<story><title>The self-driving car is a red herring</title><url>http://nautil.us/issue/92/frontiers/the-self_driving-car-is-a-red-herring</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bluedino</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Between being crammed in the cars, the mentally unstable accosting you, the lack of cleanliness and the occasional assault&lt;p&gt;Three of the four of those are things you don&amp;#x27;t hear people complaining about with the transit system in Japan because of the culture differences in the USA.&lt;p&gt;How can that be fixed, here?</text></item><item><author>Grimm1</author><text>I know people love public transport because of the supposed larger benefit to society but having ridden NYC public transport for over 7 years now I absolutely loath it.&lt;p&gt;The experience is horrible almost every day. Between being crammed in the cars, the mentally unstable accosting you, the lack of cleanliness and the occasional assault I&amp;#x27;m simply not willing to deal with that continuously. I put up with it because it was cheaper than owning a car in NYC at a time where I needed to make that trade off but I don&amp;#x27;t need to make that trade off any more.&lt;p&gt;This is with the MTA receiving billions of dollars and subsidies. Give us a system like Japan or even some of the light rail like I experienced in France and I can see people moving towards public transport. Continue to give us systems like the New York subway and I don&amp;#x27;t see cars going away.&lt;p&gt;This article makes largely the same point -- the way we do public transport in the US is flawed and technology can help us make it less so, but it has to have buy in from our political systems and the people. As long as institutions like the MTA have a say we&amp;#x27;ll only see mismanaged and rapidly aging systems.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>UncleOxidant</author><text>I was listening to a youtube recently talking about covid in Japan (their numbers are strikingly low) and the correspondent in Japan mentioned that 5 year olds commonly ride on public transit alone to school without parents. She said it was a rite of passage for 5 year olds that they ride the trains by themselves. That&amp;#x27;s just unimaginable in the US especially in a city like NYC. Huge cultural differences.</text></comment>
<story><title>The self-driving car is a red herring</title><url>http://nautil.us/issue/92/frontiers/the-self_driving-car-is-a-red-herring</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bluedino</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Between being crammed in the cars, the mentally unstable accosting you, the lack of cleanliness and the occasional assault&lt;p&gt;Three of the four of those are things you don&amp;#x27;t hear people complaining about with the transit system in Japan because of the culture differences in the USA.&lt;p&gt;How can that be fixed, here?</text></item><item><author>Grimm1</author><text>I know people love public transport because of the supposed larger benefit to society but having ridden NYC public transport for over 7 years now I absolutely loath it.&lt;p&gt;The experience is horrible almost every day. Between being crammed in the cars, the mentally unstable accosting you, the lack of cleanliness and the occasional assault I&amp;#x27;m simply not willing to deal with that continuously. I put up with it because it was cheaper than owning a car in NYC at a time where I needed to make that trade off but I don&amp;#x27;t need to make that trade off any more.&lt;p&gt;This is with the MTA receiving billions of dollars and subsidies. Give us a system like Japan or even some of the light rail like I experienced in France and I can see people moving towards public transport. Continue to give us systems like the New York subway and I don&amp;#x27;t see cars going away.&lt;p&gt;This article makes largely the same point -- the way we do public transport in the US is flawed and technology can help us make it less so, but it has to have buy in from our political systems and the people. As long as institutions like the MTA have a say we&amp;#x27;ll only see mismanaged and rapidly aging systems.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Grimm1</author><text>Actually put money into expanded infrastructure and staffing of public transport instead of funneling it into someone&amp;#x27;s pocket. Regularly patrol the cars. Open more shelter for the homeless and institute better mental health policies. None of this is a cultural issue unless you mean a cultural issue of political disinterest and general apathy from the public and graft from our politicians on either side.</text></comment>