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posted by takyon on Tuesday February 13 2018, @11:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the right-tool-for-the-job dept.

An article over at Motherboard covers the growing inequities in the US resulting from the cultivation of individualized transport options.

Carsharing, ridesharing, ride-hailing, public transit, and cycling—"all of those things are needed to replace personal cars," said [Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar].

It's a nice idea, but to actually kill car ownership, we're first going to need to have some very uncomfortable conversations about class and equity in the United States. Public transit used to be the great equalizer, but affordable private rides have become the new favorite of the middle class. When richer people give their money to private ride-hailing or carsharing companies, public transit loses money—and that's not good for cities, societies, or the environment.

[...] This dependence on ride-hailing is having the adverse effect of increasing traffic congestion, which in turn makes bus service slower and more frustrating. Besides, until cities change dramatically—i.e. more parks, fewer parking lots, less sprawl, better accommodations for active and public transit—decreased rates of car ownership likely won't benefit the environment if we're still travelling the same distances in cars.

Those living in countries that still have good or remnants of good mass transit will have different insights. It is unlikely that without good, reliable, vast public transit networks, there will be social and economic equity, assuming that is a goal. While public transit can suck, especially in the US, it is sometimes necessary to take one for the team and vote with your wallet. Unfortunately the situation is often framed as a false dilemma, that there can only be private cars or only mass transit, but not both coexisting and used for different ends at different times by the same people.


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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:53AM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:53AM (#637494) Journal

    have a poor person per square foot rating

    Which is a pretty meaningless statistic.

    Even if you pack a car with the maximum number of passengers, it's still lower than what you'd get with a busy bus.

    But there are two things to note. First, it's better than an empty bus. And second, they're going where they want to go, not where the bus route goes. Point to point has long been shown to be preferred to mass transit which doesn't do that. I've been on mass transit rides where they had a much lower density of passenger than single passenger cars following each other at a safe distance. For the meaningless little that is worth.

    The times when the bus isn't full tend to be times when you don't have as much traffic anyways.

    Those automatic cars wouldn't be on the road in that case. Nor would perfect utilization be that important. Let us recall that peoples' time is far more important than slightly better usage of transportation assets.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:13AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:13AM (#637531)

    The obvious rebuttal is, . . . . I got nothing. khallow just said time is valuable. And yet, he posts on SoylentNews. If I were Republican, my head would explode at this point.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:33PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:33PM (#637591) Journal

      khallow just said time is valuable. And yet, he posts on SoylentNews.

      I could be doing something valuable, like riding on a bus.