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Uber revolution will not last

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Re: Uber revolution will not last

#101

Post by m_t »

bambax wrote: post #84
WalterBright wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't believe cities are serious about reducing congestion until they fix the traffic lights to dynamically maximize flow. No, it isn't done already. Too often, I am in a platoon of 20 cars that has to slam to a stop so one car can cross the intersection on the cross street, and then there's yet another minute of red with nobody in the intersection. You'd think with cameras already installed on the lights that this…

In Paris the idea is to make the city more hostile to cars (any car, your private car, taxis, ubers) by reducing the number of roads they are allowed onto. The city voted yesterday to close the main road through the city ("quais rive droite") after the equivalent road in the other way ("quais rive gauche") had been closed 3 years ago. I think London is thinking of doing the same (plans to close Oxford Street?) How it…

> In London the subway is kind of okay... in Paris it's horrible.

Having commuted in both London and in Paris, I would say it is quite hard to make this kind of statement.

When comparing my commute on the Northern Line to my old one on Line 2 and 1 in Paris, I can definitely say it was better in Paris.

And I'm sure that someone who could compare commuting on Line 13 versus, say, the Victoria Line, would have a very different opinion.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#102

Post by m_t »

webjunkie wrote: post #98
bambax wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Paris the idea is to make the city more hostile to cars (any car, your private car, taxis, ubers) by reducing the number of roads they are allowed onto. The city voted yesterday to close the main road through the city ("quais rive droite") after the equivalent road in the other way ("quais rive gauche") had been closed 3 years ago. I think London is thinking of doing the same (plans to close Oxford Street?) How it…

I never understood the interior layout of subways in Paris... they have seats positioned right at the door, where people would stand normally. It seemed to me like everyone was always stepping on each others toes, and on each stop the whole train was shuffeling around for people to get in and out.

That's because those seats are supposed to not be used when there's too many people.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#103

Post by m_t »

quanticle wrote: post #15

I don't understand the point he's making about traffic congestion. He's claiming that "Uber is putting more cars on the street". More compared to what? Compared to everyone driving themselves? If Uber wasn't around, the alternative would not be people taking public transport. The alternative wouldn't be people waiting 35 minutes for taxis. The alternative would be people driving in themselves, causing greater congest…

> If Uber wasn't around, the alternative would not be people taking public transport.

Even in this thread you can find someone commenting that they stopped using public transport and are now using Uber.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#104

Post by gjolund »

prostoalex wrote: post #4

The "labor-exploiting" argument seems a bit disingenious to me. It's not like someone sees an ad for Uber and tells their boss to shove it, as they're quitting their full-time job, forfeiting all the benefits and 401(k) matching to start a brand new career as an Uber driver. The alternative for many drivers is simply unemployment. While there's zero possibility of labor exploitation, it reminds me of Flight of the Co…

Their employment is only temporary unless they are developing skills that are in demand.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#105

Post by narrowrail »

WalterBright wrote: post #96
Monory wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are also more static variants. I know that Yandex collaborated with Zelenograd [0] (city to the north of Moscow) to optimize timings of city traffic lights. Yandex has similar data to what Google does in other places, due to Yandex.Maps app, and they reported to increase average car speed at many intersections without dropping average at any other one. On the example shown, average car speed at one particular i…

Using statistics is one way, but is suboptimal. An optimal system would use the cameras to adjust to each situation like a traffic cop would. Though I bet even a modest adaptive light system could do better than a cop, for the simple reason that lights could coordinate with their neighbors.

I think your original comment was spot-on, and far more interesting than the hackneyed discussions taking place in this thread. For a little context:

"In 1922 traffic towers were beginning to be controlled by automatic timers. The first company to add timers in traffic lights was Crouse Hinds. They built railroad signals and were the first company to place timers in traffic lights in Houston, which was their home city. The main advantage for the use of the timer was that it saved cities money by replacing traffic officers. The city of New York was able to reassign all but 500 of its 6,000 officers working on the traffic squad; this saved the city $12,500,000."

