4 ms·

People may get annoyed at cruise for this, but imo it’s still not as bad as the constant blocking of bike lanes and stopping in the middle of the road by human

People may get annoyed at cruise for this, but imo it’s still not as bad as the constant blocking of bike lanes and stopping in the middle of the road by human ride share drivers.

xyst 4y ago
I am more annoyed at this country's car centric transportation culture than the ride share drivers blocking the bike lane. taxis do this all the time before "ride sharing" was a thing.
- apstats 4y ago
  Very true! Cities in the US invest much too little in things like bike lanes and public transit which I think leads to the annoyingly car centric nature of US cities. In some sense it’s not the taxi driver or ride share drivers fault they block the road or bike lanes it’s really just the system they are thrown into.
  - Akronymus 4y ago
    Ironically enough, cities that are less car centric are actually better for drivers, simply because less people HAVE to take cars.
  - ar_lan 4y ago
    > In some sense it’s not the taxi driver or ride share drivers fault they block the road or bike lanes it’s really just the system they are thrown into. I've progressively gotten more left over the years to the point where I think that certain crime, while it should not be tolerated, should not so much be punished rather than the root cause be fixed. While I think a lot of overhaul can/should be done to mitigate this specific issue, taxi/ride share drivers are absolutely being incredibly selfish when they do this and it's completely unnecessary.
- duped 4y ago
  Delivery trucks are worse than both, blocking both bike lanes, cross walks, and traffic
- KennyBlanken 4y ago
  Taxis in my city are exempted from temporarily blocking bike lanes to unload or load passengers. There was (and still isn't) such an exception for TNCs, so them doing it is illegal. The number of taxis is also capped (medallions), so the number of taxis in bike lanes was limited. Then TNCs came along, and the number of taxi-like trips exploded, and suddenly there are far, far more drivers blocking bike lanes. Furhermore, taxis were far better to deal with if you're a cyclist. There is a dedicated police unit for dealing with reports of problems with vehicle condition/cleanliness, operation, billing, etc. If you call in with a problem, a record is kept of such complaints, and a sworn officer investigates. Taxis have to carry a fairly high level of insurance. And generally speaking, taxis were better for everyone, because: They are subject to random police inspection for condition, cleanliness, and adherence to regulations. They are required to pick up or drop off anywhere in the city, and can be fined if they refuse service from or to a particular area. They are required to have a certain number of handicapped-accessible vehicles and accommodate handicapped service requests. TNCs, as they are called, have skirted all of this. In my city they turned out to generate a massive number of excess car trips - causing a huge increase in pollution and congestion.
  - nradov 4y ago
    Your city is unusual. In most cities the taxis were shit, and the city governments didn't care.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ErikVandeWater 4y ago
Serious question: Do the police know how to ticket a robotaxi?
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Related: can a tow truck operator safely impound one?
- kfarr 4y ago
  AFAIK: no. Most PD are very against use of photo-based retroactive citations, and that's what this would require. Of course in theory they have the authority to do so, it just never seems to happen.
- jfim 4y ago
  At this point in time, I believe they cannot issue a moving violation to an autonomous car as it does not have a driver. The safety driver (if there is one), can be cited though. See the autonomous vehicle guidelines used by the SFPD: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21970950/av-interaction-guidelines-sfpd.pdf https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21970950/av-interacti...
- apstats 4y ago
  I assume that traffic violations like this are handled differently than those with a human driver given the permitting and reporting required for the self driving companies operating in SF. That said it’s SF so who knows…

People may get annoyed at cruise for this, but imo it’s still not as bad as the constant blocking of bike lanes and stopping in the middle of the road by human ride share drivers.

xyst 4y ago

I am more annoyed at this country's car centric transportation culture than the ride share drivers blocking the bike lane. taxis do this all the time before "ride sharing" was a thing.

apstats 4y ago
Very true! Cities in the US invest much too little in things like bike lanes and public transit which I think leads to the annoyingly car centric nature of US cities. In some sense it’s not the taxi driver or ride share drivers fault they block the road or bike lanes it’s really just the system they are thrown into.
- Akronymus 4y ago
  Ironically enough, cities that are less car centric are actually better for drivers, simply because less people HAVE to take cars.
- ar_lan 4y ago
  > In some sense it’s not the taxi driver or ride share drivers fault they block the road or bike lanes it’s really just the system they are thrown into. I've progressively gotten more left over the years to the point where I think that certain crime, while it should not be tolerated, should not so much be punished rather than the root cause be fixed. While I think a lot of overhaul can/should be done to mitigate this specific issue, taxi/ride share drivers are absolutely being incredibly selfish when they do this and it's completely unnecessary.
duped 4y ago
Delivery trucks are worse than both, blocking both bike lanes, cross walks, and traffic
KennyBlanken 4y ago
Taxis in my city are exempted from temporarily blocking bike lanes to unload or load passengers. There was (and still isn't) such an exception for TNCs, so them doing it is illegal. The number of taxis is also capped (medallions), so the number of taxis in bike lanes was limited. Then TNCs came along, and the number of taxi-like trips exploded, and suddenly there are far, far more drivers blocking bike lanes. Furhermore, taxis were far better to deal with if you're a cyclist. There is a dedicated police unit for dealing with reports of problems with vehicle condition/cleanliness, operation, billing, etc. If you call in with a problem, a record is kept of such complaints, and a sworn officer investigates. Taxis have to carry a fairly high level of insurance. And generally speaking, taxis were better for everyone, because: They are subject to random police inspection for condition, cleanliness, and adherence to regulations. They are required to pick up or drop off anywhere in the city, and can be fined if they refuse service from or to a particular area. They are required to have a certain number of handicapped-accessible vehicles and accommodate handicapped service requests. TNCs, as they are called, have skirted all of this. In my city they turned out to generate a massive number of excess car trips - causing a huge increase in pollution and congestion.
- nradov 4y ago
  Your city is unusual. In most cities the taxis were shit, and the city governments didn't care.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

ErikVandeWater 4y ago

Serious question: Do the police know how to ticket a robotaxi?

CoastalCoder 4y ago
Related: can a tow truck operator safely impound one?
kfarr 4y ago
AFAIK: no. Most PD are very against use of photo-based retroactive citations, and that's what this would require. Of course in theory they have the authority to do so, it just never seems to happen.
jfim 4y ago
At this point in time, I believe they cannot issue a moving violation to an autonomous car as it does not have a driver. The safety driver (if there is one), can be cited though. See the autonomous vehicle guidelines used by the SFPD: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21970950/av-interaction-guidelines-sfpd.pdf https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21970950/av-interacti...
apstats 4y ago
I assume that traffic violations like this are handled differently than those with a human driver given the permitting and reporting required for the self driving companies operating in SF. That said it’s SF so who knows…