cooker

To really get creative, the middle of the vehicle could have a circular pod with 4 or 6 pie shaped passenger compartments. When the cab or limo stops, the pod rotates so an empty compartment faces the curb for boarding, or a full one so a passenger can disembark.

I doubt it will happen!

I-Like-To-Bike

The rotating pod dispenser principle worked for Horn and Hardart automats as well as some current vending machines. History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian

Of course dispensing empty seats and people from a bus like salami sandwiches may not work out that well except in some SF screenplay.

cooker

thanks, I never knew about Horn and Hardat.

tandempower

No, I think the mechanics of it sound too cumbersome and heavy. Still, you could have a stretch-limo type vehicle with individual doors for each compartment consisting of a full back-seat bench. You could charge one fee to rent the whole seating compartment privately or another fee to carpool with strangers in the same compartment.

If you choose to carpool with strangers, you just have to say "excuse me, I get out here" when you're approaching your destination and then the other people have to shuffle around to let you out. It might help to have carpool compartments with two bench seats facing each other across an aisle so people can switch from one bench to the other when someone needs to get out. It's also not that hard to step out of the vehicle briefly to let someone out and then hop back in.

Machka 

What you want is an ejector seat.

Aston Martin DB5 - James Bond Gadgets

Walter S

Exactly! Sounds ideal, right up to the point of landing And then all the waiting to get the seat back into the car

I-Like-To-Bike

Everybody who lived in Philadelphia back in the day (before McDonalds and Burger King), and that other city 90 miles north, knows about H&H.

I-Like-To-Bike

Build your own passenger hauling vehicle to fit any scenario or screenplay; works without petrol too!

cooker

My comment about the rotating pod was not really intended seriously. However if multi-party, flexible-route, on-demand transportation, be it by Uber drivers, taxi-cab companies, or even public transit companies, becomes widespread, it's certainly possible roads and sidewalks in high use areas could be adapted to allow left and right side loading and unloading, for example by building "pit stops" every block or so where the vehicle could pull inside a barrier that separates it from through traffic.

cooker

I lived in New York for two years in the 1950s, and who knows - maybe I ate at one - but I was too young to remember and my parents aren't around to ask.

fietsbob

You asking about Car Pools ,Where people informally agree to get together and share 1 car to get all of them to the same job...

Thats Old stuff .. Or Uber where the internet Mother ship rakes off 25% of the money you Pay for a private car owner to pick you up ,

In some ways like a scab trying to break any Labor organization
trying to get better income and working conditions for commercial taxi drivers ..
while Uber HQ head becomes Billionaires off the work of others with their Property..


In the 70's I Drove a Big Bus, that was more like A Car Pool for people who Lived in The Napa Valley
and worked at the same Shipyard In Vallejo. I had a Job at that Yard too ..

gregf83 

Most commercial taxi drivers are also working for someone else. Uber is just disrupting the existing status quo and providing a more efficient alternative.

tandempower

This advertisement for the Model T says to let them design it for you:
3.jpg

The question is who wants to wait for infrastructure improvements? When they happen, it's nice; but when they don't, it's irritating to let your personal freedom depend on the political process.

Roody

And conning their employees to pay most of their corporate capital investments and operating expenses.

Roody

Oh boo-hoo, they have to walk half a block to their doorstep so they can get out on the left side of the Uber car.

If this is required, you can kiss Uber goodbye. You might as well take the bus, if you have to wait for the Uber car, share it with some stranger, and walk partway to your destination so that nobody has to slide over in their seat. And the bus costs 90% less.

cooker

I'm not suggesting people wait. I'm suggesting that if the trend occurs, supportive infrastructure will follow.

gregf83 

How is it a con? Seems like they offer a simple way for someone to make some extra money with a flexible schedule. Drivers are not actually classed as employees. I suspect most employees of Uber have stock or options and make competitive salaries ($100+k) with other software engineers in Silicon Valley.

Roody

The income figures and advantages for employees have been highly exaggerated:
https://www.slate.com/articles/busine...ake_great.html

gregf83 

That's whats good about free enterprise. They'll either sort it out to achieve a sustainable business or they won't. So far it's hard to argue the founders of Uber haven't done a good job. And as I said the employees (not drivers) make decent salaries.

It's a little like ebay. The employees of ebay did very well and they keep the rate they extract from sales at a level that allows them to grow. Lots of ebay sellers gripe about egregious sales fees as well, nevertheless, the number of users continues to grow. Supply and demand.

Roody

The issues attached to "free enterprise" would make a good topic for P&R. Let's try not to get this thread moved there!

tandempower

I usually argue that good infrastructure should be implemented pro-actively, in anticipation and recommendation of good behavior. Nevertheless, because politics doesn't always result in good infrastructure for whatever reason, we have to invest in the good behavior in the absence of infrastructure or even the hope of better infrastructure - but that doesn't mean you can't keep raising consciousness about it.

I favor buses over carpooling but the reality is that buses in some areas don't fill up, which makes them less efficient, and there aren't enough routes to make them a convenient option. Ride-sharing, therefore, can work like a bridge between bus routes or a primer for the expansion of public transit systems in an area. Once ride-sharing gains popularity, more people are used to leaving their home without driving, and so taking the bus becomes less of a leap than when they were only used to driving everywhere.

+1

I specifically mentioned this in the OP, but thanks for reiterating.

Seattle Forrest

Wouldn't it be better to learn through experience instead of relying on the words (and biases) of strangers on the internet?

Seattle Forrest

This is how you do it:

Step 1: Go find your neighbors
Step 2: Agree to share a ride into town
Step 3: Somebody calls an Uber
Step 4: All of you get into the car
Step 5: You split the fare

This is why I suggest that people should learn things from personal experience instead of making things up. What's going on now is sort of like the childhood game of telephone, except the game starts with a grain of truth, which is lacking here.

Roody

Well, not so much when it comes to scorpions and rattlesnakes.

cooker

We actually have rattlesnakes in a few pockets of Ontario - do you have them?