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Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

ridecabin.com

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Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#81

Post by ummwhat »

jmpman wrote: post #79

The concept has just one niche I can see (besides people who are scared of flying)... getting into downtown SF before 8am without the chance of your flight being delayed due to fog. If you absolutely need to be at a meeting at 8am, currently you’re flying in the night before, grabbing an Uber from SFO to a hotel generally close to your morning meeting, hoping you’ll get a good night sleep and then dealing with the mo…

The thing that kills this niche is booking a sleeper car ticket on the capitol corridor. Amtrak does all this but better. Train is quieter, there's a full dining car with meals cooked in a legit kitchen, more space to walk around, fantastic view in the observation car. Only thing they don't do right is advertising. Did you know the sleeper car comes with 3 meals a day? I didn't.

On reflection the other issue is that it doesn't go direct into downtown. But you can transfer to BART at Richmond so same same.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#82

Post by CaliforniaKarl »

The Amtrak Coast Starlight departs LA Union Station around 10AM, getting in to San Jose around 8PM.

I wish there was a train service that departed Los Angeles around 9PM, got in to San Jose at 7AM, and then expressed to San Francisco for arrival by 8.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#83

Post by DeepYogurt »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #82

The Amtrak Coast Starlight departs LA Union Station around 10AM, getting in to San Jose around 8PM. I wish there was a train service that departed Los Angeles around 9PM, got in to San Jose at 7AM, and then expressed to San Francisco for arrival by 8.

The bus is only about $20 cheaper though. For $20 I'll take the train.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#84

Post by parsimo2010 »

The claim that their bus is 1.6x smoother than a train is impossible, and indicative of marketing taking priority over honest metrics.

How is 1.6x smoother impossible? Imagine a maglev train has bumps with a peak amplitude of 2 cm. Then 1.6x of that is 3.2 cm. So to be 1.6x smoother they would need their cabin to reduce bumps to -1.2 cm, which is impossible.

The truth is often the inverse of this, such as, “maglev trains are 1.6x bumpier than our bus.” That means that your bus is 62.5% as bumpy as a maglev train, but this doesn’t sound as good to the marketing folks. For any positive metric it is impossible to be more than 100% less than something. Cabin either have people with poor numeracy skills, or they willfully used inaccurate wording to make their bus sound better. It makes me trust the rest of their marketing spiel 1.6x less.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#85

Post by dehrmann »

tathougies wrote: post #6

Wow, it's almost like there's demand for a high-speed, non-driving land route between LA and SF. If only we had a fixed route land vehicle that could provide a smooth, direct route that had enough space for people to do things like sleep, rest, and use the bathroom. Maybe I'll call this idea 'a high-speed train' and propose that California build one between LA and SF... oh wait.

I heard a really good argument against high-speed rail in California. We only have so much money to spend on transit. Transit problems tend to be bigger within cities than between them--5 is under-utilized, 880 is over-utilized--so it makes sense to concentrate efforts where we'll get the most return. Projects like a second BART tunnel and Caltrain electrification have a bigger impact on people's lives than a train they occasionally take.

Cabin is an even worse example of HSR demand because it travels when roads are underutilized.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#86

Post by Svip »

parsimo2010 wrote: post #84

The claim that their bus is 1.6x smoother than a train is impossible, and indicative of marketing taking priority over honest metrics. How is 1.6x smoother impossible? Imagine a maglev train has bumps with a peak amplitude of 2 cm. Then 1.6x of that is 3.2 cm. So to be 1.6x smoother they would need their cabin to reduce bumps to -1.2 cm, which is impossible. The truth is often the inverse of this, such as, “maglev tr…

I am more impressed to hear that California apparently have incredibly smooth roads. I mean otherwise, they'd need some suspension that would relinquish all control of the bus itself. Or are they only referring to the seating? I mean they can have independent suspension, that might achieve that.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#87

Post by awiesenhofer »

tathougies wrote: post #6

Wow, it's almost like there's demand for a high-speed, non-driving land route between LA and SF. If only we had a fixed route land vehicle that could provide a smooth, direct route that had enough space for people to do things like sleep, rest, and use the bathroom. Maybe I'll call this idea 'a high-speed train' and propose that California build one between LA and SF... oh wait.

No need for high speed even, just offer daily night trains on the existing route

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#89

Post by 01100011 »

jonknee wrote: post #27

> During our one-year pilot, road turbulence was a frequent guest complaint. Cabin G2 introduces our proprietary bump-canceling technology, Cabin Cloud. Beneath select cabins, a suite of sensors, electric motors and control algorithms instantly respond to road imperfections by moving a guest’s bed up or down to control the vibration. The technology transforms a bump that would take a passenger out of the deepest slee…

It varies. The trucks tear up the slow lane pretty quickly but they're doing some repaving lately. In between LA and the grapevine, if my memory serves, it's pretty shitty, but they're doing a lot of construction through Santa Clarita/Valencia so maybe I'm just remembering that.

Re: Cabin releases 2nd-gen fleet of sleeper bus from SF to LA and back

#90

Post by modi15 »

Sleeper buses are huge in India. The railways are choked because they are run by the government. For overnight travels outside your city, sleeper buses are the most convenient options for the vast majority of the people - cheaper than flight, and more accesible/cleaner than the train.

There are multiple private operators which provide this service. Personally, I dont have too hard a time sleeping in one. It also offers more privacy than a typical sitting bus or if you are a couple you can book two beds.

There have been a couple of accidents though and people have died. Not too sure if the accident rate is more than normal sitting buses - sleeper buses arent perceived more 'risky' in India as compared to the siting ones.

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