Why ride-hailing is a smart alternative to mass transit in Silicon Valley
Experts keep saying it would be cheaper and more effective if we could just give Uber vouchers to folks instead of building boondoggle mass transit extensions. They have a point.
Sunnyvale chooses on-demand car-service over more trains and busses
"Riders can be picked up anywhere in Sunnyvale and travel to any destination within the city... with a cost of $3.50 per person per ride — though older adults, teens, low-income residents and people with disabilities get a lower rate of $1.75.
"'This is not us just adding another transportation service. It’s about expanding mobility,' Sunnyvale City Manager Tim Kirby said at the ceremony. 'We’re giving the community a chance to make more affordable transportation choices and more opportunities to get where they need to go.'"
--San Jose Spotlight
Experts: Ride-hailing brings demonstrable advantages over mass transit
For both public transit and ride-hailing, the traveler has the ability to perform other tasks (such as phone calls), but ride-hailing has a competitive advantage over PT in the sense that the vehicle is not shared with other, unknown, passengers. Furthermore, using ride-hailing means there is no risk of crowding or not having a seat, which can be important especially compared to using crowded PT systems in peak hours.
--Science Direct
VTA's missed opportunity
Hard to believe, but VTA once had a pioneering ride-share service, though they sadly discontinued it:
"To its credit, VTA’s predecessor agency, the Santa Clara County Transit District, made some innovative attempts to compensate for the region’s lack of a concentrated job center. Early in its history, it started a dial-a-ride system that allowed anyone to telephone the agency to have a shared vehicle come to their door and drop them off at their destination. Essentially, this was Uber Pool or Lyft Shared before smart phones.
"One of the problems with this system was that it was too successful. Demand swamped the transit center’s phone lines and most people who wanted rides were unable to get them. The region’s taxi systems sued the transit agency saying that the door-to-door service the agency offered was unfair competition."
--Randal O'Toole
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