Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

grist.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–98 of 98 posts

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

#91

Post by rahulnair23 »

mikeash wrote: post #23
ekianjo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's kind of similar services in Japan to get to the airport, using a shared-taxi kind of system with online reservation. It's way better than the bus to reach the terminal (they pick you at home) costs only a bit more and is significantly cheaper than a taxi ride (5 times less).

They're pretty common in the US too. SuperShuttle seems to be the big name in this area. They cover a ton of different airports and go to your house. The price differential is similar, at $27-28 for a round trip from my house versus $50ish each way for a taxi. Or $4 for a metro ride, but that currently only serves one of the two airports.

SuperShuttle is an interesting service. I used it a fair bit in the DC metro area, since Dulles Airport is not very accessible by public transport.

My main observation was that your circuity factor (the time deviation from direct travel time) was always larger the earlier you booked. So if you booked your trip online a week in advance, it appears they would assign your request to a van, and then as other new 'relevant' requests came in, they would get added on.

Essentially, your trip became the 'anchor' that drove the overall schedule. So depending on your trip characteristics, the best strategy appears to book on the day!

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

#92

Post by tuukkah »

tricolon wrote: post #89
soperj wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki has a subway though. This is on top of that.

Helsinki has a tram system ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_tram ) and bus system. The metro is mostly for getting to/from East Helsinki ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_metro ).

The single metro/subway line is nothing compared to bigger cities, but don't forget the three urban railways and the hugely popular bus rapid transit (line 550)! These form the basis for a network of high-service trunk lines in this wide urban area of only 1.4 million inhabitants.

Here's a nice schematic of what the system will look like in 2016 when the subway extension west of Ruoholahti is complete, the lines 560 and 500 have started, and the M and I trains have expanded to become the airport trains V and P: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29682104@N04/9711135644/

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

#93

Post by zurn »

osmala wrote: post #64

This is public service that is subsidized by goverment and its not profitable and its goal is to help elderly get around in the city. It has some additional stops beyond normal bus stops, and it has far more limited service area than normal busses in the Capital. For instance the air port is outside the service area. Its also a nice complementary service for public transport on uncommon trips that would take too much…

This is targeted at everybody and there are no fixed routes.

You may be remembering the older service route thing (called Jouko): "Service routes are designed to serve, in particular, elderly and mobility impaired people"

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

#94

Post by bane »

rahulnair23 wrote: post #91
mikeash wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're pretty common in the US too. SuperShuttle seems to be the big name in this area. They cover a ton of different airports and go to your house. The price differential is similar, at $27-28 for a round trip from my house versus $50ish each way for a taxi. Or $4 for a metro ride, but that currently only serves one of the two airports.

SuperShuttle is an interesting service. I used it a fair bit in the DC metro area, since Dulles Airport is not very accessible by public transport. My main observation was that your circuity factor (the time deviation from direct travel time) was always larger the earlier you booked. So if you booked your trip online a week in advance, it appears they would assign your request to a van, and then as other new 'relevan…

Something to also think about. Some hotels near airports run a service where, for a small fee, you can park in their lot (even long term for a few days) and use their free shuttle service to the airport. In my experience this can be incredibly cheap vs. any other alternative.

They get a little fee, plus the appearance of a fuller looking lot (they look like a more popular hotel), you get dirt cheap parking and a shuttle back and forth to your car.

You have to call around a bit to see if a hotel offers it or not, but once you find one that does, it can be a great deal.

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

#95

Post by cwp »

untog wrote: post #11

Now this is interesting, when compared to Uber and the like. I imagine it requires a large ridership to be worthwhile (otherwise you're basically dispatching large cabs, but charging less), but it's a fascinating concept for large cities. I imagine there are downsides though - if you're using it to get to work then surely your journey time is variable?

Probably no more than a conventional bus. I've done a lot of commuting by bus, and found it to be pretty variable.

With an app tracking the location of the bus, you'd at least get advance warning if the bus is off schedule, and maybe even estimated pick-up and arrival times.

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

#96

Post by arnarbi »

cwp wrote: post #95
untog wrote: post #11

Now this is interesting, when compared to Uber and the like. I imagine it requires a large ridership to be worthwhile (otherwise you're basically dispatching large cabs, but charging less), but it's a fascinating concept for large cities. I imagine there are downsides though - if you're using it to get to work then surely your journey time is variable?

Probably no more than a conventional bus. I've done a lot of commuting by bus, and found it to be pretty variable. With an app tracking the location of the bus, you'd at least get advance warning if the bus is off schedule, and maybe even estimated pick-up and arrival times.

I commuted by public bus for 5 years in Sweden, and it was very consistent in commute time (less than 5% late 95% of the time). Cities that take public transport seriously generally make accommodations in traffic infrastructure, such as separate bus lanes and signals.

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

#97

Post by cwp »

arnarbi wrote: post #96
cwp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably no more than a conventional bus. I've done a lot of commuting by bus, and found it to be pretty variable. With an app tracking the location of the bus, you'd at least get advance warning if the bus is off schedule, and maybe even estimated pick-up and arrival times.

I commuted by public bus for 5 years in Sweden, and it was very consistent in commute time (less than 5% late 95% of the time). Cities that take public transport seriously generally make accommodations in traffic infrastructure, such as separate bus lanes and signals.

Sure. In those cities, uber-buses ought to be pretty consistent too, right?

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

#98

Post by jrochkind1 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #56
jrochkind1 wrote: post #33

This was actually proposed by by Christopher Alexander in _A Pattern Language_ originally published in 1977. He cites an MIT study from which he may have gotten the idea. http://books.google.com/books?id=hwAHmktpk5IC&&pg=PA110 I'm actually surprised it hasn't been done before now, we've had the technology for a while. (It's not clear from the brief write-up if this one is a private company or municipal service). The…

Do you happen to remember the number of this pattern in the book? I read A Pattern Language by flipping to random pages, and following various trails of references, but I don't think I've come across this one yet...

The books.google URL I link to above is a google books scan of the page from A Pattern Language, you can read it right there!

Or if for some reason you are in a location gbs won't deliver to or otherwise it's unavailable to you, yeah, #20.

Post reply on HN