6 ms·

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We woul

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

kristopolous 9y ago
Maybe cities should start running a "luxury service" tier along the bus lines that charges 3x the fare, has cushioned seats, etc. Need a smart phone to request a stop. Make it once an hour or so and a sleek black and silver exclusive color. Don't even call it a bus, rebrand it as the stress-free shuttle and get a few celebrities to be "spotted" on them. You may laugh but this would probably be a hit.
- scarmig 9y ago
  I'd pay at least 2x the Muni fare if they would guarantee I wouldn't be mugged or spat on by a mentally disturbed homeless person.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - mulletbum 9y ago
    If the bus was just built with a compartment for just you instead of everyone clumped together, I would pay a lot more.
    - kristopolous 9y ago
      Are you talking about the small rooms inside of trains you see in Black and White movies?
      - ableal 9y ago
        Probably not, those compartments were generally shared by strangers, unless they were sleeper cabins. There were different price classes, though.
      - rdiddly 9y ago
        Sounds like they're talking about car ownership.
- mattdodge 9y ago
  You are literally describing Chariot. Everything except for the sleek black color. https://www.chariot.com/ https://www.chariot.com/
  - kristopolous 9y ago
    The acrobatics people go through in order to consider themselves rich and successful. There's a fashion term for this, essentially "low-end luxury" (that's not the term, I forget it). People that are not fabulously wealthy enough to say, hire a chauffeur, not even impressively wealthy enough to always rely on lyft or uber, are marginally wealthy enough to just not take the bus - so they stratify where and what they can as a metric of success. High end fashion stores sell pendants, socks, scarves, belt buckles, and other minor mementos of wealth at sub-$100 prices (such as a $50 pair of socks). These are some of the most popular items because millions of consumers, if they so desired, could afford to spend $50 on something. A single pair of socks with the most coveted luxury brand logo, for people who value such things, is a prized purchase. edit: designer socks are genuinely 50bp (~$70 us) a pair (http://www.versace.com/gb/en-gb/men/accessories/socks/versace-logo-socks-i410/ICZ0003-IK0104_I410.html?cgid=221700#start=1 http://www.versace.com/gb/en-gb/men/accessories/socks/versac...)
skybrian 9y ago
"Just" funding public transport wouldn't actually make commute times to tech company headquarters reasonable.
jobigoud 9y ago
A few month ago I would have read your comment and thought that bus can't really compete for the fine grained point to point transportation. Then I went to Sydney in December. The public transportation system there is super impressive. You have a location-based app where you can tell you want to go from point A to point B (from an address, a click on the map, your favorites), it will instantly provide you with many options, with time, duration and price, showing you where to take it from. It seems there are buses every 5 minutes. During the route the app will buzz you 2 and 1 stop before your actual stop. Oh, and the bus card allow you to take the light train and the ferry. You can also check your credits directly in the app, even recharge it I think. It changed my perspective on how to use public transportation. In Los Angeles for example I would check which bus/train I should take, download the timetable to see the frequency and where to stop. In Sydney, I got confident in a way that I would just stop caring about planning first. Just open the app and it'll tell you how to go where you want to go.
- intopieces 9y ago
  Hong Kong is this way, too. People gush about the train system in Tokyo (which I have love for) but the sheer number of fast, frequent, and comfortable ways to get around in HK edge it out for me. It seems like every 5 meters there’s a bus stop, and the busses are not old style clunkers but double deckers like Googles take.
  - Terr_ 9y ago
    As a former HK resident, a lot of it is because of how impractical it is for most people to own and operate a private car. Returning to the US, it's car-culture and lackluster public transport was jarring.
- kristopolous 9y ago
  It's amazing how many other places have figured out how to make this work. Even in sprawling cities like Berlin, which was cut in half by a wall for 30 years, it's clean, well maintained, goes nearly everywhere and costs the commuter about as much as a tank of gas a week for unlimited travel. Americans have really failed to capture and maintain a civic imaginary.
jstanley-fake 9y ago
A lot of places do not have a competent public transportation system or one at all. Public transportation also doesn't satisfy everyone's needs the same way ridesharing does (access to stops, time in transit, etc.). Even though ridesharing competes with public transpo, it does not eliminate it's need.
- rdiddly 9y ago
  "A lot of places do not have a competent public transportation system or one at all." That is precisely the point. If they spent some money on it, they would have it.
ikeyany 9y ago
This is one of the upsides to a socio-economically diverse workforce. If all of your employees come from upper-middle class backgrounds, you'll only solve upper-middle class problems.
apsec112 9y ago
You seem to assume that this service is expensive. I'm really not sure why anyone would think that, other than some notion that Larry Page is a comic book villain who hates the poor. It appears to be cheaper than any other commuting option for most people (~55 cents/mile). Public transit, at least here in the SF Bay Area, is horribly mismanaged. Google does not have the power to force the 37 independent squabbling agencies here to work together, to force BART to kick obvious criminal activity out of their stations, or to fire anyone when new train stations fall behind schedule fifteen times in a row. Companies that provide good services should not be punished for not being magically omnipotent.
yorby 9y ago
Why can't public transportation use the same model as uber (and be more convenient)?
sneak 9y ago
This isn’t some class warfare thing. Busses have terrible service. They don’t even have seatbelts. Knock off this old trope.
- rdiddly 9y ago
  Second person I've seen on this thread, and maybe the fiftieth in my whole life experience, who heard "Let's fund public transportation!" and offered, as a counter-argument mind you, "No, public transportation is terrible." Analogy: Wife: "Hey let's buy a new toaster!" Husband: "No way, have you seen how shitty our toaster is?"
  - sneak 9y ago
    People voted. They voted to use Uber and Lyft, not some monopolistic system. Freedom of choice and agile won out over top-down, waterfall. Public transportation sucks and will continue to suck, even with more funding. People want to pay for something better than it can be at its best, at least in most urban centers in the US.
MBlume 9y ago
You're right -- what we really need is to eliminate the regulations preventing tech companies from actually running private bus systems.

