311–320 of 458 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> expect of the general population Reminder that chronic obesity is a leading cost of healthcare in the U.S.
Come on, that chronic obesity is because of bad diet, not because people don't stand on buses. And I reiterate: what about the elderly? Public transit has to cater to these people, it can't just ignore them like a startup can.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm regularly bothered by the fact that mass transit is more expensive than driving. Alone it is definitely cheaper disregarding sunk costs (price of car, etc.), it's still cheaper as long as I don't have to have a new car every few years, and if I have passengers mass transit is many times as expensive as driving. Shouldn't it be the opposite? I figure I can take 4 people from Mountain View to San Francisco and back…
A significant component of this is that your (usually free) parking on both ends of the trip is subsidized by its requirement in local zoning, which increases general costs and subsidizes driving (parking spaces often cost $10,000+ apiece to build, excluding any land cost). The Highway Trust Fund, which pays for interstates, has also been bailed out by general federal funds in recent years, and local roads are usuall…
I don’t buy that for a second - even in extremely expensive areas like the Bay Area, concrete is less than $20/sq ft poured (ie including all costs), and most parking lots I see around here are blacktop which is even cheaper....
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Standing while working on your terms vs. standing on a crowded bus or subway are totally different things. You aren't really burning calories standing either, it is just time spent in discomfort. I don't think someone who actually has to stand a hour a day on their commute would actually say this (and better to take a bike at that point). Obviously, it is better if the subway car or bus is just totally packed so you…
When I used to commute I would often have to stand for 40 plus minutes twice a day. It's quite normal for millions of Brits, why is America different?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, clipper card can fix the problem for locals. But, temporary visitors/tourists to the area may not want to get such a card.
The Oyster card in London is the only way to pay. Pay stations can vend cards, but they need to be distributed more for this to work with Clipper.
[1] https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/ways-to-pay/whats-the-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This strikes me as a deliberate misunderstanding in service of a snappy counter-comment. Do you honestly believe that the parent meant that nobody drives drunk anymore? In my reading, parent comment is saying that there has been a major shift in default going-out behavior in LA, from driving one's own vehicle home while intoxicated to taking Ubers to/from nightlife locations. Does that sound untrue to you? Sounds tru…
> Do you honestly believe that the parent meant that nobody drives drunk anymore? yep. that was my honest interpretation of the parent comment.
Now, with ride sharing, people that care can avoid drunk driving. But some people will always not give a shit or will have driven someplace that they didn't anticipate drinking, so it wouldn't drop to zero.
Congestion pricing for use of city streets would quickly solve any problems due to increased use.
Public transportation systems doing a better job of serving communities than Uber or Lyft would also work.
Then you would, however, have so little traffic and so many users that transit could be made nice.
But these things are politically impossible, and never really attempted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you honestly believe that the parent meant that nobody drives drunk anymore? yep. that was my honest interpretation of the parent comment.
My interpretation of his comment was that drunk driving was basically required if you wanted to go out and drink. Public transportation in LA didn't work and cabs were too expensive for people who wanted to go out more than once a month. So well-intentioned people still drove drunk because the alternative was forgoing a social life. Now, with ride sharing, people that care can avoid drunk driving. But some people wil…
That's a reasonable interpretation, though even so interpreted it's quite wrong. You can go out and drink and never be legally drunk, much less not drive drunk.
“Go out and drink” is quite different from “go out and drink heavily and then drive immediately”.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have had the same issue in the past in the Bay area. I finally got a clipper card a few weeks ago (I live in MV typically walk to work). Yesterday, I was in front of a VTA in San Jose trying to get back to MV. The people around were a bit shady, and there was a pretty long wait for the train - of course .. I called an Uber, which cost a few bucks more. Still waiting to use that clipper card.
Yes, clipper card can fix the problem for locals. But, temporary visitors/tourists to the area may not want to get such a card.
Personally, I've got around a dozen transit cards spanning at least six countries...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
$10-15 for a drink? Of liquid gold?
$10 for a drink in Los Angeles is absolutely not out of the ordinary. A $10 cocktail is happy-hour price. A $10 glass of wine is going to be basic stuff. $15 for a good cocktail or wine is the going rate. I also mentioned Atlanta and Houston. Both of those are within 10%. I'm picking these because they are large, urban, car-dependent areas that, at least in my opinion, are more livable with ridesharing than without i…
Of course the somewhat ironic thing for people living in the East Bay is that Oakland's social scene has emerged at roughly the same time as ride sharing, so people don't need to go into SF to drink as much as they used to. But ride sharing is still useful for getting to/from Oakland.