5 ms·

Ride-Hailing Apps Are Clogging New York's Streets

16 points by dsr12 9y ago

thisisit 9y ago
The attached video: https://vimeo.com/247866390 https://vimeo.com/247866390 has an idea to solve the issue - Add to surcharge fees from these ride hailing apps and spend the money in to mass transit. It might not be that bad except government budgets tend to divert money to other purposes and the mass transit might remain the same. I do wish companies pushed towards more pooling services like UberPool etc.
- iamdave 9y ago
  I do wish companies pushed towards more pooling services like UberPool etc. I can't recall their name off the top of my head, but there's a company piloting this here in Austin Texas; they exclusively do poolsharing and have a fleet of vans that you'll see following close to some of the same routes as CapMetro does in the city core (if anyone else lives here and can think of the name please share it, they drive the blue and grey vans). It's something I only even learned about because my company signed on with them as a service to the workforce a few months ago; people who live south, but work in the North Austin office can park their cars in our garage downtown, and use the shuttle to get north. People who live north, but work in the downtown office park at the North office, and shuttle downtown. Or if you have a meeting at North office but work downtown, shuttles leave every two hours. As someone who has a car, but takes the bus (because for me there would be no transfers and the total ride lasts about 15 minutes) to work, it's been such a game changer.
Tiktaalik 9y ago
"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." This is something both anti-regulation political ideologues and entrepreneurs a little too enthused about disruption seem to forget. The impacts of increased traffic congestion is one of the many reasons that taxis became regulated in the first place. British Columbia is one of the last holdouts where ride sharing services are still not allowed, and I'm convinced that among other reasons, the fact that the city of Vancouver is so committed to public transit and active transportation is a contributing factor to this.
- tomjen3 9y ago
  Oh we know why the fence was put up: to give more money to scum who are not willing to freely compete. So it is with all regulations that limits who can get in to a given business. edit: also this article skirts around the real problem: shitty public transportation. Make that better and see if it doesn't bring people back.
so33 9y ago
>That adds up to more than 600 million miles of motor-vehicle traffic in the past 3 years alone—reflecting not only the staggering growth in rides, but also a trend toward lengthier trips and more “deadheading,” or cars traveling without passengers. My 2 cents: If and when self-driving cars take off, and if this on-demand ride-hailing model persists, I predict that the streets will be clogged with empty self-driving Ubers and Lyfts, skirting parking fees and constantly circling around for fares.
closeparen 9y ago
Is there any evidence to support the oft-repeated claim that destroying alternatives to public transit yields better transit? Is it credible that New York suffers from a lack of public pressure to maintain/improve its public transit? My understanding is that the MTA is not managing to convert any amount of money or popular support into service improvements, and that over reliance on transit limits its ability to take things down for maintenance when needed.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

16 points by dsr12 9y ago

The attached video: https://vimeo.com/247866390 https://vimeo.com/247866390 has an idea to solve the issue - Add to surcharge fees from these ride hailing apps and spend the money in to mass transit. It might not be that bad except government budgets tend to divert money to other purposes and the mass transit might remain the same. I do wish companies pushed towards more pooling services like UberPool etc.

iamdave 9y ago
I do wish companies pushed towards more pooling services like UberPool etc. I can't recall their name off the top of my head, but there's a company piloting this here in Austin Texas; they exclusively do poolsharing and have a fleet of vans that you'll see following close to some of the same routes as CapMetro does in the city core (if anyone else lives here and can think of the name please share it, they drive the blue and grey vans). It's something I only even learned about because my company signed on with them as a service to the workforce a few months ago; people who live south, but work in the North Austin office can park their cars in our garage downtown, and use the shuttle to get north. People who live north, but work in the downtown office park at the North office, and shuttle downtown. Or if you have a meeting at North office but work downtown, shuttles leave every two hours. As someone who has a car, but takes the bus (because for me there would be no transfers and the total ride lasts about 15 minutes) to work, it's been such a game changer.

Tiktaalik 9y ago

"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." This is something both anti-regulation political ideologues and entrepreneurs a little too enthused about disruption seem to forget. The impacts of increased traffic congestion is one of the many reasons that taxis became regulated in the first place. British Columbia is one of the last holdouts where ride sharing services are still not allowed, and I'm convinced that among other reasons, the fact that the city of Vancouver is so committed to public transit and active transportation is a contributing factor to this.

tomjen3 9y ago
Oh we know why the fence was put up: to give more money to scum who are not willing to freely compete. So it is with all regulations that limits who can get in to a given business. edit: also this article skirts around the real problem: shitty public transportation. Make that better and see if it doesn't bring people back.

so33 9y ago

>That adds up to more than 600 million miles of motor-vehicle traffic in the past 3 years alone—reflecting not only the staggering growth in rides, but also a trend toward lengthier trips and more “deadheading,” or cars traveling without passengers. My 2 cents: If and when self-driving cars take off, and if this on-demand ride-hailing model persists, I predict that the streets will be clogged with empty self-driving Ubers and Lyfts, skirting parking fees and constantly circling around for fares.

closeparen 9y ago

Is there any evidence to support the oft-repeated claim that destroying alternatives to public transit yields better transit? Is it credible that New York suffers from a lack of public pressure to maintain/improve its public transit? My understanding is that the MTA is not managing to convert any amount of money or popular support into service improvements, and that over reliance on transit limits its ability to take things down for maintenance when needed.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]