3 ms·
The more I think about our future with self driving cars/busses; I wonder at what point will subways no longer be needed? If you look at the capital cost of a n
by ChrisBland 9y ago
The more I think about our future with self driving cars/busses; I wonder at what point will subways no longer be needed? If you look at the capital cost of a new bus compared to the cost for the operator(s) who work it, we could greatly increase our fleet of bus services simply by removing the driver. If that and the cost per mile falls under $1/mile for uber and the like, I don't think we have a massive need for subways anymore.
- francisofascii 9y agoYou could be right. The key for making this work is creating more dedicated bus lanes which can then act like a small above ground train.
- ChrisBland 9y agoThat is exactly what I believe will happen.
- crisdux 9y agoI tend of think along those lines as well for most sprawled cities. But I don't think that will be true of dense cities like nyc that need mass rapid transit. Even with increased capacity that AV's will allow, roads don't have the capacity to move the millions of passengers during rush hour.
- crocal 9y agoSubways will remain in dense city centers because they offer capacity that cannot be matched with buses. Driver or no driver is irrelevant. Your argument probably will hold true for regional trains and high speed trains, though. The travel time will be quite similar if you factor in the time to and from the railway stations.
- bluGill 9y agosubways are useful even with self driving cars just because they are another level. A self driving helicopter could replace a subway, but ground level cars eventually get into congestion. Of course we can build bridges, but a subway is just a train underground so that doesn't apply.