Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
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Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#2Public transportation can only win by competing with the alternatives.
When I'm in Tokyo I don't use Uber because the train system is so clean, fast, and safe; I have no incentive to use an Uber.
When I'm in places with slow buses that get stuck in traffic, or operate trains with disgusting facilities, I'm more likely to choose Uber.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#3But how about transportation as a whole? Wouldn't people have better transport than ever these days then? I doubt that public transport is ideal anyways.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#4Public transportation can only win by competing with the alternatives. When I'm in Tokyo I don't use Uber because the train system is so clean, fast, and safe; I have no incentive to use an Uber. When I'm in places with slow buses that get stuck in traffic, or operate trains with disgusting facilities, I'm more likely to choose Uber.
When the wealthy[1] can opt out of having to use public services, those public services tend to be crap.
When the wealthy are forced to use public services, all of a sudden, they become interested and politically engaged in improving them.
Uber doesn't drive improvements in transit in this sense - it starves it of political capital.
The best transit services are ones which are used by a wide swathe of the public.
[1] If you are regularly paying $6-30 for a one-way taxi commute, you are either wealthy, really money-foolish, or a truly special case.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#5This kind of ignores the fact that the quality of public transit has been rapidly declining, and had been before Uber/Lyft came into being.
Take the DC metro for example - it used to be arguably the best public rail system in the country. Now, through mismanagement and neglect, it's pretty awful. IMO dirty, unreliable public transport created a massive void that Lyft/Uber have filled.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#6"Another study blames the internal combustion engine for the decline of horse ridership".
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#7Public transportation can only win by competing with the alternatives. When I'm in Tokyo I don't use Uber because the train system is so clean, fast, and safe; I have no incentive to use an Uber. When I'm in places with slow buses that get stuck in traffic, or operate trains with disgusting facilities, I'm more likely to choose Uber.
> Public transportation can only win by competing with alternatives.
Exactly. Improve the quality of public transportation and the usage levels of Uber and Lyft will decline. Whatever the failings of Uber and Lyft, and there are many, they can't be used as a justification to curb their use (essentially eliminate competition) so public transportation systems can continue their unchallenged mediocrity.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#8This kind of ignores the fact that the quality of public transit has been rapidly declining, and had been before Uber/Lyft came into being. Take the DC metro for example - it used to be arguably the best public rail system in the country. Now, through mismanagement and neglect, it's pretty awful. IMO dirty, unreliable public transport created a massive void that Lyft/Uber have filled.
Won't systems always generally decline a bit until they need a refresh? But now that refresh won't come because there will be no political pressure to do so.
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#9I know it's only an anecdote, but myself (and many other colleagues) in Boston switched to periodically using rideshares to commute due to the decline in public transit quality. The tech boom in the area completely overloaded the system, and when you combine it with the rampant corruption behind the MBTA, this was inevitable.
Uber and Lyft have not been the best actors, but someone was going to step in and profit off of public transit's incompetence here.
Even prior to the prevalence of rideshares, Boston was dealing with absurd corruption in attempting to expand on the public transit systems. See: Green Line Extension project
Re: Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline
#10Public transportation can only win by competing with the alternatives. When I'm in Tokyo I don't use Uber because the train system is so clean, fast, and safe; I have no incentive to use an Uber. When I'm in places with slow buses that get stuck in traffic, or operate trains with disgusting facilities, I'm more likely to choose Uber.
Yes. The framing of these articles is atrocious. The framing should be, "It's great that people are gaining more transportation options. Public transit should adapt and improve in response to those changes."