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Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

theguardian.com

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Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#51

Post by dawnbreez »

barry-cotter wrote: post #39
chrisseaton wrote: post #8

I think the author is being deliberately uncharitable. I think what these co-living spaces are proposing is more similar to an officers' mess, if people here have experienced that, than roommates, in that it's sort of like a private permanent hotel with private rooms, dining areas, kitchens, libraries, and staff waiting on you. As a young person it's a really fantastic way to live, very efficient, and it fosters comm…

These have existed before in the USA and been zoned out of existence. You may have heard of SRO hotels, single room occupancy? Otherwise known as flophouses. Basically middle class people look at how poor people live, go “I would never want to live like that.” and make it illegal. Also see tiny houses as a solution to homelessness. The problem is zoning. The problem is zoning. The problem is democracy. The problem is…

>The problem is people. Bingo. Many, many problems boil down to people making decisions in what they believe to be their own best interest, which ends up either A) harming others (i.e., theft and other crimes) or B) not actually being in their own best interest (i.e., strategic voting).

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#52

Post by fishnchips »

seszett wrote: post #47
snowAbstraction wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two comments: 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable. 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible.

> 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible. I have never seen that anywhere in Europe or Canada, does that mean there are two different tickets with different prices, and you have to have both if don't know exactly when you're going to take your bus? Also, I wonder how it works with a m…

FWIW Thameslink does it in the U.K. for one-way tickets.

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#55

Post by barrkel »

thriftwy wrote: post #43
lotsofpulp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anywhere to compare the wages, credentialing, and insurance of those drivers to those of a city's bus system? It's easy to earn a profit when you don't pay taxes or have to worry about liability insurance.

You say "credentials and insurance" I hear "red tape and rent-seeking". UPD: But yes, they do have some paperwork. Its relevance is open to the debate. However, same applies to any paper coming out of public bus system.

You say "red tape and rent-seeking", and I hear "fly-by-night operators, fraudsters and scammers".

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#56

Post by radarsat1 »

snowAbstraction wrote: post #24
dtech wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Public bus systems should really be exploring a smaller vehicle model more I asked someone from my local bus service once. Their answer was that it's not economically viable for the public bus service, as the only major saving was fuel cost and the extra services don't provide enough revenue to offset the employee cost (otherwise they could service it with the large normal busses). So basically this becomes viable…

Two comments: 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable. 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible.

> 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable.

Very common in South America, it's called collectivo and it's awesome. It's basically very inexpensive, shared taxis that have pre-determined routes. But you can talk to the driver and he might go off his route a bit if it's not too inconvenient.

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#57

Post by snowAbstraction »

seszett wrote: post #47
snowAbstraction wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two comments: 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable. 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible.

> 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible. I have never seen that anywhere in Europe or Canada, does that mean there are two different tickets with different prices, and you have to have both if don't know exactly when you're going to take your bus? Also, I wonder how it works with a m…

In the Twin Cites in Minnesota, USA

https://www.metrotransit.org/fares-passes

has rush hours surcharge for most buses and light rail as well as more expensive express buses.

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#58

Post by throway12321 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #23

I recently read an article in the Chinese press about the new innovations of the shared eceonomy being made. One innovation was a bunch of “shared” washing machines that could be used by anyone as long as they paid a small fee. In other countries, this would have been called a laundromat, but apparently they never existed in china.

i love how every comment you make on hacker news is related to china in some cynical way.

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#59

Post by murph-almighty »

humanrebar wrote: post #44
falcolas wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minimum wage doesn’t pull anybody up. It is just barely enough to let them survive.

Nobody is mandating minimum wage here. And housekeeper is not a dead end job. People can small businesses or use good references and clean records (i.e., proven to be trustworthy) to move into all kinds of jobs. Also cleaning houses is great work for responsible teenagers. They don't have to pay mortgages or anything.

At least by me, housekeeping is usually paid in cash and presumably under the table. It's not really going to help Uncle Sam, but I imagine it's helping people who need it stay afloat.

Re: Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'

#60

Post by jgowdy »

radarsat1 wrote: post #56
snowAbstraction wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two comments: 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable. 2. Many cities already have rush hour fees on public transportation (or equivalently discounts for off-peak passes) so some price differentiation in bus lines seems possible.

> 1. Something between taxis and buses could theoretically be viable. Very common in South America, it's called collectivo and it's awesome. It's basically very inexpensive, shared taxis that have pre-determined routes. But you can talk to the driver and he might go off his route a bit if it's not too inconvenient.

And it starts with “co”
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