One of the things which is going to have to come along with the robot taxis and public transit is some way to haul a cubic meter or two of Stuff such that it can shuffle between modes of transportation pretty seamlessly. I can say from experience that it is unpleasant to haul groceries from a warehouse store grocery run on public transit. Perhaps you could make it a point-to-point robot taxi trip when you have that much Stuff, rather than trying to haul it between modes, but there would have to be pricing to make that work out.
One of the things which the transit is going to need to work out is capacity -- it's hard for me to travel on Caltrain when it's geared for peak capacity, because between pain, size, and flexibility, I need to sit in the accessible car. Off-peak, there are several. On-peak, there is one. It is anyone's guess which car that will be, so you can't accurately position yourself to board it, and the crowding is such that I can't actually walk between cars. In theory, people who do not need the moderately-accessible seats in the peak-capacity cars are supposed to give those up. In practice, groups of chatting teenagers have taken them and I am not actually up to the verbal communication necessary for telling them that I need a goddamn seat when I am already exhausted and in pain.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-07 09:15 pm (UTC)One of the things which the transit is going to need to work out is capacity -- it's hard for me to travel on Caltrain when it's geared for peak capacity, because between pain, size, and flexibility, I need to sit in the accessible car. Off-peak, there are several. On-peak, there is one. It is anyone's guess which car that will be, so you can't accurately position yourself to board it, and the crowding is such that I can't actually walk between cars. In theory, people who do not need the moderately-accessible seats in the peak-capacity cars are supposed to give those up. In practice, groups of chatting teenagers have taken them and I am not actually up to the verbal communication necessary for telling them that I need a goddamn seat when I am already exhausted and in pain.