The number of private tech companies that reinvent the BUS and think they're geniuses is staggering. But god forbid we just fund public transportation. We wouldn't want poor people using our service.

kristopolous 9y ago

Maybe cities should start running a "luxury service" tier along the bus lines that charges 3x the fare, has cushioned seats, etc. Need a smart phone to request a stop. Make it once an hour or so and a sleek black and silver exclusive color. Don't even call it a bus, rebrand it as the stress-free shuttle and get a few celebrities to be "spotted" on them. You may laugh but this would probably be a hit.

scarmig 9y ago
I'd pay at least 2x the Muni fare if they would guarantee I wouldn't be mugged or spat on by a mentally disturbed homeless person.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mulletbum 9y ago
  If the bus was just built with a compartment for just you instead of everyone clumped together, I would pay a lot more.
  - kristopolous 9y ago
    Are you talking about the small rooms inside of trains you see in Black and White movies?
    - ableal 9y ago
      Probably not, those compartments were generally shared by strangers, unless they were sleeper cabins. There were different price classes, though.
    - rdiddly 9y ago
      Sounds like they're talking about car ownership.
mattdodge 9y ago
You are literally describing Chariot. Everything except for the sleek black color. https://www.chariot.com/ https://www.chariot.com/
- kristopolous 9y ago
  The acrobatics people go through in order to consider themselves rich and successful. There's a fashion term for this, essentially "low-end luxury" (that's not the term, I forget it). People that are not fabulously wealthy enough to say, hire a chauffeur, not even impressively wealthy enough to always rely on lyft or uber, are marginally wealthy enough to just not take the bus - so they stratify where and what they can as a metric of success. High end fashion stores sell pendants, socks, scarves, belt buckles, and other minor mementos of wealth at sub-$100 prices (such as a $50 pair of socks). These are some of the most popular items because millions of consumers, if they so desired, could afford to spend $50 on something. A single pair of socks with the most coveted luxury brand logo, for people who value such things, is a prized purchase. edit: designer socks are genuinely 50bp (~$70 us) a pair (http://www.versace.com/gb/en-gb/men/accessories/socks/versace-logo-socks-i410/ICZ0003-IK0104_I410.html?cgid=221700#start=1 http://www.versace.com/gb/en-gb/men/accessories/socks/versac...)

