Bus stops here: Shanghai lets riders design their own routes

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.

One immediate problem that comes to mind is that you need a smartphone to take public transit. So if there's a teen without a smartphone, they can't take the bus, nor can someone who's phone died, etc.

One of the amazing things of the current system, as simple as it is, is that it's predictable and doesn't require coordination. You can walk to a bus stop and know that a bus will arrive and take you where you expect to go, same as the last time you've taken it and the time before that. You don't need to look up a map to see what today's route is, or to see where the stop is, or to let the bus know you're waiting for you. You just show up at the bus stop and the rest just happens in a predictable and reliable fashion.

I feel very strongly that if a teenager is old and responsible enough to take the bus on their own, they are old and responsible enough for a smartphone. Furthermore, it's actively harmful to send your kids out into the world without the kinds of modern tools that would make them safer and more independent.

As for "phone died," well... just find a place to recharge it. It's not particularly difficult these days and I can't actually remember the last time my phone died on me when I needed it.

OP is a really cool demonstration of what we can do when everyone carries a computer in their pocket. Uber in the US has something similar with airport shuttles. Why should we handicap new, shiny things to make them usable without a phone?

(a) Not everyone has a (smart) phone.

(b) Not everyone can use a (smart) phone.

(c) Not everyone wants a phone.

(d) Not everyone can afford a phone.

(e) Not everyone wants to upgrade their phone to use the newest shiny things.

(f) Not everyone can upgrade their phone (see (d)).

(g) Not everyone opts to put (third-party) apps on their smart phone.

(h) Not all apps are built with accessibility in mind (see (b)).

(i) Some folks are concerned about mass surveillance (see (g)).

(j) Sometimes phones get stolen.

(k) Sometimes phones get broken.

(l) Sometimes phones get bricked.

(m) Sometimes phones get hacked.

(n) Sometimes phone get locked out.

(o) Sometimes apps stop working.

(p) Sometimes cell service goes offline (see Hurricane Helene).

b: Then get someone nearby to help you, or improve phone accessibility.

c: Tough luck. You made your decision, now live with it.

d: I highly doubt this. Phones are basically free - and I'm not just talking about budget, cheap-o phones. You can find an iPhone X for $100! People literally give them away sometimes!

e: That's fine, the Uber app works on some pretty darn old phones.

f: See (e).

g: Installing a third-party app to use a third-party service is pretty uncontroversial.

h: The ADA requires this from transit providers. If you are so disabled that a phone or desktop or whatever can't be used, you probably are not making your own travel arrangements.

i: Then you should not be purchasing things online at all, or with a credit card.

j-n: So... you go a day or two without a phone, replace it, and then things work again.

o: Hopefully not if anyone is making money off them!

p: Would you call a taxi in a hurricane and be surprised when it doesn't reach you?

I realize that HN HATES the idea that things sometimes require phones. Unfortunately, sometimes things are only possible with phones for reasons that have almost nothing to do with profit.

If you choose to not have a phone, you can still take the bus. You can still call taxi dispatch on a landline. You just can't do this stuff conveniently, which seems like a fair tradeoff to me.