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Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

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Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#41

Post by jks »

I live in Helsinki and have tried this service a couple of times. Every time I have had the whole van for myself, except once there was a journalist doing a story on the fancy new service. It's not really fair to compare the price to a single bus ride: if you live in Helsinki and don't own a car, you already have a monthly ticket and the incremental cost of getting on a bus is zero. This is in effect a cheap taxi that's a little less convenient.

What I think they're really doing is getting around Finland's taxi permit system (there's a limited number of taxi permits so there is no real competition) by building a taxi-like service that can only pick you up and drop you off at bus stops, which apparently avoids getting the vans classified as taxis.

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#42

Post by coob »

jks wrote: post #41

I live in Helsinki and have tried this service a couple of times. Every time I have had the whole van for myself, except once there was a journalist doing a story on the fancy new service. It's not really fair to compare the price to a single bus ride: if you live in Helsinki and don't own a car, you already have a monthly ticket and the incremental cost of getting on a bus is zero. This is in effect a cheap taxi tha…

On the subject of supply constrained taxi permits, here's an interesting NPR story on NYC's taxi medallions:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tues...

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#43

Post by jerguismi »

It should be noted that it isn't shown if this project is economically viable. The project is funded with tax money.

I myself use the service almost daily, enjoying the taxi rides which cost $5. I would bet that the real cost of one trip is something like $50. Almost all the time I'm the only customer in the bus. The service quality drops noticiebly when the driver needs to pick up/drop other customers. I will probably stop using the service if it gets popular.

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#44

Post by danielweber »

untog wrote: post #16
danielweber wrote: post #14

I'd love this. If American public transportation fans would stop fantasizing about trains and instead do what really works for most people -- buses -- then we could have things a lot better. I've been waiting for years for a service that dispatches a nice bus to ride in on my way to work without me having to walk/drive to a bus stop and hope the schedule is right. I'd accept a modest increase in the commute time if I…

If American public transportation fans would stop fantasizing about trains and instead do what really works for most people -- buses Trains really work for large numbers of people. A single NYC subway train can carry something like 2,400 people. A bus can carry something like 1/10 of that at best. Once you factor in the subway and local train services to New Jersey, CT, Long Island and Upstate New York you really, re…

Yes, keep the trains where you have them. But to reduce car ridership, work on making buses good enough that professionals want to take them to get to work.

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#45

Post by danielweber »

Zigurd wrote: post #25

If you don't have consistent high ridership buses can easily fall below the efficiency of cars. I'd bet DRT could replace a lot of bus lines that are not hitting efficiency thresholds and deliver better service. Might be a good solution for lower-density areas where its difficult to make buses efficient. I wonder how low the population density can go before DRT stops working.

If the ridership isn't high enough at a period of time, send out a private car for the person requesting a ride.

On non-rush-hours, buses in America often operate almost or completely empty. It would be cheaper to just give taxis to people who need it at that point.

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#46

Post by snir »

We've actually been working on something like this for San Francisco (and we plan to expand onwards after operating here): http://www.takehitch.com

The municipality tends to work a little slower here (chatted a bit with SFMTA in the past), so we're starting with a model that just focuses on private cars. But the fundamental point--dynamic re-routing to create custom routes where people can ride in the same vehicle--is very much in the spirit of what we're doing.

We're still in a pre-launch phase, but check out our iOS app: http://www.takehitch.com/download

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#47

Post by jerguismi »

jks wrote: post #41

I live in Helsinki and have tried this service a couple of times. Every time I have had the whole van for myself, except once there was a journalist doing a story on the fancy new service. It's not really fair to compare the price to a single bus ride: if you live in Helsinki and don't own a car, you already have a monthly ticket and the incremental cost of getting on a bus is zero. This is in effect a cheap taxi tha…

Nah, the service is not private but public transport project, and it isn't viable business. The trips are covered by the tax money paid by you (and me). There is no way a taxi trip could cost $5 using that kind of vehicle. You also have to factor in the operational costs and note that the cars are Mercedez Benz vans with wifi etc.

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#48

Post by azernik »

snir wrote: post #46

We've actually been working on something like this for San Francisco (and we plan to expand onwards after operating here): http://www.takehitch.com The municipality tends to work a little slower here (chatted a bit with SFMTA in the past), so we're starting with a model that just focuses on private cars. But the fundamental point--dynamic re-routing to create custom routes where people can ride in the same vehicle--i…

How do other Bay Area county/city systems match up? E.g. have you tried making a similar arrangement with AC transit and was/would it have been easier or harder?

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#49

Post by hershel »

snir wrote: post #46

We've actually been working on something like this for San Francisco (and we plan to expand onwards after operating here): http://www.takehitch.com The municipality tends to work a little slower here (chatted a bit with SFMTA in the past), so we're starting with a model that just focuses on private cars. But the fundamental point--dynamic re-routing to create custom routes where people can ride in the same vehicle--i…

Since it's a new model,How is the response from drivers you try to recruit ?

Re: Helsinki’s personalized bus service is like Uber for public transit

#50

Post by snir »

azernik wrote: post #48
snir wrote: post #46

We've actually been working on something like this for San Francisco (and we plan to expand onwards after operating here): http://www.takehitch.com The municipality tends to work a little slower here (chatted a bit with SFMTA in the past), so we're starting with a model that just focuses on private cars. But the fundamental point--dynamic re-routing to create custom routes where people can ride in the same vehicle--i…

How do other Bay Area county/city systems match up? E.g. have you tried making a similar arrangement with AC transit and was/would it have been easier or harder?

We haven't, but that's a great idea. There are some limitations that tether us to cities (so networks like SamTrans in Palo Alto aren't ideal), but AC in the East Bay would be an excellent fit.

Thanks!

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