https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-rural-van-transit-uber-675f6f7a6e550a2ec8113bda5b001ffa
Saw this interesting article on AP News today.
Personally, I’m not a fan. I’d want more details on the demographics of this city before making detailed comments but just from reading the article, there’s some major red flags imo
Good thoughts:
1) I’m glad that it’s affordable. $2.5 per ride is the same cost as a single MARTA trip
2) To and from your exact location is great
Bad thoughts/suspect:
1) This still comes with most of the downsides of car. Dangerous, polluting, resource inefficient, prone to getting stuck in traffic. Similar to timeshare services
2) I imagine this is a lot costlier per passenger to run than trains and buses because you’re single passengering. Or does the public van combine multiple pickups like an Uber Pool? How financially sustainable is this for the city?
3) Is this service totally inaccesible to people without a mobile device?
4) Are the vans consistently on time?
All in all, it’s a good patch solution and seems like it’ll provide helpful data on transit needs but a patch solution is all it is. This is not at all a replacement for proper public transportation in the form of consistent and puntual buses & rail. This still operates fully in the context of a car-centric society and won’t meaningfully improve the problems of American transit.
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