16 votes

'Uber was supposed to be our public transit'

5 comments

  1. cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link
    Whoa... this is super, super bizarre to read on Tildes. I live in a similarly sized town in Ontario (about 1 hour drive from Innisfil) that recently announced an almost identical plan to subsidize...

    Whoa... this is super, super bizarre to read on Tildes. I live in a similarly sized town in Ontario (about 1 hour drive from Innisfil) that recently announced an almost identical plan to subsidize ride sharing, since they staunchly refuse to implement a proper public transportation system here (for openly racist reasons). I'm going to have to spread this article around! Thanks for posting this, @alyaza. It's super weird that you did... but I am glad you did.

    9 votes
  2. [2]
    NaraVara
    Link
    Even if they underestimated by a factor of 10, $160 per person for a year in transportation costs still seems like a steal. Am I missing something? That’s a single car payment. . .

    One bus to serve a projected 17,000 annual riders would cost $270,000 in Canadian dollars for the first year of service, or about $16 per passenger.

    Even if they underestimated by a factor of 10, $160 per person for a year in transportation costs still seems like a steal. Am I missing something? That’s a single car payment. . .

    6 votes
    1. space_cowboy
      Link Parent
      I was thinking the same thing. Why not just charge a fare of 25 cents per trip? That would more than pay for the service.

      I was thinking the same thing. Why not just charge a fare of 25 cents per trip? That would more than pay for the service.

      2 votes
  3. [2]
    Rocket_Man
    Link
    Seems like a reasonable solution given the circumstances. But for me I question when these towns will realize they don't necessarily need the middle man. Uber doesn't really do anything more...

    Seems like a reasonable solution given the circumstances. But for me I question when these towns will realize they don't necessarily need the middle man. Uber doesn't really do anything more specialized than connecting drivers with riders. Why can't a city run their own service and cut Uber out of the picture?

    3 votes
    1. NaraVara
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      This is just taxi dispatch. At that point you can just give everyone cab vouchers and not need to send huge chunks of your money to an SF company.

      This is just taxi dispatch. At that point you can just give everyone cab vouchers and not need to send huge chunks of your money to an SF company.

      5 votes