What if public transit was like Uber? A small city ended its bus service to find out::Small-scale, tech-based solutions to transportation problems have emerged as a great equalizer in the battle for infrastructure dollars between big cities and rural communities.
Short gain compared to long term investment right here.
This is akin to discovering that you can hire freelance developers from developing nations for 1/10 of the cost, but then after 3 years… your whole system is a spaghetti mess and the rebuild cost many times that.
Because they’re now having to switch back over to buses anyways.
I think on-demand transit makes sense in many areas but for a town of this size, it seems like it would be better as a supplement to a traditional bus system than a full replacement. 50,000 is not exactly rural though I’m not sure what the density looks like.
I think 50k is definitely on the low end of what you might consider a “city”. And you’re right, it would depend on density. IMO a city with that population can’t really sustain a bus system if it’s spread out too much.
I lived in a town with 50k back in the 90s. I don’t remember there ever being a bus service except for the school buses.
The town was pretty massive though. Half the town was on a plateau as well so you had to walk up a pretty huge hill to get to half of it.
There was quite a few taxi’s driving people around.
Maybe there was a bus that I never used and can’t remember. As a kid I rode everywhere. That hill was a son of a bitch though.
Pro-move: hire even more contractors to refactor.