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> Drivers of these vehicles are often - if not always - the most expensive part of the system. Is that true? I expected the exact opposite. edit: This seems
by aqme28 5y ago
> Drivers of these vehicles are often - if not always - the most expensive part of the system.
Is that true? I expected the exact opposite.
edit: This seems to be true for buses (see replies), but what about for trains? I'd be very surprised.
- dahfizz 5y agoSome quick math: A city bus costs ~$250k[1] and should last ~10 years[1]. If the bus runs 12 hours a day, that is ~43000 hours of driving you have to pay for. So even if drivers earn minimum wage (I assume a CDL'd driver would earn significantly more), you end up paying more for the driver than the bus. [1] https://www.codot.gov/programs/innovativemobility/assets/commuterchoices/documents/trandir_transit.pdf https://www.codot.gov/programs/innovativemobility/assets/com...
- aqme28 5y agoYeah that works out for buses to my surprise, but I'd be even more surprised if it held up for trains of any form.
- aurizon 5y agoMake that an electric self driving bus and the wages tend towards zero, being some clean/tidy/check etc. Even that can be reduced since you know each passenger and his payment card ID and if he dropped a wrapper/cup = added fee on the card - this invigilation would coerce people to dispose in the self emptying bin at the depot. Thus a great economy would ensue and would dramatically reduce the costs = lower fees = more users. Bus routes tend to run on good main roads(there are exceptions) and are easier for self drive systems.
- gibspaulding 5y agoI thought that intuitively at first, but uneducated napkin math seems to disagree. Say a Cab costs $50k upfront plus $.5 times 200,000 miles gives us $150,000 for the vehicle over it's lifetime. If hiring, insuring, managing, and paying a driver costs 100k per year and it takes say 5 driver years for that car to reach EOL, you're at 500k for the driver. Perhaps someone with a better knowledge of the numbers could chime in, but if I'm reasonably close, that driver is a big chunk of costs.
- aqme28 5y agoI wouldn't consider a cab "mass transit" though.
- gibspaulding 5y agoOops, yeah that's a good point! Ride sharing and "vehicle utilization" was discussed elsewhere in this thread and my head was still there.