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As for safety, it would be much better to move as much of private traffic as possible to public transport. IMO, that's very liberal thing to do, and it's strang

As for safety, it would be much better to move as much of private traffic as possible to public transport. IMO, that's very liberal thing to do, and it's strange to me, why current US gov. doesn't try to improve public transportation system. Regarding b) -- it's unclear how much of current(and potential) workforce employed in this kind of work can successfully transition into other fields of work.

tjansen 5y ago
> As for safety, it would be much better to move as much of private traffic as possible to public transport. Not much better, probably slightly better than autonomous cars because the number of vehicles is smaller. But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin. Autonomous cars give you the best of both worlds. You can decide who you spend your time with or hear music as loud as you want, but are also free to do other things than driving. It's cleaner (or at least your own dirt), and you don't have to carry anything around, as you can store your stuff in the car.
- GrigoriyMikh 5y ago
  > But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin Public transport can come in very different forms. If there's demand, PT operators can build private compartments, seats with increased comfort, etc.
  - tjansen 5y ago
    If you think this through, with all the comfort people usually want, you end up with individual autonomous cars. When ignoring external constraints (energy use, traffic, parking space) it’s the optimal form of transport. Practically nobody would say something like “I’d like to share a cabin with strangers” or “I prefer to walk to a bus stop and wait there for the next vehicle” or “I like to carry my stuff around instead of just leaving it in the vehicle”.
kevingadd 5y ago
Public transit is politically toxic in the US, in part because the middle and upper classes view it as "handouts to the poor" and don't want to use transit services with poor/homeless people on them, because "they smell" or are loud or what have you (to be fair, public transit can get pretty loud and smelly). These are problems that can be solved with sufficient funding and infrastructure, but instead US public transit services cut service coverage, remove benches from stops, raise ticket prices, and fail to do necessary maintenance. Plus in most areas NIMBYs also block expansion. When I was in my teens attending community college back home, it was regularly discussed how there was work ongoing to expand our local public transit rail so it would reach the campus. At the time it was 3 hours on the bus (w/transfers) to reach campus so I had to get a ride or drive myself (~20 mins) to get there. ~10 years later the expansion still hadn't happened because people were fighting hard to block it.

tjansen 5y ago

> As for safety, it would be much better to move as much of private traffic as possible to public transport. Not much better, probably slightly better than autonomous cars because the number of vehicles is smaller. But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin. Autonomous cars give you the best of both worlds. You can decide who you spend your time with or hear music as loud as you want, but are also free to do other things than driving. It's cleaner (or at least your own dirt), and you don't have to carry anything around, as you can store your stuff in the car.

GrigoriyMikh 5y ago
> But most people prefer to sit in their own cabin Public transport can come in very different forms. If there's demand, PT operators can build private compartments, seats with increased comfort, etc.
- tjansen 5y ago
  If you think this through, with all the comfort people usually want, you end up with individual autonomous cars. When ignoring external constraints (energy use, traffic, parking space) it’s the optimal form of transport. Practically nobody would say something like “I’d like to share a cabin with strangers” or “I prefer to walk to a bus stop and wait there for the next vehicle” or “I like to carry my stuff around instead of just leaving it in the vehicle”.

kevingadd 5y ago

Public transit is politically toxic in the US, in part because the middle and upper classes view it as "handouts to the poor" and don't want to use transit services with poor/homeless people on them, because "they smell" or are loud or what have you (to be fair, public transit can get pretty loud and smelly). These are problems that can be solved with sufficient funding and infrastructure, but instead US public transit services cut service coverage, remove benches from stops, raise ticket prices, and fail to do necessary maintenance. Plus in most areas NIMBYs also block expansion. When I was in my teens attending community college back home, it was regularly discussed how there was work ongoing to expand our local public transit rail so it would reach the campus. At the time it was 3 hours on the bus (w/transfers) to reach campus so I had to get a ride or drive myself (~20 mins) to get there. ~10 years later the expansion still hadn't happened because people were fighting hard to block it.