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> James Russell was surprisingly keen to jump on board an experiment designed to persuade people to own fewer cars – especially for someone who has had up to fo
by coldbrewed 3y ago
> James Russell was surprisingly keen to jump on board an experiment designed to persuade people to own fewer cars – especially for someone who has had up to four vehicles parked at his Melbourne home.
So we're starting with someone that has four cars and we're asking them to not drive a car that's likely already used? Okay, sure, but that weakens the premise quite a bit.
> So when he saw Uber’s ad offering to pay people $1,350 - in cash, public transport credit and Uber credits - to leave their car at home for a month, he jumped at it.
For a month. Huh.
I'm all for improving walkability and mass transit options, which is why this stunt is fairly disappointing. This smells like an Uber PR piece that's trying to paint Uber as part of a sustainable future. A much more compelling story would be a narrative about subsidized transportation for people that lack alternatives rather than asking someone leave their _fourth_ vehicle parked.
- freetime2 3y agoThat’s only one participant of 58 in the study. > The 58 participants had a week of being studied with their normal car usage to establish a baseline, before going four weeks driving one less car. Two-car households went down to one, one-car households went down to no cars, and there were six participants who never owned a car in the first place but who were there to compare behaviours with the newly carless. Also, while he “has had” up to four cars in the past, it sounds like they currently only use two: > So he and his wife left the Australian-made station wagon in the garage for the month, during which they only drove their eight-year-old electric BMW twice.