4 ms·

Because public transit is terrible. I don't know--have you ridden busses in LA? You have to walk to the bus stop, wait, ride the smelly bus, possibly transfer,

Because public transit is terrible. I don't know--have you ridden busses in LA? You have to walk to the bus stop, wait, ride the smelly bus, possibly transfer, walk to your final destination, carry your heavy bags. It's terrible, no one who can afford a car will use it. If you want to improve public transit you have to solve the last-mile problem, which is expensive. You can't afford a bus every 5 minutes for 1 person to ride. Alternately you can take an Uber, which is very similar to driving your own car. People who are putting down this project because it's not public transit should consider that public transit has been around for decades. It works in some cities (NYC, Tokyo, etc.) but not in others (LA, Bay Area). We need a new solution, and having it car based for last-mile makes a lot of sense. Edit: Example, a 20 minute car ride takes ~50 minutes with a transfer using public transit in LA: http://goo.gl/1s6cxL http://goo.gl/1s6cxL

burkaman 9y ago
Are you sure the reason it works in Tokyo and not LA is because LA is unsuited for public transit? It could be that public transit was just executed very poorly in LA.
- bb88 9y ago
  It could be LA's fault, You're right. However it does show that putting in a public transportation system isn't like spreading magical fairy dust that solves the world's problems. It's like saying: "The world would be so much better if everyone could just learn to juggle 9 balls." Not only is the premise that juggling saves the world problematic, but there's a huge barrier of entry just to prove it could work.
  - so33 9y ago
    But it has already been proven to work, in Tokyo and Hong Kong and Shanghai and London and Paris and countless other cities, countless other times.
  - burkaman 9y ago
    My analogy would be: "America would be so much better if everyone voted." It's not wrong, it's incomplete, we really want everyone to fully understand the issues and then vote. Likewise, a public transit system alone won't make a city better, but a well-planned and executed one will. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if Elon successfully revolutionizes boring technology, it might be better to use it on a really good public transit system. And it's an especially important conversation if his fully realized tunnel network would make a later subway system more difficult/impossible even if people wanted one.
- marcell 9y ago
  LA is low density and poorly planned. It is what it is--you can't rebuild all of LA (or the Bay Area) 50 years after the fact.

burkaman 9y ago

Are you sure the reason it works in Tokyo and not LA is because LA is unsuited for public transit? It could be that public transit was just executed very poorly in LA.

bb88 9y ago
It could be LA's fault, You're right. However it does show that putting in a public transportation system isn't like spreading magical fairy dust that solves the world's problems. It's like saying: "The world would be so much better if everyone could just learn to juggle 9 balls." Not only is the premise that juggling saves the world problematic, but there's a huge barrier of entry just to prove it could work.
- so33 9y ago
  But it has already been proven to work, in Tokyo and Hong Kong and Shanghai and London and Paris and countless other cities, countless other times.
- burkaman 9y ago
  My analogy would be: "America would be so much better if everyone voted." It's not wrong, it's incomplete, we really want everyone to fully understand the issues and then vote. Likewise, a public transit system alone won't make a city better, but a well-planned and executed one will. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if Elon successfully revolutionizes boring technology, it might be better to use it on a really good public transit system. And it's an especially important conversation if his fully realized tunnel network would make a later subway system more difficult/impossible even if people wanted one.
marcell 9y ago
LA is low density and poorly planned. It is what it is--you can't rebuild all of LA (or the Bay Area) 50 years after the fact.