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I agree. It's also a risk for people living on very limited budgets; what do they do if Uber raises prices? How do they get to work? The grocery? The doctor? P

I agree. It's also a risk for people living on very limited budgets; what do they do if Uber raises prices? How do they get to work? The grocery? The doctor? Private enterprise relies on business failure and distribution of resources to those who can pay the most for them. Some things can't fail (police, fire, transportation, water, medical, etc.) and are needed by everyone regardless of income. > What if their motive is to bankrupt public transport agencies and then raise prices when people have no alternative? Uber prides itself, IME, on very aggressive business tactics, concerned only for profit and not, for example, its own workers, local laws, etc. I would be surprised if they did otherwise than what you say.

mhink 10y ago
It sounds like the city described in the article (and others mentioned) is subsidizing Uber fares for people in the city. So, if Uber displaces public transport agencies, I suspect it'll end up being the city which gets stuck with the bill. That said, I don't think the situation is as dire as you're describing. Getting around in smaller American cities is _already_ difficult for many people- as you mentioned, those living on very limited budgets, but also the elderly and other people that can't drive themselves around and must rely on family and friends. So, in the end, I think it's less a matter of "replacing public transportation", and more a matter of "creating a realistic model for publicly-funded transportation in suburban and semi-rural America". This is not to say that I'm super chuffed with Uber being the one to do it. But I can see a future where municipal governments become comfortable with the idea, which would open the door to competition, just as we've seen in major cities where there are plenty of alternatives to Uber.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  It's cable cars being torn out for cars all over again.
  - ghaff 10y ago
    No. It's cable cars that don't exist being torn out for cars all over again. Suburban/exurban mass transit is pretty much non-existent other than commuter rail (in many areas). My adjacent city just spent something like 2 years and who knows how much money putting in a new parking garage for one of the MBTA stations that have been notorious for insufficient parking for pretty much forever. With no parking at all during the construction. Assuming the numbers and logistics worked out, something like this would have been very interesting.
    - toomuchtodo 10y ago
      To have your mass transit beholden to corporate interests is the problem. I'd be much less concerned if governing bodies created a non-profit that built and ran the technical infrastructure for ridesharing.

mhink 10y ago

It sounds like the city described in the article (and others mentioned) is subsidizing Uber fares for people in the city. So, if Uber displaces public transport agencies, I suspect it'll end up being the city which gets stuck with the bill. That said, I don't think the situation is as dire as you're describing. Getting around in smaller American cities is _already_ difficult for many people- as you mentioned, those living on very limited budgets, but also the elderly and other people that can't drive themselves around and must rely on family and friends. So, in the end, I think it's less a matter of "replacing public transportation", and more a matter of "creating a realistic model for publicly-funded transportation in suburban and semi-rural America". This is not to say that I'm super chuffed with Uber being the one to do it. But I can see a future where municipal governments become comfortable with the idea, which would open the door to competition, just as we've seen in major cities where there are plenty of alternatives to Uber.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
It's cable cars being torn out for cars all over again.
- ghaff 10y ago
  No. It's cable cars that don't exist being torn out for cars all over again. Suburban/exurban mass transit is pretty much non-existent other than commuter rail (in many areas). My adjacent city just spent something like 2 years and who knows how much money putting in a new parking garage for one of the MBTA stations that have been notorious for insufficient parking for pretty much forever. With no parking at all during the construction. Assuming the numbers and logistics worked out, something like this would have been very interesting.
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    To have your mass transit beholden to corporate interests is the problem. I'd be much less concerned if governing bodies created a non-profit that built and ran the technical infrastructure for ridesharing.