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Given the proliferation of microtransit services trying to match drivers and passengers, you might think they had ride-sharing and carpooling all figured out. But the recent demise of Leap Transit in San Francisco—to say nothing of the other transportation start-ups that have failed without a media whimper—reminds us that even in a big city it’s not easy to fill empty vehicle seats. And in the suburbs, it’s downright mathematically impossible.
Or just about, anyway, according to a provocative new thought-experiment by Steve Raney, principal at a smart mobility consultancy called Cities21. In a working paper, the former Silicon Valley tech product manager crunched the numbers on ride-sharing in the Palo Alto area and found the odds of matching drivers with passengers long, to say the least. Raney calls it the “Suburban Ridematch Needle in the Haystack Problem.”
“I wanted to gently inject some reality into this,” he tells CityLab.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Wednesday November 18 2015, @09:41AM
And. . . . wait for it!. . . . troll mod for not wanting to carpool with jmorris? WTCP? (That is, "What The Car Pool?"). Unless it is a mod by jmorris himownself, in which case I am truly honored! Still wouldn't carpool with you, though. C'mon, all that right-wing talk radio is rotting your brain to the point that the rest of us can't even talk to you without getting modded down, or some such.
Remember, my dear and precious Soylentils, that a double shot of reality is not, in fact, actually reality, it is one shot over the line, dear Jesus. Or was that a toke? Same dif. Let us now all engage in rational debate grounded in actual reality, based on facts, and founded upon a respect for our fellow disputants. Except for jmorris. Did anyone else notice the smell? I mean, does he listen to Alex Jones in the morning?
(Score: 0, Redundant) by aristarchus on Wednesday November 18 2015, @09:48AM
Third response to my own post. I realize this should never be done, but I thought that in case anyone should want to mod me down further, another post that they could do so on would be helpful. Beyond the double shot of reality is yet another chance of redemption.