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If Portland is really forward-thinking, they would be smart to use this opportunity to jump to the next stage of public transport by focusing on flexible bus ro
by xnx 6mo ago
If Portland is really forward-thinking, they would be smart to use this opportunity to jump to the next stage of public transport by focusing on flexible bus routes and Waymo/rideshare subsidies for the poor and disabled.
- sheept 6mo agoSelf driving cars aren't the next stage of public transport; they're a bandaid solution to American urban design. They're still cars, so they still contribute to traffic and increased pavement wear, and I cannot imagine they'd be cheaper at scale than buses for storage/maintenance/cleaning.
- Karrot_Kream 6mo agoThey won't be better for maintenance but unless Portland can build the state capacity to fund public transport properly this is better than nothing. Plenty of developing countries rely on buses, jitneys, and low footprint vehicles like mopeds for traffic flow because they don't have the state capacity to enforce an urban framework conducive to public transit. Honestly many US states are the same.
- Schiendelman 6mo agoI spent ten years in the trenches of American urban design policy. The best we could do was lose very slightly less quickly. It's not changing. Trains are great, we should build more, and we probably should replace a lot of bus routes by subsidizing rides on Waymo and its ilk. It'll be cheaper and provide better service.
- Jblx2 6mo ago>Trains are great I wonder how much that sentiment is that based on steampunk and 1880's nostalgia?
- soiltype 6mo agoNone. Why would you think that? My guess is you're an American living nowhere near an urban rail system but I thought most people here would at least be passing familiar with modern trains. Even some American cities have them.
- dzhiurgis 6mo agoWhy the ad hominem? I've lived and travelled in a ton of places. Trains in low density cities are simply not working well enough. I now prefer to live in exurb and drive everywhere. It's so good.
- soiltype 6mo agoGuessing you're American is ad hominem?
- 0xffff2 6mo ago> ad hominem: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect [0] Pretty much by definition, yes. 0: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ad%20hominem https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ad%20hominem
- soiltype 6mo agoI mean I wasn't making any rhetorical argument. That part of the comment was just me musing.
- dzhiurgis 6mo agoMuse this - train is a tool, just like a car, bus, bike, plane, drone or rollerblades. Repeating "trains" in every transport context is unproductive. Each mode of transport requires certain density. Most US cities just don't have it. It's that simple.
- HaloZero 6mo agoIt's not a bandaid because American urban design isn't going to change substantially. I don't see American cities changing their mind on how they build and where they build.
- dzhiurgis 6mo ago> increased pavement wear That's buses. Even more with electric buses. They are insanely subsidized by public. Robot taxis are vastly cheaper for everyone.
- eklitzke 6mo agoA well run public transit system should obviously be cheaper at scale than robotaxis, but the incentives for Waymo (or Uber, or Lyft, etc.) are very different than the city's incentives. It's very possible that in practice private companies can operate more cheaply at scale than buses because they have much higher incentives to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
- saargrin 6mo agowell run public transit systems usually still lose money and thats a policy decision rather than a commercial one
- simondotau 6mo ago“Self driving cars aren't the next stage of public transport; they're a bandaid solution to American urban design.” That might be an unintentionally excellent analogy, because like a Band-Aid, self self driving cars have the potential to heal the urban environment. The widespread adoption of self driving cars doesn’t take cars off the road, but it does reduce the reliance on destination parking. Entire city car parks could be replaced with medium density residential, substantially increasing density and paving the way to walkable cities.
- anvuong 6mo agoAll they can do is to install more needle disposal bins and putting more narcan kit in the restrooms. I hate the direction Portland and more generally Oregon is going so much. It's always tax tax tax while everything is getting worse. Kotek needs to go.
- amanaplanacanal 6mo agoDecriminalizing drugs without full legalization and regulation leads to that. Addicts can't buy drugs of known purity and dosage, and this is what happens. Similar to alcohol prohibition and methanol poisoning.