4 ms·

This is awesome! The ride sharing platforms should plug into the universal transportation app that serves public transit, cabs, car share, etc. I gotta see Barc

This is awesome! The ride sharing platforms should plug into the universal transportation app that serves public transit, cabs, car share, etc. I gotta see Barcelona.

all2 5y ago
This sounds like an excellent idea and also a terrible idea. In the US that would mean allowing the same bureaucratic organization that manages Medicare/Medicaid to manage a transportation app. And then you'd deal with the Intuits of transportation that would legally hobble any meaningful development in favor of their bespoke (and expensive) ride-hailing service... And so on. Maybe I'm just a cynic about these things. We could instead regulate a distributed ride-sharing communications system that companies could build apps for and drivers could hook in to. Well regulated industries tend to thrive (look at internet/cellphone providers in Japan).
- mordae 5y ago
  > In the US that would mean allowing the same bureaucratic organization that manages Medicare/Medicaid to manage a transportation app. Why are you keeping your public companies in such a bad shape?
  - gtyras2mrs 5y ago
    My understanding (outsider perspective, based on what people have told me) is a combination of silly complicated laws pushed by politicians to keep people from abusing the service, lobbying by private healthcare providers (insurance etc) to keep government assistance limited and purposefully annoying and politicians against "big government" underfunding institutions to see them fail.
- tpxl 5y ago
  Where I live there's an API for buses in the capital city and anyone can build an app on top of that. Not quite sure you need to apply for an API key or if it's completely public. That sounds like a nice solution to me.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  > the same bureaucratic organization Every large organization is bureaucratic. The US federal government does pretty well, IME: Parks, highways, air travel, food safety, drug safety, medical and scientific research, public universities, NASA, military, etc etc. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- glaucon 5y ago
  > Intuits I'm hesistant to say this because I don't live in the USA and so it's not really my business but .... You know you really don't have to live in this society where large organisations are allowed to maintain de-facto monopolies. Every other part of the developed world has laws which limit monopoly suppliers. The laws aren't perfect but they have an effect. Oddly enough the only real exception to this is the digital advertising duopoly owned by two large US companies and which operates on a, pretty much, global scale. So far, the rest of the developed world hasn't worked out how to address that.
jpalomaki 5y ago
In Finland we got a law couple of years ago that forces public transportation companies to open up ticketing APIs for ”transportation as a service” providers. I think this is a step to right direction.

This is awesome! The ride sharing platforms should plug into the universal transportation app that serves public transit, cabs, car share, etc. I gotta see Barcelona.

all2 5y ago

This sounds like an excellent idea and also a terrible idea. In the US that would mean allowing the same bureaucratic organization that manages Medicare/Medicaid to manage a transportation app. And then you'd deal with the Intuits of transportation that would legally hobble any meaningful development in favor of their bespoke (and expensive) ride-hailing service... And so on. Maybe I'm just a cynic about these things. We could instead regulate a distributed ride-sharing communications system that companies could build apps for and drivers could hook in to. Well regulated industries tend to thrive (look at internet/cellphone providers in Japan).

mordae 5y ago
> In the US that would mean allowing the same bureaucratic organization that manages Medicare/Medicaid to manage a transportation app. Why are you keeping your public companies in such a bad shape?
- gtyras2mrs 5y ago
  My understanding (outsider perspective, based on what people have told me) is a combination of silly complicated laws pushed by politicians to keep people from abusing the service, lobbying by private healthcare providers (insurance etc) to keep government assistance limited and purposefully annoying and politicians against "big government" underfunding institutions to see them fail.
tpxl 5y ago
Where I live there's an API for buses in the capital city and anyone can build an app on top of that. Not quite sure you need to apply for an API key or if it's completely public. That sounds like a nice solution to me.
wolverine876 5y ago
> the same bureaucratic organization Every large organization is bureaucratic. The US federal government does pretty well, IME: Parks, highways, air travel, food safety, drug safety, medical and scientific research, public universities, NASA, military, etc etc. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
glaucon 5y ago
> Intuits I'm hesistant to say this because I don't live in the USA and so it's not really my business but .... You know you really don't have to live in this society where large organisations are allowed to maintain de-facto monopolies. Every other part of the developed world has laws which limit monopoly suppliers. The laws aren't perfect but they have an effect. Oddly enough the only real exception to this is the digital advertising duopoly owned by two large US companies and which operates on a, pretty much, global scale. So far, the rest of the developed world hasn't worked out how to address that.

jpalomaki 5y ago

In Finland we got a law couple of years ago that forces public transportation companies to open up ticketing APIs for ”transportation as a service” providers. I think this is a step to right direction.