTC

I predict there will be protesting.