
Ask HN: Why don't cities/states create their own ride-sharing platform? - cheapsteak
Don&#x27;t dispatch networks seem a lot like infrastructure? The main barrier doesn&#x27;t seem to be technology, but network effects, and to a lesser extent, government regulation.<p>Why don&#x27;t cities&#x2F;provinces&#x2F;states make their own?<p>Adoption wouldn&#x27;t be an issue, following government code wouldn&#x27;t be an issue, would probably bring in quite a bit of revenue.<p>Are any cities doing this already?
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venning
It's not entirely clear yet what long-term effect ridesharing will have on
city traffic [1] and cities are very invested in keeping that low. Buses and
trains and such keep that traffic lower, at least according to current data.

Of course, if ridesharing proves itself to _reduce_ traffic, I wouldn't be
surprised to find cities experimenting with public-private partnerships to
implement them locally. We have something very successful in DC called Capital
Bikeshare that is focused largely on reducing traffic.

But, unlike bikesharing, if Uber and kin prove out ridesharing as valuable to
DC, I cannot see what the local government would add with their own system,
something that I know the DC government _does_ consider. Capital Bikeshare is
so successful precisely _because_ the government is involved. They can convert
a couple street parking spaces or a traffic intersection median into a
bikeshare without asking anyone, and have done so with no real complaint.

[1] [http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-uber-making-nyc-
rush-...](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-uber-making-nyc-rush-hour-
traffic-worse/)

[2]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Bikeshare](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Bikeshare)

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WCityMike
Chicago is doing something very similar with Divvy. [1]

[1] [https://www.divvybikes.com/](https://www.divvybikes.com/)

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tedmiston
That sounds similar to BCycle [1]. Is it a branded version for Chicago? In
Cincinnati we have Red Bike [2].

1: [https://www.bcycle.com/](https://www.bcycle.com/)

2: [http://www.cincyredbike.org/](http://www.cincyredbike.org/)

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pwman
Washington DC has been doing it as long as I can remember:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slugging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slugging)

Basically pickup someone random so you can utilize HOV.

~~~
codegeek
I actually used this when I used to work in DC but lived in NoVA. Really good
stuff and helpful. You basically get a free ride to the city and many times
almost close to where you work.

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edwhitesell
Some do. Michigan has had it since 1974 [0]. Of course, it was a bit less
dependent on technology when it started.

[0]
[http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9615_11228_11234--...](http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9615_11228_11234---,00.html)

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alahaitu
Helsinki tried this with their Kutsuplus service, but it ended up proving too
expensive and underused for being publicly funded. They are now looking for
private companies to run a similar service.

[http://www.wired.com/2013/10/on-demand-public-
transit/](http://www.wired.com/2013/10/on-demand-public-transit/)

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BjoernKW
Because they're clueless and they're living in the past. There are notable
exceptions but for the most part this applies to public administration in
general.

From their point of view, why should they try to find novel solutions to
evident problems while they can much more easily just "regulate away" the
potential for such solutions (for now, that is) and claim the problem doesn't
exist in the first place? Public administration is notoriously bad at both
embracing change and long-term planning because its stakeholders' outlook is
measured in legislative periods.

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barney54
City planners are enamored with building stuff. That's why they want to build
subways and light rail systems instead of bus rapid transport.

Building stuff is more permanent and facilitates other building--like
apartment building or office building near stations.

With IT dispatch systems they aren't building anything physical and aren't
affecting the built environment and all their training is about affecting the
built environment.

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pjc50
They might yet do this, but local government tends to be terrible with IT.
It's more likely that compromises will be reached to allow Uber to operate,
such as requirements for insurance or real employment contracts.

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phantom_oracle
Nobody has mentioned this, but possibly relevant is the issue of lawsuits:

If a class-action is brought against an Uber, it can be sued out of existence
(think like a major case that affects their publicity and kills the business).

Even though a local government can become bankrupt, it doesn't happen quite
that often. It is also easier to police a small subset of bus/train drivers
and register a known subset of taxi-drivers than having to manage a work-force
of in-out ride-sharing drivers.

Ride-sharing also doesn't seem that efficient, as I've never read/heard of an
awesome/PR+ story of Uber/Lyft reducing the traffic congestion in New
York/London (known as congested cities).

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ruraljuror
When driving on the highway recently, I noticed a standard governmental sign
which had a 1-800 number to call for ride sharing.

Your post made me think of this, so I did some quick googling of my state and
the surrounding states. It seems all of them have ridesharing programs and
regulations to promote ridesharing to some degree.

Of course these are not sophisticated technological platforms with mobile
apps. Personally I was intrigued by the possibilities for user experience...
what would it be like to get a ride by calling one of these phone numbers?

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zurn
here's one: [http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jul/10/helsinki-
share...](http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jul/10/helsinki-shared-
public-transport-plan-car-ownership-pointless)

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w__m
Fuel is government-taxed. More traffic jams = more fuel = more tax. Forget
long-term thinking. MORE TAX. NOW.

I agree with @BjoernKW also.

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dang
"Please don't use uppercase for emphasis."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

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ericnolte
Unions

~~~
wycx
Neoliberalism

