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It's not that simple. Cars are better than mass transit in a low population density place. In a high population density place like Manhattan you wouldn't be ab
by istorical 9y ago
It's not that simple.
Cars are better than mass transit in a low population density place. In a high population density place like Manhattan you wouldn't be able to get enough cars to fit on the streets if everyone was in a car. If you used buses you might make it work but not cars.
So you're right about Denver but you made too much of a blanket statement.
- joshuaheard 9y agoAgreed, but Denver is not as dense as Manhattan. You also have to take into account that autonomous electric cars will be much smaller than regular cars (see the Google Gumdrop autonomous car), and traffic can flow at a much higher rate, since they don't need a following distance for human reaction times.
- vorotato 9y agothat's not necessarily true, people will still like their large cars. Gas cars aren't big because they run on gas, because motorcycles run on gas and are very small. Also the cars would have to be smaller than motorcycles for them to reach the density of a bus at which point they will cease to be comfortable.
- denverresident 9y agoPeople get large cars so they can drive around in large cars and use 1/5th the available space every other month. I don't think it's related to technology at all.
- bkeroack 9y agoOP means "better" in the subjective sense. They're more comfortable, more convenient and faster. It takes a very large degree of external difficulty (traffic, parking) to tip the scales enough in favor of mass transit to make the latter desirable for most people who can afford a private vehicle. The reason the majority of people in cities favor investing in mass transit is in the hope that other people use it so they can continue to drive and enjoy less traffic and more parking.
- WalterBright 9y agoWhen I'm in Berlin or London, I much prefer the mass transit to dealing with a car. It's faster, more convenient, and I don't have to deal with parking or the stress of traffic.
- majormajor 9y agoNow imagine when autonomous cars take away the parking and traffic stress. In ten years I don't expect there to be many place I'm going to bother taking a train in. Tokyo's are good enough, but that's a high bar. Uber already spoils me too much to want to take the subway on Manhattan (crossing the river is a different story).
- chadgeidel 9y agoI don't think we should assume autonomous cars will reduce traffic stress. http://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-traffic-congestion-2017-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-traffic-con...
- ravitation 9y agoI used to live in NYC, and I miss enormously (among other things) the connivence of the NYC subway. I've taken many times more Lyfts in the past few months than I did in years in NYC (including taxis).
- wils1245 9y agoWhat difference does it make that traffic and parking are “external?” They are still always factors in many places. A data point countering your assumptions - I sold my car because I don’t like driving. I want transit to be good so I can use it.
- bkeroack 9y agoSome people don't like hamburgers. That isn't a data point against McDonald's being successful.