this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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What if public transit was like Uber? A small city ended its bus service to find out (apnews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s to c/technology
48 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

What if public transit was like Uber? A small city ended its bus service to find out::Small-scale, tech-based solutions to transportation problems have emerged as a great equalizer in the battle for infrastructure dollars between big cities and rural communities.

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[–] Potatos_are_not_friends 93 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Short gain compared to long term investment right here.

This is akin to discovering that you can hire freelance developers from developing nations for 1/10 of the cost, but then after 3 years... your whole system is a spaghetti mess and the rebuild cost many times that.

Because they're now having to switch back over to buses anyways.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think on-demand transit makes sense in many areas but for a town of this size, it seems like it would be better as a supplement to a traditional bus system than a full replacement. 50,000 is not exactly rural though I'm not sure what the density looks like.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think 50k is definitely on the low end of what you might consider a "city". And you're right, it would depend on density. IMO a city with that population can't really sustain a bus system if it's spread out too much.

[–] uglyduckling81 0 points 1 year ago

I lived in a town with 50k back in the 90s. I don't remember there ever being a bus service except for the school buses.

The town was pretty massive though. Half the town was on a plateau as well so you had to walk up a pretty huge hill to get to half of it.

There was quite a few taxi's driving people around.

Maybe there was a bus that I never used and can't remember. As a kid I rode everywhere. That hill was a son of a bitch though.

[–] grabyourmotherskeys 5 points 1 year ago

Pro-move: hire even more contractors to refactor.