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Chariot is shutting down

blog.chariot.com

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Re: Chariot is shutting down

#171

Post by danans »

geofft wrote: post #23
dsl wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF public transit is pretty disfunctional and Chariot was trying to offer an alternative. - Timeliness - Busses and trains reliability are a joke compared to developed countries - Cleanliness - Due to an unmitigated homeless problem, the busses and trains operate as "day shelters" - Organization - There are dozens of different transit operators for what is one major metro region. Schedules are poorly synced, and even…

A lot of the history of transit-disrupting startups in the SF Bay Area can be attributed to how truly bad public transit in the SF Bay Area is. I understood Uber a lot more after trying to hail a taxi in SF. (Same with Boring Company and LA traffic.) A real disruptive solution for humanity - but a hard one to monetize - would be to figure out why cities with good public transit / shared transit infrastructure managed…

If you're ever in London, I recommend visiting the Museum of Transport in Covent Garden to understand how London's transit system developed.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#172

Post by hrktb »

laurentoget wrote: post #166

Not very surprising. There is a problem with trying to fund urban transit by selling it as a service for those who use it. urban transit is a service which benefits every member of the community it serves , both individuals and corporations, by reducing congestion. In most places with an efficient transit network, fare revenue is not the biggest source of funding. This is shocking for americans who grow up in the pos…

> In most places with an efficient transit network, fare revenue is not the biggest source of funding

It was eye opening to me to hear about train companies that heavily invest in land development and partnered with the cities to build places to go. In Japan they own department stores and actively participate in business development to grow whole areas, wherever they see opportunities.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#173

Post by SergeAx »

In Russia we call it "marshrootka", like "routed taxi", missing link between taxi and bus. It is a large and demanded industry, cash-only and poorly regulated. Check out the variety of minivan models and conditions with single Google Images search: https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%88%D1%...

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#174

Post by campercoder »

wh-uws wrote: post #123
blt wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

old cities: built dense for walking, because cars didn't exist. new cities: built dense for walking and public transit because private car ownership isn't that common in China 20th century USA cities: built for cars. Sprawl makes public transit too expensive because it requires many lines with low ridership. Wide roads, long distances, and cars flying around everywhere makes walking scary. Driving becomes the only at…

Years too long also. We'll have self driving cars long before we could restructure many of our cities to have effective public transit.

will self driving cars avoid the problem of congestion? Or will congestion get 4x worse?

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#175

Post by Aeolun »

hrktb wrote: post #172
laurentoget wrote: post #166

Not very surprising. There is a problem with trying to fund urban transit by selling it as a service for those who use it. urban transit is a service which benefits every member of the community it serves , both individuals and corporations, by reducing congestion. In most places with an efficient transit network, fare revenue is not the biggest source of funding. This is shocking for americans who grow up in the pos…

> In most places with an efficient transit network, fare revenue is not the biggest source of funding It was eye opening to me to hear about train companies that heavily invest in land development and partnered with the cities to build places to go. In Japan they own department stores and actively participate in business development to grow whole areas, wherever they see opportunities.

I was so surprised to see a whole town just basically stamped out of the ground next to a new shinkansen station. Right up until I found out it was all built by the train company.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#176

Post by Aeolun »

debt wrote: post #59
SilasX wrote: post #55

Wasn't it profitable when Ford acquired? Isn't there a pretty reliable userbase? How did they mess it up? I don't mean to be the conspiracy guy, but it matches the pattern of the streetcar thing: Buy car-obviating service, shut it down.

"How did they mess it up?" All I know is once I was driving down Cesar Chavez in San Francisco and I looked over and there was a massive lot filled with Chariot commuter vans. It was the daytime on Saturday. I thought dang they must be wasting a ton of money just having a whole fleet of commuter vans parked in a lot, unused simply because it was the weekend. I imagine this same mentality transferred to non-peak hours…

It seems that there would be a lot of ways to put those vans to use during the weekend as well. I cannot imagine that was the main factor.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#177

Post by Aeolun »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #170
capkutay wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily true. A lot of acquisitions are 'acquihires' meaning they were bought just for their talent capital.

Acquihiring doesn't necessarily involve keeping everyone from the acquired company.

Nor does it mean keeping the company itself.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#178

Post by masonic »

cbhl wrote: post #115
dabockster wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like why Sound Transit exists in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area. It basically creates an adapter pattern-like third agency that manages the long distance routes between the major cities and counties.

The problem is that two municipalities (one on each side of the bay) voted down the measures that would have funded the regional transit agency. Thus, the train lines stop at the borders of these two municipalities, and there are two other train systems that cover the missing area. (BART, Amtrak, and Caltrain.)

Not "municipalities"; counties.

And they opted out because they would have had to pay in fully with no service for years, followed by inferior service forever (they were to be cash cows).

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#179

Post by masonic »

wpietri wrote: post #124
silotis wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clipper cards work on SamTrans buses too.

And they work on all the ferries I have taken recently. Other than the fact that it's one person per Clipper Card, they're great.

Clipper cards even get you a discount on the new Richmond ferry.

Re: Chariot is shutting down

#180

Post by masonic »

atombender wrote: post #78
geofft wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the history of transit-disrupting startups in the SF Bay Area can be attributed to how truly bad public transit in the SF Bay Area is. I understood Uber a lot more after trying to hail a taxi in SF. (Same with Boring Company and LA traffic.) A real disruptive solution for humanity - but a hard one to monetize - would be to figure out why cities with good public transit / shared transit infrastructure managed…

I don't know the West coast very well, so I'm curious -- are there any (smaller) cities there where you can actually get by without a car to do grocery shopping, commute to one's office (assuming it's in the same town/city), etc.? I'm thinking something comparable to Amsterdam, Copenhagen or Berlin, where you can get by with a bike and/or subway, or often just walking. Portland? Seattle? I've visited Silicon Valley a…

How is San Jose "pedestrian-unfriendly"? You can walk anywhere but on freeways. You just have to dodge assholes on scooters now and then.

As to your first question, you can live without a car anywhere if you choose to live near work and other frequent destinations.

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