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There are van taxis that do this in third world countries, they're not terrible. Faster than a bus line and cheaper than a regular taxi. I think if pooling wa

There are van taxis that do this in third world countries, they're not terrible. Faster than a bus line and cheaper than a regular taxi. I think if pooling was more of a norm and people were a bit less time sensitive it'd work great here with the support of an app.

bluGill 4y ago
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  > People are very time sensitive. People have been convinced they need to be time sensitive. "30 minutes or it's free", "next day shipping", etc. are everywhere. In many cases, we're not as time sensitive as we've been trained to think. American public transit is so frequently poor that it often means a 10 minute trip by car might be two hours by bus, but a whole bunch of people would be fine with a 30-45 minute option being available.
  - ipaddr 4y ago
    In America you have the appointment time, class start time, shift start time. Changing that would take a huge social shift
    - ceejayoz 4y ago
      It's been a few years since I was in Europe, but I'm pretty sure folks there make appointments and show up at work/school at a specific time. Public transit is fine for all of these things if it runs reliably, often, and with sensible routing. You leave a little earlier, but someone else is doing the driving, so it's a nice time to read, check email, etc.
      - kwhitefoot 4y ago
        > but I'm pretty sure folks there make appointments and show up at work/school at a specific time. Your recollection is perfectly correct, we certainly do make and keep appointments!
- pessimizer 4y ago
  If we wouldn't expect the van drivers to be less time sensitive, we certainly shouldn't expect all of society to become less time-sensitive to accommodate inconsistent transportation. We can't afford to have people late all the way down, because lateness accumulates by blowing coordination. It's through promptness and good logistics that we save time that we can use to relax. We should just prioritize consistent public transportation. edit: if you're five minutes late at doing something you want to do, you may have wasted five minutes, or you more likely haven't wasted any time, because you spent that five minutes doing something else that you wanted to do. If you're five minutes late meeting someone, you're far more likely to have wasted their five minutes, unless they can shift other small tasks around to fill those five minutes. It adds up to a lot of lost time spent waiting and uncomfortable.

bluGill 4y ago

ceejayoz 4y ago
> People are very time sensitive. People have been convinced they need to be time sensitive. "30 minutes or it's free", "next day shipping", etc. are everywhere. In many cases, we're not as time sensitive as we've been trained to think. American public transit is so frequently poor that it often means a 10 minute trip by car might be two hours by bus, but a whole bunch of people would be fine with a 30-45 minute option being available.
- ipaddr 4y ago
  In America you have the appointment time, class start time, shift start time. Changing that would take a huge social shift
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    It's been a few years since I was in Europe, but I'm pretty sure folks there make appointments and show up at work/school at a specific time. Public transit is fine for all of these things if it runs reliably, often, and with sensible routing. You leave a little earlier, but someone else is doing the driving, so it's a nice time to read, check email, etc.
    - kwhitefoot 4y ago
      > but I'm pretty sure folks there make appointments and show up at work/school at a specific time. Your recollection is perfectly correct, we certainly do make and keep appointments!
pessimizer 4y ago
If we wouldn't expect the van drivers to be less time sensitive, we certainly shouldn't expect all of society to become less time-sensitive to accommodate inconsistent transportation. We can't afford to have people late all the way down, because lateness accumulates by blowing coordination. It's through promptness and good logistics that we save time that we can use to relax. We should just prioritize consistent public transportation. edit: if you're five minutes late at doing something you want to do, you may have wasted five minutes, or you more likely haven't wasted any time, because you spent that five minutes doing something else that you wanted to do. If you're five minutes late meeting someone, you're far more likely to have wasted their five minutes, unless they can shift other small tasks around to fill those five minutes. It adds up to a lot of lost time spent waiting and uncomfortable.