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Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

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Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#81

Post by mgce »

bogomipz wrote: post #76
Retric wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is really a function of rent control. NYC heavily subsidizes a retired population while discouraging ultra high density development. Further, after changing jobs it's often better not to move. So, you sacrifice density on people who don't have a economic incentive for living in the city, discourage short commutes, and discourages increasing density. ED: Yes, that includes Rent Stabilized.

Huh? Rent Control apartments only represent 1.2% of the total rental stock in the New York City. That is as of 2014 and so its likely less now as that number only ticks down. How is that heavily subsidizing a retired population? http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdf/2014-HVS-initia... Also the idea of people paying peanuts for a rent controlled apartment is largely a myth. It is discussed in detail in this art…

They could be referring to rent stabilization, which is closer to 50%:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_control_in_New_York#New_Y...

(not that I'm convinced either is a problem for this discussion)

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#82

Post by chimeracoder »

knz wrote: post #54
Xixi wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the main issue of Paris the lack of wind to blow the pollution away? Combined maybe with the high number of diesel cars? I don't think you'd see this level of pollution in a city like NYC, or really any city near the coast, simply because of the wind.

Isn't LA known for it's smog?! Being coastal just means you have prevailing winds - if geography is working against you (barrier mountains or a basin) then you will have a pollution issue.

> Isn't LA known for it's smog?!

LA has the second-lowest carbon emissions in the country, after NYC. The problem is that it sits at the foothills of mountains which block the wind and prevent the pollution from blowing away.

NYC, on the other hand, has very clean air because it has incredibly low pollution output per capita and the geography favors its quick removal.

(In fact, most of the pollution in NYC air actually comes from across the Hudson - pollutants emitted by Newark and Elizabeth and which pass over NYC as they disseminate.)

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#83

Post by akgerber »

Justsignedup wrote: post #59
awjr wrote: post #58

I find the focus on congestion within the transport space to be perplexing. I'm guessing it is to do with the visibility of congestion. Waze recently did a survey and identified the Netherlands as the best place to drive ( https://www.waze.com/driverindex ). The Netherlands is also the only western country with a negative obesity trend expected to hit 8% by 2030, currently at 10% vs the UK's 25%. The USA I believe is…

NYC's problem is also distance. Depending on where you're coming from biking could take 1.5-2hrs each way. I enjoy it but the problem is with extreme rising housing costs people are pushed further and further. Though to be honest, a SAFE biking lane system would be a much welcome gift in NYC. Currently in certain areas I have to work doubly hard to not get killed daily.

In most cycling-oriented countries, those kinds of distances would be dealt with by better bike parking at the train stations. "2-fare zones" in NYC are still generally within a quick bike ride of a sub-1-hour subway ride to all of Manhattan.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#84

Post by querulous »

rhino369 wrote: post #33
chongli wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Americans don't have a cultural aversion to using world class public transit when in a place like Tokyo. They have a cultural aversion to altering their cities in the radical ways that'd be necessary to build a functional public transit. They call this NIMBY.

It's not really even cultural. It is a socio-economic and technological issue. Every rich country that settled new territory or experienced massive growth after the invention of the car has cities that are spread out. Europe was already developed pre-car. Asia had huge population growth when their people generally couldn't afford cars. This is why US cities that were big before the Model T have a dense core with dece…

toronto and vancouver are both post-car cities that have great (by north american standards) transit

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#85

Post by mgce »

awjr wrote: post #58

I find the focus on congestion within the transport space to be perplexing. I'm guessing it is to do with the visibility of congestion. Waze recently did a survey and identified the Netherlands as the best place to drive ( https://www.waze.com/driverindex ). The Netherlands is also the only western country with a negative obesity trend expected to hit 8% by 2030, currently at 10% vs the UK's 25%. The USA I believe is…

I'm not sure if you're already aware of this, but NYC has also been aggressively building out cycling infrastructure since the Bloomberg administration. So your point is not unknown to policy makers:

http://www.amny.com/transit/new-york-city-to-reach-1-000-mil...

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#86

Post by akgerber »

While the algorithm is an interesting development, any discussion of 'reducing traffic' without even acknowledging the concept of induced demand is an indicator that someone isn't engaging with urban planning remotely seriously. (hopefully just the person in the PR office?)

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#87

Post by akgerber »

While the algorithm is an interesting development, any discussion of 'reducing traffic' without even acknowledging the concept of induced demand is an indicator that someone isn't engaging with urban planning remotely seriously. (hopefully just the person in the PR office?)

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#88

Post by rhino369 »

Retric wrote: post #65
rhino369 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really even cultural. It is a socio-economic and technological issue. Every rich country that settled new territory or experienced massive growth after the invention of the car has cities that are spread out. Europe was already developed pre-car. Asia had huge population growth when their people generally couldn't afford cars. This is why US cities that were big before the Model T have a dense core with dece…

DC in the US is a solid counter example as low density city older than the car. Density is based on a huge range of factors with for example geography playing a significant role. Another huge factor is they type of industry. Garment factory's for example have historically had very high density's where Iron Works are much lower density.

DC is a pretty good counter example. As you say the type of work matters, and DC has never an industrial town. It was also a planned city. It was intended to not be dense from the start. Something like 40% of DC is federal government land.

DC also is doing a decent job at using mass transit to re-densify areas. The orange line corridor is making suburbs become dense. That is pretty unique in America.

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#89

Post by BlackjackCF »

awjr wrote: post #58

I find the focus on congestion within the transport space to be perplexing. I'm guessing it is to do with the visibility of congestion. Waze recently did a survey and identified the Netherlands as the best place to drive ( https://www.waze.com/driverindex ). The Netherlands is also the only western country with a negative obesity trend expected to hit 8% by 2030, currently at 10% vs the UK's 25%. The USA I believe is…

Unfortunately, it's not an easy problem to solve.

I live in LA and I have to drive to work because there's just not simply a viable alternative to where I have to commute to (West Adams area to West Hollywood.) The bike lanes across LA are spotty at best and there's a good chance you're going to get hit/brushed by a car because the closer you get to Beverly Hills/West Hollywood, the more impatient/asshole-ish drivers become.

LA is trying to solve this right now with better public transportation, but even then the line that runs into Beverly Hills/West Hollywood requires me to take I think a train and a bus before I can even get to it (also it's not complete for another 4 years, I think.)

Re: Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC

#90

Post by ebiester »

Moral_ wrote: post #13
ebiester wrote: post #12

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability. That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other peopl…

They're called buses

It's the Dollar Van concept as below. The difference between it and a bus is that the dollar van doesn't pick people up in between, speeding up transactions and ensuring limited stops. The speed of pickup/dropoff is a large issue.
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