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posted by martyb on Monday November 07 2016, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the bring-back-the-trolly,-too dept.

The New York Times has a story about what may be a more likely future of public transportation.

A small electric bus chugged along at a slow but steady seven miles per hour when a white van, entering the street from the side, cut in front of it. The bus slowed, as if its driver had hit the brakes, and got back up to speed after the van moved out of the way.

But this bus has no brake or accelerator pedal. It has no steering wheel, either. In fact, it doesn't have a driver — it operates using sensors and software, although for now, a person is stationed on board ready to hit a red "stop" button in an emergency.

At a time when self-driving cars are beginning to make progress — most notably with a trial program that the ride service Uber began in Pittsburgh this fall — the bus represents a different approach to technologically advanced transportation.

I say a more likely future because of the following:

A driverless car, after all, is still a car, carrying at best a few people. By transporting many passengers on what could be very flexible routes, driverless buses could help reduce the number of cars clogging city streets.

Few advantages accrue from driverless cars if the streets and highways are clogged with them. The passenger(s) can curse the vehicle up ahead instead of its idiot driver. My take: The idea has some promise, especially in places where people do not have long distances to travel.


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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday November 07 2016, @06:16PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 07 2016, @06:16PM (#423660) Journal

    have... have you ever lived next to a busy street?

    I've lived in an apartment complex where one side of the building was light rail, and the other was a main artery road for the city.

    Living there, I had to listen carefully to hear the noisiest thing the light rail did(ringing their bell approaching intersections), but would often be disrupted by that asshole who thinks a unmuffled motorcycle engine is their right, or cranked their damned bass up in their ugly pickup, or some stupid asshole driving a semi truck be impatient at a red light and use their giant air horn. (regular horns were not bad, comparable to the light rail).

    The complaints you're making are entitled whining, and the GP would be entitled to fair compensation for the use of their land in your "evil" scenario because that's how imminent domain works outside of libertarian fantasy land.

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  • (Score: 2) by BK on Monday November 07 2016, @06:36PM

    by BK (4868) on Monday November 07 2016, @06:36PM (#423669)

    have you

    yup. And with tracks fairly close. Actually it was an intersection/crossing. Train driver liked to blow the horn when approaching the crossing. I used to think think train horns were loud when I heard them from 2+ miles away... 300yds was a real treat. I guess that's heavy rail though?

    And yup with fags [youtube.com] too on the roads.

    The difference between tracks and the road is that I can generally make use of the road. The road system connects(ed) directly to my apartment. The roads go to just about anyplace I could want to go in a given day. While not non-stop, I generally don't have to change vehicles or wait outside my vehicle for 10-30 minutes part way to my destination when using roads. And that's a good thing too because nobody in my apartment building worked in the same place as I did.

    --
    ...but you HAVE heard of me.
    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday November 07 2016, @07:06PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 07 2016, @07:06PM (#423694) Journal

      Yeah, they're not adding new freight lines in cities though. It's an unfair comparison. Light rail is... well... light. Much less noise. I could hear the "heavy" trains about as well as the light rail, and those were, rather than right next door, 4 blocks away.

    • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday November 07 2016, @10:18PM

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday November 07 2016, @10:18PM (#423785) Journal

      Actually it was an intersection/crossing. Train driver liked to blow the horn when approaching the crossing.

      That's likely because trains are mandated by federal law to blow horns at all public crossings, 24 hours per day.

      Exceptions can generally only occur if a local municipality establishes a "quiet zone," which requires installation of a lot of extra safety measures. In that case, the train should only be sounding a horn in an emergency.

      If trains regularly sounded their horns at that crossing, chances are that you were not living in a place recognized as a "quiet zone," either because your community didn't apply for one or because they refused to install the safety measures necessary for one (which can be costly).