4 ms·

I wonder why US cities where food trucks are common haven't gone the Singapore route and setup regulated "hawker centers". Sure, it may not be quite as conveni

by eitally 14y ago

I wonder why US cities where food trucks are common haven't gone the Singapore route and setup regulated "hawker centers". Sure, it may not be quite as convenient for consumers, but it would solve a bunch of other problems.

mseebach 14y ago
Solving problems with a bias in favour of the city's convenience over the consumer's seems to be quite a way down the slippery slope already. Government being the servant of the people, and all.
akgerber 14y ago
Portland has "food truck pods" on the edges of downtown parking lots, as well as in parking lots throughout the city. They have an incredible diversity of cheap food, and the businesses are obviously low-overhead (often in trailers instead of trucks) and generally seem to be staffed by their proprietors. Here's a random blog post with pictures: http://blog.chowmenow.com/join-the-pod-y/ http://blog.chowmenow.com/join-the-pod-y/ It seems like a great way for a city to take an ugly downtown parking lot and make it a pedestrian draw. New York City doesn't really have surface parking lots anywhere with a lot of foot traffic, so that isn't really an applicable solution here.
- cmbaus 14y ago
  What happens if demand for the "pods" outstrips supply? How does the government decide who can setup a new pod? What could be interesting is if a privately owned parking lot did something like this.
  - akgerber 14y ago
    All the pods appeared to be on privately owned parking lots or otherwise vacant lots. E.G.: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&ll=45.521008,-122.681582&spn=0.001227,0.001741&sll=45.562471,-122.69509&sspn=0.002441,0.003482&t=h&gl=us&hq=food+truck+pod&z=20&layer=c&cbll=45.520941,-122.681615&panoid=7h1js_z5f8Q3nmVuaZF5og&cbp=12,73.91,,0,-8.65 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&...

4 ms·

I wonder why US cities where food trucks are common haven't gone the Singapore route and setup regulated "hawker centers". Sure, it may not be quite as conveni

by eitally 14y ago

mseebach 14y ago
Solving problems with a bias in favour of the city's convenience over the consumer's seems to be quite a way down the slippery slope already. Government being the servant of the people, and all.
akgerber 14y ago
Portland has "food truck pods" on the edges of downtown parking lots, as well as in parking lots throughout the city. They have an incredible diversity of cheap food, and the businesses are obviously low-overhead (often in trailers instead of trucks) and generally seem to be staffed by their proprietors. Here's a random blog post with pictures: http://blog.chowmenow.com/join-the-pod-y/ http://blog.chowmenow.com/join-the-pod-y/ It seems like a great way for a city to take an ugly downtown parking lot and make it a pedestrian draw. New York City doesn't really have surface parking lots anywhere with a lot of foot traffic, so that isn't really an applicable solution here.
- cmbaus 14y ago
  What happens if demand for the "pods" outstrips supply? How does the government decide who can setup a new pod? What could be interesting is if a privately owned parking lot did something like this.
  - akgerber 14y ago
    All the pods appeared to be on privately owned parking lots or otherwise vacant lots. E.G.: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&ll=45.521008,-122.681582&spn=0.001227,0.001741&sll=45.562471,-122.69509&sspn=0.002441,0.003482&t=h&gl=us&hq=food+truck+pod&z=20&layer=c&cbll=45.520941,-122.681615&panoid=7h1js_z5f8Q3nmVuaZF5og&cbp=12,73.91,,0,-8.65 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=food+truck+pod&hl=en&...