Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Make transit better than driving and the problem will solve itself. People are rational.

When I worked downtown in SF, the options were clear. Take transit or deal with ridiculous traffic and costs of close to $600 a month.

Now that work south of SF, I can either take the company shuttle, which takes 40 min and if I miss it, I have to wait another hour. Or, drive my car which takes 20 min and I can arrive/leave whenever I please. Easy decision.

You can't fault people for making a rational choice.




"I can either take the company shuttle, which takes 40 min and if I miss it, I have to wait another hour. Or, drive my car which takes 20 min and I can arrive/leave whenever I please."

For people who can make full use of their time on the shuttle, driving is a 20-minute loss of productivity each way.

The value-math works differently for different people.


> For people who can make full use of their time on the shuttle, driving is a 20-minute loss of productivity each way.

If it's anything like the commuter buses, you can try to open your laptop on your lap with no elbow room, but the bus bounces too much to focus on what you're coding/reading. What you wind up doing is "work theater" where you appear to be working but aren't productive.

And that's if you can get a seat on the bus. For bus companies to make money, they have to pack in commuters like a mosh pit. And you're trapped there; a literal prisoner of the bus. Will the shuttle pull over if you need to step out for a moment?

The commuter routes subsidize all of the mostly-empty city buses that less-able people ride. (These are people who won't/can't walk/drive 6 blocks to the store.)


That's true! I can't get shit done on the shuttle.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: