31–40 of 62 posts
public transit is the answer, not stuffing a bunch of sensors into a single car but nobody's getting venture capital for that, nobody's making a profit off of it, so here we are
I’d rather have fleets of various sized vehicles that can travel on any road than spend billions and years of disruption extending rail by a few blocks (as is currently happening in my city)
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Why should venture capital be relevant to a non-commercial money-losing venture?
I'd say it's relevant as the investment in for-profit transit-as-tech companies has coincided with the chronic under-funding of public transit. Focusing on the US here, but if public transit was accepted as a public good, and the populace accepted that funding things for the public good was an acceptable use of government funds, then these companies wouldn't be as sound of an investment for VCs.
But the VC investment didn't cause the underinvestment of infrastructure. Rather, they stepped in to fill the void with other viable options when government initiatives failed to materialize. Example: where's my high-speed rail?!
public transit is the answer, not stuffing a bunch of sensors into a single car but nobody's getting venture capital for that, nobody's making a profit off of it, so here we are
> public transit is the answer To which question? Surely not to "how do i get from home to work as fast as possible without stepping in the rain?" nor to "how do i take my family, two coolers, and a kayak camping for a weekend?"
Like it’s a no-brainer for me to ever drive while i’m within the city limits of Vancouver, but for hikes and camping, it’s the obvious choice. Same with metro areas of European cities. I won’t even bring Asian cities as example, because it’s cheating.
Chicken and egg problem in terms of investment and public perception though. Inability to build large scale infrastructure also makes it impossible.
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> public transit is the answer To which question? Surely not to "how do i get from home to work as fast as possible without stepping in the rain?" nor to "how do i take my family, two coolers, and a kayak camping for a weekend?"
How do you think a significant chunk of people outside of US live? Commute in public transit within city limits, go camping in your car… The problem in NA, we planned public transit so bad that it is very inconvenient to do anything. The second it becomes a better choice than driving, it’ll be used even more. Like it’s a no-brainer for me to ever drive while i’m within the city limits of Vancouver, but for hikes and…
How does that address my rain question? Cause i'd rather be dry than virtue signal (YMMV)
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> public transit is the answer To which question? Surely not to "how do i get from home to work as fast as possible without stepping in the rain?" nor to "how do i take my family, two coolers, and a kayak camping for a weekend?"
The kayak can be rented on the other end of your train journey.
But _most_ trips probably aren't to go kayaking, and I think it's worthy to consider what a shared transit system that could support a meaningfully larger fraction of trips would look like. What the bus system in your city need to look like for more people to commute on it, or to take it when grocery shopping, or when going out to eat at a restaurant a few miles away? Those are probably the trips people are making more often, which transit advocates should be concerned with, rather than your occasional trip to recreate in nature.
public transit is the answer, not stuffing a bunch of sensors into a single car but nobody's getting venture capital for that, nobody's making a profit off of it, so here we are
The sort of public transport you're talking about isn't a substitute, since it doesn't go everywhere, and never will.
So, dogma aside, automated taxis are the actual solution and, with a bit of imagination, can provide the kind of public transport that is both efficient and environmentally friendly, and that goes everywhere.
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I'd say it's relevant as the investment in for-profit transit-as-tech companies has coincided with the chronic under-funding of public transit. Focusing on the US here, but if public transit was accepted as a public good, and the populace accepted that funding things for the public good was an acceptable use of government funds, then these companies wouldn't be as sound of an investment for VCs.
I agree: The solution is to change government spending so that public goods are sufficient to render other options moot. But the VC investment didn't cause the underinvestment of infrastructure. Rather, they stepped in to fill the void with other viable options when government initiatives failed to materialize. Example: where's my high-speed rail?!
Correct me if I'm wrong.
public transit is the answer, not stuffing a bunch of sensors into a single car but nobody's getting venture capital for that, nobody's making a profit off of it, so here we are
Literally nothing about autonomous vehicles stops cities from improving public transit. BART predates Cruise by like 50 years, and it took them most of that time to get the noise below 100dB and add mobile payment support. Maybe in another 50 years we'll be able to get to all the cities with >100k people in the bay on it, if we're lucky.
What do you mean by 'literally' here? Seems like these ride-sharing companies do have impact on public transit.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-24/do-uber-a...
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2018/07/25/uber-and-lyft-are-ove...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you think a significant chunk of people outside of US live? Commute in public transit within city limits, go camping in your car… The problem in NA, we planned public transit so bad that it is very inconvenient to do anything. The second it becomes a better choice than driving, it’ll be used even more. Like it’s a no-brainer for me to ever drive while i’m within the city limits of Vancouver, but for hikes and…
> Commute in public transit within city limits How does that address my rain question? Cause i'd rather be dry than virtue signal (YMMV)
public transit is the answer, not stuffing a bunch of sensors into a single car but nobody's getting venture capital for that, nobody's making a profit off of it, so here we are
Everyone will not live in urban centers and there will never be public transportation to every possible destination.