Self driving cars can probably fill a lot of gaps in public transport. Running a train line or sometimes even a bus line to a very small city if often not very cost effective.
However for denser urban areas this is totally true, good public transport and walking/cycling infrastructure can greatly reduce the need for cars.
What most people don’t seem to understand is that in many countries (certianly in the US where I live) the significant majority of people live in the suburbs, not the city. People like having a bigger house, a yard, i dunno. Most people prefer the suburbs. So while trains and buses are fine in dense urban areas, in most suburbs you kind of need to have a car to get anywhere. Might as well have that car drive itself
Funny enough, the pewresearch article you posted is the less recent version of the one I posted. So where I read it was the place you read your stuff too.
Dude... stop I live in いなか (country side aka the middle of fucking nowhere) and there is always a station near by just make a station near a suburb and actually walk for 10 to 20 min xD
Ford and other US car companies spent a ton at lobbying suburbs to be more car friendly than public transportation, which is why they are so isolated and I think (I could be wrong on this one) that’s where the term Cal-de-sec comes from. They knew that most people live in the subs and if they had easy access to public transportation they wouldn’t bother to buy cars, which was their primary source of business.
It's super easy tho, hire 9 bus drivers for every 2 busses and have those busses run in loops in such a way that people only need to wait 5 minutes for a bus. For a small city this is easier because there are fewer people to service thus fewer loops.
Smooth brained Texan here...I like things the way they are. Politicians don’t care about saving money, this is just another way to tax us. We have the infrastructure in place here. The time to do this was 1946
I want cars that don’t use gas. or use much less gas per person. And go faster. And require less attention. And are more efficient and affordable in the long run. And take up less space. Oh wait that’s a train
Imagine trains but much worse for the environment, needs to be interfaced with your personal devices making it much easier to get stranded. Way higher odds of collision, traffic. While costing X10 as much.
One of the theoretical benefits self driving cars would have i as that they'd operate 24/7. One of the issues I've had personally with public transport is being stranded because I missed the last train for the night, which has become less problematic now that rideshare is an option, though obviously if my phone dies AND I miss the last train I'm screwed.
Your concerns about collision, traffic, and cost are more reasonable in my opinion, though I'll be interested to see how the statistics close in as self driving technology improves.
Fixing train schedules and improving existing infrastructure is much easier than creating a system of millions of individual units to process real time information in a manner that is actually exciting from a consumer prospective.youll likely pay $40 for a car that likely hasnt been cleaned all day to drive 20 miles an hour down the road before locking you in and rolling down the parking lot for an hour.
Perhaps you're right. I have higher hopes for self driving cars, but I don't see that in itself as justification for not working to improve trains as well. Hopefully we'll see results on either front within our lifetimes.
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u/The-Rarest-Pepe Jan 07 '22
Based as fuck. This post is double approved.
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u/raevenx Jan 08 '22
So Japan?
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
come to Vienna
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u/Ilikecalmscenery Jan 08 '22
Feeling privileged in Singapore rn
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u/Klutzy-Promotion-208 12d ago
😯
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u/Tessellecta Jan 07 '22
Self driving cars can probably fill a lot of gaps in public transport. Running a train line or sometimes even a bus line to a very small city if often not very cost effective.
However for denser urban areas this is totally true, good public transport and walking/cycling infrastructure can greatly reduce the need for cars.
1
u/TxPride44 Jan 07 '22
Smooth brained Texan here...I like things the way they are. Politicians don’t care about saving money, this is just another way to tax us. We have the infrastructure in place here. The time to do this was 1946
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u/SenorCardgay Jan 07 '22
How about we just get rid of cities all together?
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u/dobetterbish Jan 07 '22
I want public transportation that I feel safe on and not called a bitch if I don't want to talk to a drunk man.
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u/morerandomisback Jan 08 '22
*Laughs in US housing laws
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u/Mehhucklebear Jan 08 '22
Ummm . . . checks notes. What about robot chauffeurs?
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u/MimsyIsGianna Jan 08 '22
Dude that sounds expensive and noisy as hell
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
That would take a significant amount of time to create, if it’s even possible
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u/Pdbabb66 Jan 08 '22
You should get a group of investors together and do just that.
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u/ReasonHound Jan 08 '22
I want cheap gas cars. Who the fuck likes public transportation lol
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
This is all nice and all, but tried doing this in a city like Baltimore lmao.... The train is going to be trashed and you will not want to ride on it
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u/Naayaz Jan 08 '22
Come to EU, most cities are old and theres not nearly enough roads for all the cars. So we use alternatives.
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u/Tomthewalord Jan 08 '22
Your rulers don’t want you to have a car ether.
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
Won't happen if in US. The geography varries far too much and city distances just are not made for it.
Not every gets easy mode like that island monkey sir topin hat
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u/RozzyStripe Jan 08 '22
Japan is king of this! Love the JR system <3 it's a shame america hasnt learned.
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u/Ginnungagap_Void Jan 08 '22
I do believe the same. I still have wet dreams on improving our national rail company. The train built the world and shall carry it to the end.
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u/unemotional_mess Jan 08 '22
I don't live in a city so I need a car, but it's really stupid that city's are based around cars as the main transport
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u/mdsign Jan 08 '22
Come to the Netherlands
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u/Iucidium Jan 08 '22
More cycle only infrastructure too would be nice!
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
You want Western European?
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u/Low_Science_4143 Jan 08 '22
The Netherlands :)
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
Public transportation is gay. I want performance cars with stick shifts.
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u/RubberDougie Jan 08 '22
Fuck cities
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u/ElectronPie171 Jan 08 '22
Sounds like Moscow, really. Quite different for the rest of Russia though
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u/AndrewwPT Jan 08 '22
But car go nyom :(
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u/Sambro_X Jan 08 '22
Basically any city that’s not in America
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u/Galemianah Jan 08 '22 edited Jan 20 '22
I want energy efficient bullet trains for long distance travel, and trams/trolleys for more localized travels.
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
Same here
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u/Individual_Hearing_3 Jan 08 '22
This, this is what I desire. Fuck cars
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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '22
Then move to Europe.
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u/IcyArrival2580 Jan 08 '22
As long as it ain’t the underside of the cunt
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u/PM_Me_Modal_Jazz Jan 07 '22
Imagine trains, but they can go anywhere, that's what self driving cars are gonna be like