https://www.wired.com/story/autonomous-vehicles-might-drive-cities-to-financial-ruin/
"The advent of driverless cars will likely mean that municipalities will have to make do with much, much less." In essence, the article is making the case that we should put the kibosh on autonomous vehicle introductions into cities because the substantially reduced tax base would hollow out and destroy urban governments - rendering cities useless more or less. The author mentions urban 'pension overhangs' in passing - but IMO that is a much bigger and more immediate concern than Elon Musk ever will be. And no infrastructure subsidy from the Federal Government would ever be able to touch that elephant in the room (pensions).
I would like to know: 'what's wrong with autonomous electric buses or trolleys as public transportation?' Regardless of political affiliation, from my own observations most Americans won't walk more than five city blocks before procuring a cab or Uber comes into the calculus.
An interesting read. For a number of reasons, mass transit just isn't really sustainable in the United States beyond certain limited urban situations. IMO, it's a matter of scale and size and financial viability.
https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/politics-is-failing-mass-transit/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelko...ff-the-rails-in-many-u-s-cities/#412b2b0366b5
"Journalists in older cities like New York, Boston or San Francisco may see the role of rail transit as critical to a functioning modern city. In reality, rail transit has been a financial and policy failure outside of a handful of cities."
"The advent of driverless cars will likely mean that municipalities will have to make do with much, much less." In essence, the article is making the case that we should put the kibosh on autonomous vehicle introductions into cities because the substantially reduced tax base would hollow out and destroy urban governments - rendering cities useless more or less. The author mentions urban 'pension overhangs' in passing - but IMO that is a much bigger and more immediate concern than Elon Musk ever will be. And no infrastructure subsidy from the Federal Government would ever be able to touch that elephant in the room (pensions).
I would like to know: 'what's wrong with autonomous electric buses or trolleys as public transportation?' Regardless of political affiliation, from my own observations most Americans won't walk more than five city blocks before procuring a cab or Uber comes into the calculus.
An interesting read. For a number of reasons, mass transit just isn't really sustainable in the United States beyond certain limited urban situations. IMO, it's a matter of scale and size and financial viability.
https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/politics-is-failing-mass-transit/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelko...ff-the-rails-in-many-u-s-cities/#412b2b0366b5
"Journalists in older cities like New York, Boston or San Francisco may see the role of rail transit as critical to a functioning modern city. In reality, rail transit has been a financial and policy failure outside of a handful of cities."
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