skybrian 9y ago

"Just" funding public transport wouldn't actually make commute times to tech company headquarters reasonable.

jobigoud 9y ago

A few month ago I would have read your comment and thought that bus can't really compete for the fine grained point to point transportation. Then I went to Sydney in December. The public transportation system there is super impressive. You have a location-based app where you can tell you want to go from point A to point B (from an address, a click on the map, your favorites), it will instantly provide you with many options, with time, duration and price, showing you where to take it from. It seems there are buses every 5 minutes. During the route the app will buzz you 2 and 1 stop before your actual stop. Oh, and the bus card allow you to take the light train and the ferry. You can also check your credits directly in the app, even recharge it I think. It changed my perspective on how to use public transportation. In Los Angeles for example I would check which bus/train I should take, download the timetable to see the frequency and where to stop. In Sydney, I got confident in a way that I would just stop caring about planning first. Just open the app and it'll tell you how to go where you want to go.

intopieces 9y ago
Hong Kong is this way, too. People gush about the train system in Tokyo (which I have love for) but the sheer number of fast, frequent, and comfortable ways to get around in HK edge it out for me. It seems like every 5 meters there’s a bus stop, and the busses are not old style clunkers but double deckers like Googles take.
- Terr_ 9y ago
  As a former HK resident, a lot of it is because of how impractical it is for most people to own and operate a private car. Returning to the US, it's car-culture and lackluster public transport was jarring.
kristopolous 9y ago
It's amazing how many other places have figured out how to make this work. Even in sprawling cities like Berlin, which was cut in half by a wall for 30 years, it's clean, well maintained, goes nearly everywhere and costs the commuter about as much as a tank of gas a week for unlimited travel. Americans have really failed to capture and maintain a civic imaginary.

jstanley-fake 9y ago

A lot of places do not have a competent public transportation system or one at all. Public transportation also doesn't satisfy everyone's needs the same way ridesharing does (access to stops, time in transit, etc.). Even though ridesharing competes with public transpo, it does not eliminate it's need.

rdiddly 9y ago
"A lot of places do not have a competent public transportation system or one at all." That is precisely the point. If they spent some money on it, they would have it.

ikeyany 9y ago

This is one of the upsides to a socio-economically diverse workforce. If all of your employees come from upper-middle class backgrounds, you'll only solve upper-middle class problems.

apsec112 9y ago

You seem to assume that this service is expensive. I'm really not sure why anyone would think that, other than some notion that Larry Page is a comic book villain who hates the poor. It appears to be cheaper than any other commuting option for most people (~55 cents/mile). Public transit, at least here in the SF Bay Area, is horribly mismanaged. Google does not have the power to force the 37 independent squabbling agencies here to work together, to force BART to kick obvious criminal activity out of their stations, or to fire anyone when new train stations fall behind schedule fifteen times in a row. Companies that provide good services should not be punished for not being magically omnipotent.

yorby 9y ago

Why can't public transportation use the same model as uber (and be more convenient)?

sneak 9y ago

This isn’t some class warfare thing. Busses have terrible service. They don’t even have seatbelts. Knock off this old trope.

rdiddly 9y ago
Second person I've seen on this thread, and maybe the fiftieth in my whole life experience, who heard "Let's fund public transportation!" and offered, as a counter-argument mind you, "No, public transportation is terrible." Analogy: Wife: "Hey let's buy a new toaster!" Husband: "No way, have you seen how shitty our toaster is?"
- sneak 9y ago
  People voted. They voted to use Uber and Lyft, not some monopolistic system. Freedom of choice and agile won out over top-down, waterfall. Public transportation sucks and will continue to suck, even with more funding. People want to pay for something better than it can be at its best, at least in most urban centers in the US.

MBlume 9y ago

You're right -- what we really need is to eliminate the regulations preventing tech companies from actually running private bus systems.