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Bus stops here: Shanghai lets riders design their own routes

(www.sixthtone.com)
491 points anigbrowl | 1 comments | 14 May 25 04:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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jillesvangurp ◴[14 May 25 06:33 UTC] No.43981512[source]▶
I like this; it's smart. It's a low tech solution that simply coordinates transit based on demand and self optimizes to serve that demand.

The value of buses and trains running on schedule is mainly that you can plan around it. But what if transit worked like Uber. Some vehicle shows up to pick you up. It might drop you off somewhere to switch vehicles and some other vehicle shows up to do that. All the way to your destination (as opposed to a mile away from there). As long as the journey time is predictable and reasonable, people would be pretty happy with that.

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dist-epoch ◴[14 May 25 07:52 UTC] No.43982029[source]▶
This will never work in US for two reasons:

1. removes control from local authorities - "we are supposed to decide for our citizens, not them"

2. NIMBYs will oppose the bus passing on their street - "too much noise, peoples, ..."

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mcny ◴[14 May 25 08:19 UTC] No.43982180[source]▶
> NIMBYs will oppose the bus passing on their street - "too much noise, peoples, ..."

It is funny because nobody ever opposes Amazon or UPS trucks...

I think if we can get people to use a service, they won't oppose it?

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1. lozenge ◴[14 May 25 08:59 UTC] No.43982423{3}[source]▶
Once you're paying the fixed monthly cost of a car (depreciation, maintenance, insurance) it rarely makes sense to use a bus. The exception is when there's insufficient parking at the destination but most cities have already decided not to go that route and it's too late to change it.