Crouse-Hinds was still getting sued in the '90s for liability in accidents at intersections. I don't know if these lawsuits are still happening, but I assume liability has something to do with why your suggestion of a more adaptive light system is not tried.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#106

Post by rdlecler1 »

WalterBright wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #18

This is gold... "So, yeah, it’s great: you hit the app, and the car shows up now in 10 minutes instead of a 35-minute wait. But now the traffic congestion is so bad that you’re sitting in that car for 20 minutes longer to get anywhere... cities now are starting to discuss and deal with: traffic congestion. The traffic congestion is so much worse. Now, is it all because of Uber? Not it’s not...you suddenly have a new…

I won't believe cities are serious about reducing congestion until they fix the traffic lights to dynamically maximize flow. No, it isn't done already. Too often, I am in a platoon of 20 cars that has to slam to a stop so one car can cross the intersection on the cross street, and then there's yet another minute of red with nobody in the intersection. You'd think with cameras already installed on the lights that this…

Most of these points become moot with driverless cars. They can be small two-person smart cars that can drive bumper-to-bumper and wheel-to-wheel. First they'll get their own roads and then inner cities will ban manual-driven cars.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#107

Post by rdlecler1 »

WalterBright wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #18

This is gold... "So, yeah, it’s great: you hit the app, and the car shows up now in 10 minutes instead of a 35-minute wait. But now the traffic congestion is so bad that you’re sitting in that car for 20 minutes longer to get anywhere... cities now are starting to discuss and deal with: traffic congestion. The traffic congestion is so much worse. Now, is it all because of Uber? Not it’s not...you suddenly have a new…

I won't believe cities are serious about reducing congestion until they fix the traffic lights to dynamically maximize flow. No, it isn't done already. Too often, I am in a platoon of 20 cars that has to slam to a stop so one car can cross the intersection on the cross street, and then there's yet another minute of red with nobody in the intersection. You'd think with cameras already installed on the lights that this…

Most of these points become moot with driverless cars. They can be small two-person smart cars that can drive bumper-to-bumper and wheel-to-wheel. First they'll get their own roads and then inner cities will ban manual-driven cars.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#108

Post by rdlecler1 »

WalterBright wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #18

This is gold... "So, yeah, it’s great: you hit the app, and the car shows up now in 10 minutes instead of a 35-minute wait. But now the traffic congestion is so bad that you’re sitting in that car for 20 minutes longer to get anywhere... cities now are starting to discuss and deal with: traffic congestion. The traffic congestion is so much worse. Now, is it all because of Uber? Not it’s not...you suddenly have a new…

I won't believe cities are serious about reducing congestion until they fix the traffic lights to dynamically maximize flow. No, it isn't done already. Too often, I am in a platoon of 20 cars that has to slam to a stop so one car can cross the intersection on the cross street, and then there's yet another minute of red with nobody in the intersection. You'd think with cameras already installed on the lights that this…

Most of these points become moot with driverless cars. They can be small two-person smart cars that can drive bumper-to-bumper and wheel-to-wheel. First they'll get their own roads and then inner cities will ban manual-driven cars.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#109

Post by bambax »

webjunkie wrote: post #98
bambax wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Paris the idea is to make the city more hostile to cars (any car, your private car, taxis, ubers) by reducing the number of roads they are allowed onto. The city voted yesterday to close the main road through the city ("quais rive droite") after the equivalent road in the other way ("quais rive gauche") had been closed 3 years ago. I think London is thinking of doing the same (plans to close Oxford Street?) How it…

I never understood the interior layout of subways in Paris... they have seats positioned right at the door, where people would stand normally. It seemed to me like everyone was always stepping on each others toes, and on each stop the whole train was shuffeling around for people to get in and out.

This will be hard to believe but it's true: for years and years, the Paris subway authority considered that people would not accept to "be transported laterally", which means seats HAD to be either facing the front or the back of the train, NOT the side.

It still goes on today; some of the newer trains now have a few seats facing the side, but that's as far as they'll go.

This thinking, based on absolutely zero evidence but deeply ingrained, wastes an incredible amount of space aboard subway trains.

Re: Uber revolution will not last

#110

Post by jacques_chester »

PakG1 wrote: post #93
pfarnsworth wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite. Once fully self-driving cars are completely actualized, then ridesharing companies like Uber will collapse, because the entire thing becomes a commodity. Right now, there's a lot more to Uber and ride-sharing than just matching cars and riders. There are layers of complexities that are created because you need to deal with real humans on both ends. Once you get rid of human drivers, anyone can buil…

Yeah, but the self-driving tech is a proprietary trade secret. Tesla's not sharing their self-driving tech. GM is not sharing their self-driving tech. Uber is not sharing their self-driving tech. If that moat is not easily surmountable, Uber has a long-term fighting chance. Uber does not have a long-term fighting chance if they stick with traditional drivers. It's like ISPs, no? Back in the day, anyone could become a…

> Tesla's not sharing their self-driving tech. GM is not sharing their self-driving tech. Uber is not sharing their self-driving tech.

Tesla, GM et al will gladly share their tech, in the form of a car.

Vertically-integrated self-driving-with-app companies will be slaughtered by Google and others setting up auction sites for such services.

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