alt Hacker NewsMost of BUS lanes in NYC are not fully occupied. 2/3rd of the time they are just sit empty.
But, I agree on the part that they will slow down a bit existing public transportation, but, if Uber served routes that are currently difficult to reach, it has public service as well.
Why would someone pay $10 for the Uber service, meanwhile the local one is just $3? There is a good chance that the local bus doesn't cover certain areas properly, or stops too frequently, making it a slow trip for regular commuters.
Ps. In Europe there is both public and private trains, both running the same tracks. I don't see a problem with this.
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A transit lane with excess capacity is a feature, not a bug. It provides slack to recover from issues.
Most of the spaces in front of fire hydrants sit empty, too.
In Buenos Aires the bus system is run by private companies. The buses are full, and they run way more often than the typical and pitiful once-every 20 or 30 minutes during rush hour rate that we see in the U.S.'s city run bus systems. You never have to wait long. You can buy small books with all the info you need to get from any one part of the city to any other using only buses.
Taxis are able to use bus lanes in EU too. And it's completely ok to do that.
- Uber serves routes that are difficult to reach
- Those routes hit underserved communities (read: low income)
- The $2 service becomes $10 after some loss leading, which is what Uber literally did.
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- The lanes aren’t fully occupied. The public sector doesn’t turn a profit. The… (see my OP).
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- Comparing Europe, the land of GDPR, tech company regs and fines, and its general suspicion of private sector, to the US, which is basically none of that, is a unique take.
> Why would someone pay $10 for the Uber service, meanwhile the local one is just $3?
In this scenario Uber would give endless promos pricing the trip at $2.90 until they’ve degraded the public bus service to a level where no one wants to use it. Then they jack up the prices.