Theoretical Solution: Bus Taxis as an Alternative to City Buses | Hacker News Reader

Theoretical Solution: Bus Taxis as an Alternative to City Buses

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm a mathematician who has developed a theoretical model for transforming public bus transportation in large cities into a fully direct-route service. Essentially, this would create a kind of shared-ride mini bus taxi. According to my calculations, such a system could be fast enough to compete with private cars, while being efficient enough to maintain a low cost per trip.

I'd greatly appreciate your opinion, advice, and constructive criticism. If my ideas resonate with you, I hope to connect and find like-minded individuals in this community. Thank you for your time and thoughts.

This is excellent, and I love that a mathematician has come up with an attempted solution for this! I have always thought there was a missing category of service between bus vs taxi and the 'minibus' might well be the solution.

The good news is there are also real world examples of how these services operate; in Hong Kong for example, they are ubiquitous and very often the most efficient mode of transport, especially in the rural north.

Here's how they work

- fixed route (not adaptive)

- open outcry system to disembark on that fixed route (i.e driver will continue to next stop unless you say so)

- terminal stops driver waits until capacity is full before driving. It's a 14 seater)

- fixed fees based on distance travel, honesty system when passenger boards

- minibus drivers are franchisees, not employees, and are commercially motivated. This last part is good / bad depending on whether you value safety vs speed ;-)

I love them - they really fill a niche!

Thank you for your warm words and detailed description of your experience. It seems to me that the problem with microbus rides in their current form is the low comfort level, and it's not nearly as convenient as having a personal car or a taxi. Initially, I was working on a task to take the convenience and comfort of a personal taxi as a base and come up with a way to efficiently transport multiple passengers at once.

safety is a bigger issue - in many places it seems these services are operated by the mafia, and passengers can get shook down. This is not a problem in HK i hasten to say, but when I publicly endorse these 'little buses' I get lectured by other people who have had different local experiences!

Your comment raises an important concern - safety and the distribution of spheres of interest. I must admit I hadn't considered these factors when writing the article. In my mind, I pictured a calm European city like Barcelona. I would be thrilled if the first city to implement this taxi-bus system was Barcelona, and I see Los Angeles, with its upcoming Olympics, as the second most promising.

Of course, the taxi-bus system will not solve the safety problem on its own, but I believe it won't be any less safe than any other form of public transport. Therefore, all other things being equal (as we mathematicians say), the taxi-bus system should be better.

there is probably a close correlation between price / safety. Minibuses seem often to be the least expensive option, so perhaps mostly used by those who have least money. I'm going to guess they don't attract vagrants in the same way a train or bus might do - perhaps something to do with the small size of the vehicle / inevitable proximity with other passengers and / or motivated gate keeping by the driver-manager

It will only work if poorly behaved riders are banned for life. This is the reason I avoid public transport - drugged up homeless stabby grifters are on the bus, not in my private vehicle.

You've raised a really important issue: cleanliness and safety. Of course, no single public transport reform can solve all of a city's social problems, but even in terms of cleanliness and safety, the idea of a bus taxi might be a better solution than a regular large bus or subway:

1) Minibuses are small, essentially their space is divided into personal zones and cannot serve as a residence for homeless people like large buses or subways;

2) Access to such a bus can be personalized;

3) The adaptability of the route means its unpredictability for a fare evader, even if they get in, meaning such transport is inconvenient for fare evaders;

    There are probably more solutions that I haven't considered yet.

Yeah this is something I think about & was going to ask about.

Visited LA during the pandemic so bus rides were free.

Getting around LA via busses and rail was incredibly smooth and affordable.

The stench of shit in the subway car though was off putting and I have to presume as long as people can afford to avoid that they will.

That said, paying people to keep these things cleaned would supply people with a potentially life long employment by a city (so receiving public retirement plans) which ought to be a net benefit for the city as a whole.

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