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I have no way of knowing whether this true in aggregate, but personally the existence of ride sharing has led to me dropping my car, since it covers some tail-e
by opportune 6y ago
I have no way of knowing whether this true in aggregate, but personally the existence of ride sharing has led to me dropping my car, since it covers some tail-end last mile problems that public transit cannot. Maybe there was only a 1 percent drop in car ownership, but if public transit were improved I think ride sharing would still be solving important last mile problems.
- wdb 6y agoI think for last mile, the bike is a great solution, if the infrastructure would be there. Bike lanes separate from car roads etc.
- judge2020 6y agoIt also seems like e-scooters would solve this given the proper infrastructure and planning, but those have other problems and that infrastructure wasn't there when the idea was done 2018/2019.
- wdb 6y agoYeah, it has to be safe to cycle (or scoot) and the infrastructure to exist but that's in my opinion not the case in American big cities.
- judge2020 6y agoMaybe rented Segways would work better :)
- opportune 6y agoThis is actually what I do for most last-mile needs, but I use ride share when I need to travel 5+ miles one way quickly. Also, scooters and bikes just aren't safe at night or in rainy/windy weather.
- pvarangot 6y agoIt's impossible to sustain most big cities with just bikes for the last mile problem. It's just not practical to do your last mile on the cold or the rain every single day if you have a coastal or a very cold winter. Whatever that thing is that's there for those days is probably very similar to ride sharing, or it's just very good public transportation so that it's the last block and not the last mile.
- wdb 6y agoPlenty of people cycle to work or school no matter what the weather... A good raincoat helps
- throwawayboise 6y agoPlenty of people live with dirt floors too. Doesn't mean they like it.
- djhn 6y agoI'm tempted to say this is an attitude issue? Perhaps it's even an idea the car lobby wants to promote. There's nothing inherently bad about rainy, slushy or snowy weather. It's just water. Getting wet is not going to melt you.
- throwawayboise 6y agoNo it isn't going to hurt me, but given the option, I would prefer to arrive at work dry and/or not needing to shower and change clothes.
- _carbyau_ 6y agoWater does complicate things and takes extra effort to deal with. A car sidesteps it with a big set of convenience. While convenience is king for the end consumer that's what will happen for most people.
- 6y ago
- AmericanChopper 6y agoCities have spend billions on developing bike infrastructure, typically by removing roads, and the best they tend to manage is a low single digit improvements in % of commuters biking (if they get any improvement at all). It’s such an demonstrable failure of an idea that I struggle to believe that people can still suggest it with a straight face.
- adrianN 6y agoWhich city spent billions on developing bike infrastructure? In Berlin the share of trips done by bike increased by 40% between 2013 and 2018 and we certainly didn't spend billions on it. We did spend about a billion on building 3km of new Autobahn through the city, but that's a different story.
- AmericanChopper 6y agoSan Francisco alone has budgeted over a billion dollars for cycle lanes, and since 2013 has managed to decrease it’s % of cycling commuters from 3.8% to 3.1%. There are some cities in the world that have a high demand for cycling infrastructure, in those cities it makes sense to spend money on it. There are 0 cities in the world that have managed to build a cycling culture out of infrastructure spending. This “built it and they will come” idea has been so thoroughly debunked, you have to be drinking some rather strong coolaid to still have any faith in it. If you look at the numbers, it turns out that it’s better to spend infrastructure budget on things people actually want to use.
- adrianN 6y agoA billion dollars over how many years? How much of that is already spent? When I was in SF two years ago I didn't see any cycling infra that could've cost a billion dollars. I think I only saw two cycle lanes. I certainly wouldn't feel safe to cycle there.
- Lammy 6y agoThe bus will still have to wait on or go around rideshare drivers who have their Park Anywhere lights on. Here in SF it's compounded by the limited range of mobility of certain buses as they can't really leave their intended travel lane without losing power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_pole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_pole
- iso8859-1 6y agoTrolleybuses can have batteries too, the new Chinese buses in CDMX do. https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/yutong-begins-the-deliveries-of-63-new-trolleybuses-for-mexico-city/ https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/yutong-begins-the-deliv...
- spladug 6y ago> The bus will still have to wait on or go around rideshare drivers This is why transit-only lanes are important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQY6WGOoYis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQY6WGOoYis
- asdff 6y agoWe have plenty of those in CA. Lane enforcement is nonexistant, though, so you get stuff like rideshares/police/delivery/city vehicles/trash cans parked in the bus/bike lanes typically.
- bluGill 6y agoWhat is needed is for people to start complaining when that happens. If you are on the bus and your lane is locked call the police. If it is a police officer get the car number and write in a formal complaint. You acting along won't make a difference, but everyone else on doing the same will quickly make your pressure known and change will happen so spread the word.
- asdff 6y agoThis is a city where police do not care if your bike is stolen. A complaint about a bike lane violation that might clear up 15 minutes after I call won't carry much water. The cops parking in the bike lanes know what they are doing. The trash people leaving cans know what they are doing, and sanitation is probably the most corrupt department in this city. My councilmember isn't going to care what I have to say unless I have cash to donate/bribe, I have written plenty of emails and received plenty of canned responses about a variety of things in this city and operates autonomously. I don't have the free time to start a grass roots effort on trash cans in bike lanes of all things. The status quo contains an amazing amount of inertia, that's why little seems to get done in the name of public works. Such is life in American municipalities.
- Ericson2314 6y agoWhen public transit is done right, last mile is more like last 500 feet, and a walk. Maybe for S-bahns far out it's a mile, but bikeshare should cover that.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoYou can’t do public transit right in areas that are insufficiently densely populated, like the vast majority of the US. There’s simply not enough people to be able to pay for the costs.
- Ericson2314 6y agoWell, doing public transit right means densifying. Density is a virtue on it's own so this is fine.
- vnxli 6y agoHow is density a virtue?
- anonporridge 6y agoIt breeds efficiency and self sufficiency. Less wasted resources on virtually every metric. Suburbia on the other hand makes us all worse off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUeqxXwCA0&list=PLJp5q-R0lZ0_FCUbeVWK6OGLN69ehUTVa&index=2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUeqxXwCA0&list=PLJp5q-R0lZ...
- hcurtiss 6y agoExcept living in suburbia is a delight. I appreciate not everyone shares that perspective, but in my view everything from not sharing walls, to quiet streets for kids to ride bikes, to garages large enough for a boat or trailer, to large public parks. I think that's why you're seeing so many presently move in that direction. Densification is great, but for all the people. I lived in the city for ten years. I'll never do it again.