> Ask yourself. If you own a car today, would getting a 50% discount on taxi rides completely change your behavior. Maybe it would for some at the margins but o

> Ask yourself. If you own a car today, would getting a 50% discount on taxi rides completely change your behavior. Maybe it would for some at the margins but only at the margins. Look longer term. Parking spaces in cities cost ~30k. (And in some cities, a lot more than that). Included with a house, they are still part of the price (no free lunch). Over a 30 year mortgage, that is 1k a year. In California, car insurance is almost 2k a year. (Oddly enough, 1.1k in New York State!) So 3k a year just to have the privilege of driving a car. Apparently an average new car now days cost 31k. (Which seems insane to me, but that is what people are buying). Being generous and rounding down a bit, that is another 5k a year. So now 8k a year, before gas, before maintenance, before any warranty problems, before screws in tires, etc. If mass transit can replace commuting to work, then weekend outings with automated taxis become very doable. If you give $5 per ride (on par with UberPool, though I realize that isn't profitable), it is 1600 rides a year to break even with owning a car. (Though ownership goes down after the car is paid off, 600 rides a year to break even!)