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I guess my point is that point to point, user initiated transportation is a great idea. It is what makes cities great places to live in. All the millions of pos

I guess my point is that point to point, user initiated transportation is a great idea. It is what makes cities great places to live in. All the millions of possible people to interact with and become friends with, etc. I think we should try to enhance the transportation options of people, not force them to certain train stops or times of day. You could just do this by walking and elevators, but more extensive transportation would give even more options. There should be 10 or 100 or a 1000 Boring Companies working on the problem with transportation in cities. It is one of the 5 or 10 biggest problems of our age.

bobthepanda 8y ago
Train stops are hardly 'forcing.' Is Lyft, Uber, et. al asking people to walk a few tens of meters and clump up at stops along a route 'forcing'? Because this seems to be the conclusion that even the market-oriented, point-to-point rideshares have come to for efficient transportation after burning through lots of VC money [1]. And if you're feeling social you can interact on the train or bus. The scope of interaction while you're in your own personal aluminum bubble barreling along is much lower. If it were significantly easier to build tunnels, someone would've done it already. Unlike space, or solar energy, or batteries, or cars, tunnels have consistent market demand, and existing technologies are not meeting that demand very well. There is already a very lightweight, space efficient transportation point-to-point option; the bicycle. Today with current battery technology, even the crappiest bikeshare e-bikes hit 20-30mph and have a 50+ mile range. If you really need a car, just get a Zipcar or a Reachnow or a Car2Go, etc. But by no means should we continue to favor the car at great expense. [1] - http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/06/lyft-reinvents-the-bus.html http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/06/lyft-reinvents-the-bus.ht...

bobthepanda 8y ago

Train stops are hardly 'forcing.' Is Lyft, Uber, et. al asking people to walk a few tens of meters and clump up at stops along a route 'forcing'? Because this seems to be the conclusion that even the market-oriented, point-to-point rideshares have come to for efficient transportation after burning through lots of VC money [1]. And if you're feeling social you can interact on the train or bus. The scope of interaction while you're in your own personal aluminum bubble barreling along is much lower. If it were significantly easier to build tunnels, someone would've done it already. Unlike space, or solar energy, or batteries, or cars, tunnels have consistent market demand, and existing technologies are not meeting that demand very well. There is already a very lightweight, space efficient transportation point-to-point option; the bicycle. Today with current battery technology, even the crappiest bikeshare e-bikes hit 20-30mph and have a 50+ mile range. If you really need a car, just get a Zipcar or a Reachnow or a Car2Go, etc. But by no means should we continue to favor the car at great expense. [1] - http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/06/lyft-reinvents-the-bus.html http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/06/lyft-reinvents-the-bus.ht...