Uber's new shuttle service sounds a lot like a bus route
Uber's new shuttle service sounds a lot like a bus route
Those Silicon Valley geniuses have done it again!
Next week- "it's like the subway, but with AI!"
Just waiting for them to reinvent light rail
They invented FSD in the sixties and it makes a handy little loop through downtown Detroit.
And now we're inventing the shittiest "rail line" between Ann Arbor and Detroit on 94. All the hassle and expense of rail travel, with none of the efficiency!
Never heard of Hyperloop eh?
They'll market it as moving at light speed too.
****heads.
NOW INTRODUCING: Public transports! But private! And dIsRuPTiVe!
When public transportation was first introduced in most places, it was run by private companies for profit. This changed mostly because it wasn't profitable to compete with cars when those became popular.
Of course there still are private companies running public transport: long distance buses and trains in many places, and commercial aviation is really also a form of public transportation.
So there is nothing novel about buses being run by private companies for profit.
Wait they didn't have them in the US? We've had uber shuttles for years in India
If you click the article link, then use a process called "reading", you would see:
The company has already launched similar services abroad in Egypt, Nigeria, and India. Now it’s bringing the concept to the United States.
Edit: I misunderstood and assumed he hadn't read the article, which is entirely too common these days.
God forbid I react to the article after reading it
This person was just expressing their surprise. Why are you so pissy lmao
Yeah, they knew this by reading the article, it seemed like. They were relating it to their experience, mentioned in the article, about it existing there. They were just surprised to find out they had it before the US. This doesn’t really denote them not having read the article.
Good? We need more bus routes
We need more public transportation, not privatized bus routes
Yea I see this as a net positive. They mention concert venues. This is the perfect use case, I remember so many times struggling to get a bus after a big show because they're packed. This could relieve that. It could increase frequency of pickups on existing routes, it'll cut down on single passenger Ubers.
It's not a brilliant new idea, it's a good old one. Jitneys are back baby!
I think the point is, unlike buses with fixed routes, such shuttles could deliver people to places that face temporary massive traffic - like concert venues or whatnot.
There is no need to constantly run huge amounts of buses there, but at some point of time there's a lot of people willing to go - and such shuttles, flexible in their routes, may be the solution.
Because nobody in any public transit board has ever implemented such a thing?
In North Carolina, park and ride busses for the state fair have long been a thing, among a litany of several other examples.
Just because it's not a completely new concept doesn't mean it's stupid.
It can bring value even if it's a small iterative innovation over existing buses.
I spent way too long ignoring the park and rides at major events. Then I started paying attention and they always had them and it was always so much nicer. No more excessively long walking, no more mpossible traffic getting in and out.
As long as the event clearly highlights park and ride options, it's fantastic and has been going on forever. These events pay the bus charter companies to generally provide rides free of charge to the riders.
Sure, I'm all for a public alternative!
I just like the general idea.
There's a bus stop at our local sports arena, and they do a dynamic scheduling thing for events, so no it's exactly like our bus system
Cool then!
Do people consider shuttles and buses the same thing? Because this sounds like a shuttle, which as far as I'm aware is completely different from a bus. I take a shuttle to the airport, which requires a reservation and ~$50 whereas I take a bus to get around town and it's typically free.
Essentially it sounds like they are trying to dip into the shuttle market, not the inner-city bus market. Though maybe both?
This is what happens when you believe the private sector is the answer to everything. We reinvent the wheel one hundred times, and each time its more square than before.
Yet somehow more expensive.
Which makes it better than a bus because then I don't have to sit next to poor people /s
I’m just waiting for the Squagle.
They didn't reinvent anything, private small scale shuttle buses have existed since forever. If you don't have them in your city it doesn't mean that's a brand new thing.
whooosh