291–300 of 395 posts
Reevaluating to build public trust would have been fixing things when their cars kept blocking the street or preventing ambulances from getting where they need to go. NOT waiting until you ran over over someone who was hit by a car and then dragging them along the pavement, followed by lying to investigators about it. You don’t get trust back after that. How much do you want to bet all the other cities were suddenly…
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“What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve?” 40,000 deaths in the United States every year. Hundreds of thousands of costly accidents We can’t get great transportation even in the New York City area. We have 0 miles of high-speed rail, while China built 25,000 it’s great that you want to start building some mass transit, but it’ll take a century if we start now. Let’s start by having trains take you to the…
> Let’s start by having trains take you to the airport directly… Why should trains be the only alternative to driverless cars? What is difficult about buying a few buses and start taking people to the airport, today?
The only time I take a bus is when I need to take a transfer from the airport parking to the terminal, that part usually takes longer than my drive to the airport. I'd gladly pay another 10-20$ for a valet to park my car from the terminal to avoid those busses.
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“What incredible inconvenience are we trying to solve?” 40,000 deaths in the United States every year. Hundreds of thousands of costly accidents We can’t get great transportation even in the New York City area. We have 0 miles of high-speed rail, while China built 25,000 it’s great that you want to start building some mass transit, but it’ll take a century if we start now. Let’s start by having trains take you to the…
Nobody bought a Tesla in the last 5 years because “I want fewer highway fatalities”, they often bought it because they thought the overhyped self driving features would let them chill out on their commute. People want self driving cars so bad because driving everywhere sucks (and sitting on public transit sucks too). Routine travel is mundane and boring.
Reevaluating to build public trust would have been fixing things when their cars kept blocking the street or preventing ambulances from getting where they need to go. NOT waiting until you ran over over someone who was hit by a car and then dragging them along the pavement, followed by lying to investigators about it. You don’t get trust back after that. How much do you want to bet all the other cities were suddenly…
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/viral-video-reckless-...
Driverless cars seem statistically safer than human drivers already.
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You're making big assertions without giving any details. > Ironically, the contingent of people that are most aggressive/ambitious about promoting public transit are often the same that are most against taking the (admittedly, not always the most pleasant) steps needed to sell the idea to the masses. Like what?
For example - ensuring there aren't crazy drug addicted homeless persons raging about murdering everyone on the train. When issues like that are brought up, common responses from the pro-transit crowd include: "The psycho is completely harmless, just let him be. He has every right to be on the subway too." "Cars kill people!. The psycho will never hurt anyone!" "We have to pass Medicare-for-all and pass unconditional…
So, you're cherry-picking the most extreme leftists to paint an exremely strawmanned version of the US pro-transit movement. You sound like you've either had some awful public transit experiences or perhaps watched a lot of scary news involving addicts on transit.
At least here in Boston, where I've ridden transit regularly for a decade, I feel safe around other riders. The things that make me feel UNSAFE on transit is the state of the physical infrastructure, which is not the result of lefty anti-police rhetoric but is the result of transit underfunding, cost disease with US public works projects, and historically poor management culture at the MBTA. These are hard problems but they are abstolutely all fixable. The new general manager is already showing that management culture can be improved.
Lastly, drug problems and povert in US cities can be clearly linked to the communities which were most devastated by highway expansion and transit defunding. There's a reason that the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to highways look hellish and depressing. So, it seems that you've declared that this problem which is at least in part caused by car culture cannot possibly be fixed by walking back car culture, because, obviously, most pro-transit people also want to disband the police, or so you say.
[1] https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/the-left-has-never-stoo...
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It depends on how you define “urban.” The way the census defines it, less than 20% of the US population is non-urban.
For the sake of discussion here urban means not dependent on car for majority of errands.
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For example - ensuring there aren't crazy drug addicted homeless persons raging about murdering everyone on the train. When issues like that are brought up, common responses from the pro-transit crowd include: "The psycho is completely harmless, just let him be. He has every right to be on the subway too." "Cars kill people!. The psycho will never hurt anyone!" "We have to pass Medicare-for-all and pass unconditional…
It seems like such a bizarre jump to say "if we build trains, simply riding the train will drive people to drugs and mass murder, causing a new problem outweighing the benefits of the train". If the train is not what is driving people to these heinous conditions, then it seems like this imagined problem is some unrelated thing. Should we not build any shopping malls or parks or roads until we can somehow be certain t…
Rather, drugs and the perceived threat of violent crime, as well as general unpleasantness, is what turns off people from embracing public transit. Build a brand new shiny transit system in the USA, and you'll still face the same problems without changing the culture or enforcement. Both will face massive public backslash - again, from many of the same people who are most pro-transit.
You're falling victim to the same mentality I mentioned earlier of handwaving away the perceived concerns people have.
I ride transit nearly ever day. Obviously I haven't been murdered or fallen victim to violence. But I commonly encounter individuals who I make sure I keep away from either because of threatening behavior or simple unpleasantness.
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> US also has almost 350 miles of high speed rail, not 0 Given the size of the US, 350 reads as very close to 0. > Lastly NYC is one of the most serviced by transit areas in the world? Are you living in an alternate universe? Perhaps the one where e.g. underground transit is an ill-maintained, dirty, and often dangerous experience.
> Given the size of the US, 350 reads as very close to 0. A funny way to interpret this would be "a mile of high speed rail per every million people"!
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For example - ensuring there aren't crazy drug addicted homeless persons raging about murdering everyone on the train. When issues like that are brought up, common responses from the pro-transit crowd include: "The psycho is completely harmless, just let him be. He has every right to be on the subway too." "Cars kill people!. The psycho will never hurt anyone!" "We have to pass Medicare-for-all and pass unconditional…
Yes, the progressive Left does have a problem where we can't seem to agree on how to make sure people feel safe and comfortable in the public spaces which we care so deeply about. Socialist blogger Freddie deBoer has several pieces along these lines [1]. As he points out, the people who shout the loudest on Twitter aren't necessarily the same people out there actually leading pro-transit and anti-car movements. FWIW,…
I've obviously never been murdered, nor have I been assaulted on the subway. However I very frequently do encounter people raging in a threatening manner, or otherwise behaving unpleasantly. Are they a real threat? Odds are they aren't unless provoked. Do people perceive them to be a threat? Yes, and valid or not.
You're again falling victim to asking for perfect but impractical solutions. Why can't we (as in, society) fix the issues with American transit in practical, incremental steps that will genuinely improve transit? As opposed to demanding we fix all societal ills - which while genuine, is going to prevent us from ever getting around to fixing transit? As I recall someone saying in another HN thread long ago, the NYC MTA should be running trains, not running a homeless shelter/mental asylum.
This is a good move on Cruise's part. Cruise is still nowhere near the maturity level that Waymo was at when Waymo first started driving on public roads. On the other hand, we definitely need a real competitor to Waymo. It doesn't seem likely, but hopefully some combination of Cruise, Apple(?), Tesla, or another player will be able to have a feasible alternative to Waymo's Driver.
This isn't Cruise's move. The DMV revoked their testing permits such that they're no longer street legal, within the last week. This is a PR piece, trying to save some face.