4 ms·

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where peo

I think America should look into the point to point system that Istanbul developed (and likely other places) called the dolmuş. These are 10 seat cars where people split the price to move along one line. (People will usually go end to end, but can get out along the ride as desired.) The route never deviates as to provide predictability. That said, most people take cabs because they don't want to be around other people -- else, they would take the subway, no?

Moral_ 10y ago
They're called buses
- ebiester 10y ago
  It's the Dollar Van concept as below. The difference between it and a bus is that the dollar van doesn't pick people up in between, speeding up transactions and ensuring limited stops. The speed of pickup/dropoff is a large issue.
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    So it's an express bus?
    - ebiester 10y ago
      Except it's on-demand as the bus fills up rather than on set schedules. It's conceptually a different model. a 10 person van stays at point A, leaves when full, and drops people off along the line on demand rather than having set stops, and doesn't pick people up.
geofft 10y ago
Apart from the subway and bus systems in New York, we have the 10-seat-car-on-a-fixed-route system too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_vans_in_the_New_York_metropolitan_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_vans_in_the_New_York_me... Most of the time in NYC when I take a cab, it's because there isn't sufficient subway or bus coverage for the route I want: either I'm going to/from somewhere deep into Brooklyn or Queens where it's a 10+ minute walk to the nearest subway (and I'll need at least one transfer once I'm on the subway system), or I'm trying to take some particular trip across Manhattan that requires multiple transfers and is much faster by cab. As you'd expect, the trips that aren't well-served by subway are rare, but they do exist.
- dmix 10y ago
  > The New York City-area dollar van system is highly used, and in 2011, it was rated the 20th most used "bus system" in the United States. The dollar van and jitney system has been praised as "quietly disruptive" as compared to other ride-share services, such as Uber. This has allowed the vans to operate without being restricted by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). That's very interesting, it fills a void during public worker strikes spontaneously and ends up being a widely popular service. Thanks for the link.
lloyd-christmas 10y ago
My anecdata from 30 years in the city is that commuters only take cabs if work pays for it, or they have phone calls to make. I don't know anyone who takes one daily, except in the case of a recent job change and they haven't had a chance to move apartments to a more convenient commute.
nerfhammer 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van
acjohnson55 10y ago
This is a very common thing around the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi. And known in some places in the US, even!

Moral_ 10y ago

They're called buses

ebiester 10y ago
It's the Dollar Van concept as below. The difference between it and a bus is that the dollar van doesn't pick people up in between, speeding up transactions and ensuring limited stops. The speed of pickup/dropoff is a large issue.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  So it's an express bus?
  - ebiester 10y ago
    Except it's on-demand as the bus fills up rather than on set schedules. It's conceptually a different model. a 10 person van stays at point A, leaves when full, and drops people off along the line on demand rather than having set stops, and doesn't pick people up.

geofft 10y ago

Apart from the subway and bus systems in New York, we have the 10-seat-car-on-a-fixed-route system too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_vans_in_the_New_York_metropolitan_area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_vans_in_the_New_York_me... Most of the time in NYC when I take a cab, it's because there isn't sufficient subway or bus coverage for the route I want: either I'm going to/from somewhere deep into Brooklyn or Queens where it's a 10+ minute walk to the nearest subway (and I'll need at least one transfer once I'm on the subway system), or I'm trying to take some particular trip across Manhattan that requires multiple transfers and is much faster by cab. As you'd expect, the trips that aren't well-served by subway are rare, but they do exist.

dmix 10y ago
> The New York City-area dollar van system is highly used, and in 2011, it was rated the 20th most used "bus system" in the United States. The dollar van and jitney system has been praised as "quietly disruptive" as compared to other ride-share services, such as Uber. This has allowed the vans to operate without being restricted by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). That's very interesting, it fills a void during public worker strikes spontaneously and ends up being a widely popular service. Thanks for the link.

lloyd-christmas 10y ago

My anecdata from 30 years in the city is that commuters only take cabs if work pays for it, or they have phone calls to make. I don't know anyone who takes one daily, except in the case of a recent job change and they haven't had a chance to move apartments to a more convenient commute.

nerfhammer 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_van

acjohnson55 10y ago

This is a very common thing around the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi. And known in some places in the US, even!