[sustran] Re: Google buses- comfort!

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

Hi,

YES, Carlos is right... the part I left out of my earlier post was that 
I hope these GoogleShuttles will inspire other current operators to 
increase the quality of their offer... BUT that begs the question: "What 
if the huge amount of money Google seems to be spending on this - after 
all another Silicon Valley company is offer 600 dollar monthly 
proximity-incentives - was instead spend directly on the relevant 
existing public systems?" I think we would get more bang for the buck... 
and Google employees can be steered toward using it with any measures 
necessary to make their existing car-commute slog seem even more sloggy 
by comparison. These Google employees seem to like the service because 
it is convenient for them - more so for than for any "green" reasons  - 
and I simply don't think it is a good trend if all the big companies 
start using their own micro-services to make it easier for people to get 
to work. Especially if people are using things like GoogleShuttles to 
replace their intermodal journey - with the train as the core mode - it 
could actually decrease the quality of public transport, possibly 
analogous to the situation where public schools lose out when children 
are sent to private ones. And regarding "mode shift"... I think we need 
"distance shift", of which mode shift is a component part.

In proximity,
T

Carlos F. Pardo SUTP wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Actually, what I liked about the Google article was that it shows a 
> comfortable "public" transport arrangement, which is one of the things 
> that is few times implemented (at least in developing countries). The 
> race for high-speed and low-time-travel public transport has left us 
> in a 7personpersquaremeter situation where some of us can barely 
> breathe. Yes, it's part of the business structure and yes, it's 
> difficult to have buses where everybody can sit, read or sleep when 
> you need to lower the fare as much as possible. But we have to try and 
> do this somehow (cross-subsidies? congestion charging?), in order to 
> "pull" people from cars and "push" them to public transport. Comfort 
> is key, especially when it is one of the major reasons for which 
> people use unsustainable modes of transport (the car is sooo 
> comfortable, air conditioned, etc that users will never think of 
> another option). Please bear in mind that the majority of the 
> population can't care less about emissions or sustainable transport, 
> they just care about getting from A to B in the least time possible - 
> just themselves, nobody else in the city. Unfortunately, while we 
> should also promote sustainable transport by showing its 
> environmental, social and economic benefits, we should also work on 
> these selfish motives that drive people in the end (comfort, luxury, 
> apparent power, etc). I find this is one of the most important issues 
> we have to address in order to really promote mode shifts. We can't 
> keep thinking that people will start riding buses and bicycles just 
> because it's such a good thing for the environment! Unfortunately, at 
> least not for now.
>
> Best regards,
> Carlos F. Pardo
> Coordinador de Proyecto- Project Coordinator
> GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC)
> Cl 93A # 14-17 of 708
> Bogotá D.C., Colombia
> Tel/fax:  +57 (1) 236 2309  Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662
> carlos.pardo at sutp.org   www.sutp.org 
>
> -------------------------------------------
Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

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