Sidewalk Labs, a secretive subsidiary of Alphabet, wants to radically overhaul public parking and transportation in American cities, emails and documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.
Its high-tech services, which it calls “new superpowers to extend access and mobility”, could make it easier to drive and park in cities and create hybrid public/private transit options that rely heavily on ride-share services such as Uber.
— the Guardian
"But they might also gut traditional bus services and require cities to invest heavily in Google’s own technologies, experts fear."
In related news:
5 Comments
File under "privatization of public space"
Well duh. That's what Google does. We should ban electricity
Hats for sale! Foil hats for sale!
In Chicago we had some parking meters for sale, that did not go well.
Uber is going to destroy (disrupt) the regulated taxi services. Should the stranger driving you around and to your home have a physical, eye exam and criminal background checks or should we just rely on the good intentions of Uber and their employees? Or worse once Uber has decimated your local cab service they threaten to leave and shut down the ride sharing app if the city should even suggest some common sense minimally disruptive or costly safety regulations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Kalamazoo_shootings
some public goods and services should remain public goods. Peak pricing is a way to devastate a business district that depends on cheap public parking to attract people who can choose to drive to any other venue with free parking.
Regulated taxis and city operated parking are a hedge against peak pricing, otherwise known as price gouging. Not everyone can afford the surge in pricing but still should be able to get safely home or find a legal parking spot. Surge pricing and higher meter pricing has lead to a lot of illegal parking in Chicago, People are Parking in residential neighborhoods instead of paying high meter parking for the commercial street around the corner. This system also has no legal obligation to steer you to the safest or cheapest parking they instead will steer you to the parking that pays the higher commissions or has advertising.
Over and OUT
Peter N
Why can't we have both? Why can't people decide where they want to spend their money and which service is better?
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