13 ms·

The city is about 6 square miles in area and the general layout appears to be a central hub with major routes as spokes around it to each edge. Anyone living b

The city is about 6 square miles in area and the general layout appears to be a central hub with major routes as spokes around it to each edge. Anyone living between the spokes can probably get to a spoke by walking 0.75 miles or less. Just two or three continually circling vans/buses could go from the city center, down a spoke, then back via another spoke. Probably could return every 20 minutes, give or take. Can it be done for less than the $167,000 per year this Uber plan will cost the city?

linkregister 10y ago
The way you put it, I would say no. 3 vans, operating 16 hours per day, would require a minimum of 7 drivers (to perform two 8-hour shifts per day, with a driver to stand-in for call-outs and vacations). Let's assume we can pay the drivers $10/hr (which is on the low end). At 2080 hours per year per driver, that gives us an annual cost of $145600. And we haven't even paid Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, or worker's comp and unemployment insurance yet! The Uber deal sounds more cost-effective than the van plan.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  So then how does the math work out? Most people would not Uber for only $10 an hour, knowing that their car needs gas and depreciates. Short term Uber can subsidize the drivers, but long term? I guess a lot of uber drivers come during the busy morning rush, but 0 come at say 1pm or 8pm when it is very slow. How would uber get people to drive on the slow times??
  - zild3d 10y ago
    The difference is we paid our van drivers for an 8 hour shift. Uber isn't, they are only paying when there is a demand
  - the_watcher 10y ago
    > How would uber get people to drive on the slow times?? They won't. You just described the benefits of Uber's system. Their driver pool scales with demand and allows for part time work.
    - brianwawok 10y ago
      I just don't see it scaling that smoothly. Many many requests, many drivers. Cool. But 10, 5, 3 requests per hour? 0 drivers. So I don't think you can compare a service that doesn't really work at quiet times, with a 16 hour continuous shuttle...
boto3 10y ago
Yeah, assume the city is 2 by 3 miles and the station is right at center, then one'd only need to walk at most ~1.7 miles to the train station. That's like half an hour walk before and after work. Do your cardio a favor and start walking and leave the parking space for less fortunate people who are not able to walk.
- zild3d 10y ago
  Winter exists in NJ
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    Winter exists in Chicago. Never stopped me from walking a few miles. A normal healthy person should be able to walk 2-3 miles down to -10 degrees or so, which would cover 99.99% of the year. Yes babies and the old and the sick need something else, but the bulk of people commuting on these trains are 30-60 year old healthy (if not a bit overweight) individuals.
    - ascagnel_ 10y ago
      Summit is suburbia. You don't have sidewalks across the entire city, it's very hilly in places, and the train station is not centrally located. Walking and biking year round is out of the question, and that's not even accounting for people not promptly clearing snowy sidewalks before commuting hours start (usually 6am).
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Sad thing, to most 'muricans, even a 2 block walk is too far. I would gladly walk 2 miles to/from work before I consider something else. In the 2-20 mile range I would glady bike yearround, as long as they keep the snow under control on the bike paths (which for example Chicago does a pretty awesome job at). How do we change the culture of sit butt in car and push gas pedal? Killing the environment, and it is literally killing us with obesity and inactivity.
  - 10y ago
zild3d 10y ago
I like the approach, but north jersey gets considerable snow in the winter. No one is walking that in heavy snow to stand outside waiting for a shuttle
ghaff 10y ago
At that point, you're basically adding public transit. And a lot of folks won't want to take "the bus" and potentially walk half a mile or more in all kinds of weather.

linkregister 10y ago

The way you put it, I would say no. 3 vans, operating 16 hours per day, would require a minimum of 7 drivers (to perform two 8-hour shifts per day, with a driver to stand-in for call-outs and vacations). Let's assume we can pay the drivers $10/hr (which is on the low end). At 2080 hours per year per driver, that gives us an annual cost of $145600. And we haven't even paid Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, or worker's comp and unemployment insurance yet! The Uber deal sounds more cost-effective than the van plan.

brianwawok 10y ago
So then how does the math work out? Most people would not Uber for only $10 an hour, knowing that their car needs gas and depreciates. Short term Uber can subsidize the drivers, but long term? I guess a lot of uber drivers come during the busy morning rush, but 0 come at say 1pm or 8pm when it is very slow. How would uber get people to drive on the slow times??
- zild3d 10y ago
  The difference is we paid our van drivers for an 8 hour shift. Uber isn't, they are only paying when there is a demand
- the_watcher 10y ago
  > How would uber get people to drive on the slow times?? They won't. You just described the benefits of Uber's system. Their driver pool scales with demand and allows for part time work.
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    I just don't see it scaling that smoothly. Many many requests, many drivers. Cool. But 10, 5, 3 requests per hour? 0 drivers. So I don't think you can compare a service that doesn't really work at quiet times, with a 16 hour continuous shuttle...

boto3 10y ago

Yeah, assume the city is 2 by 3 miles and the station is right at center, then one'd only need to walk at most ~1.7 miles to the train station. That's like half an hour walk before and after work. Do your cardio a favor and start walking and leave the parking space for less fortunate people who are not able to walk.

zild3d 10y ago
Winter exists in NJ
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Winter exists in Chicago. Never stopped me from walking a few miles. A normal healthy person should be able to walk 2-3 miles down to -10 degrees or so, which would cover 99.99% of the year. Yes babies and the old and the sick need something else, but the bulk of people commuting on these trains are 30-60 year old healthy (if not a bit overweight) individuals.
  - ascagnel_ 10y ago
    Summit is suburbia. You don't have sidewalks across the entire city, it's very hilly in places, and the train station is not centrally located. Walking and biking year round is out of the question, and that's not even accounting for people not promptly clearing snowy sidewalks before commuting hours start (usually 6am).
brianwawok 10y ago
Sad thing, to most 'muricans, even a 2 block walk is too far. I would gladly walk 2 miles to/from work before I consider something else. In the 2-20 mile range I would glady bike yearround, as long as they keep the snow under control on the bike paths (which for example Chicago does a pretty awesome job at). How do we change the culture of sit butt in car and push gas pedal? Killing the environment, and it is literally killing us with obesity and inactivity.
- 10y ago

zild3d 10y ago

I like the approach, but north jersey gets considerable snow in the winter. No one is walking that in heavy snow to stand outside waiting for a shuttle

ghaff 10y ago

At that point, you're basically adding public transit. And a lot of folks won't want to take "the bus" and potentially walk half a mile or more in all kinds of weather.