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I can't tell you the sort of visceral, outraged reactions I have gotten from people when I've pointed out that Uber, Lyft and similar "services" are not good for anyone. Oh sure, they look good for you as a consumer right now, and those who drive for them say they "make some money" as well.
I have repeatedly pointed out that these "companies" are shams. They not only intend to gang***** all of their drivers by putting them out of work permanently they also intend to screw everyone who uses them.
And the best part of it is that the public, from the drivers to the riders, lap it up like good little dogs drinking anti-freeze.
Well, here it is.
2. WE PRIORITIZE PEOPLE OVER VEHICLES. The mobility of people and not vehicles shall be in the center of transportation planning and decision-making. Cities shall prioritize walking, cycling, public transport and other efficient shared mobility, as well as their interconnectivity. Cities shall discourage the use of cars, single-passenger taxis, and other oversized vehicles transporting one person.
Got it? Cities shall "discourage" the use of personally-owned vehicles. And how would they do this? By taxing the hell out of them, for openers. Chicago and other cities already do this sort of thing by forcing you to buy a "city sticker" under pain of large, daily fines. Jacking up that price to exorbitant levels will make privately-owned vehicles basically impossible for anyone who is not ridiculously wealthy to afford.
4. WE ENGAGE WITH STAKEHOLDERS. Residents, workers, businesses, and other stakeholders may feel direct impacts on their lives, their investments and their economic livelihoods by the unfolding transition to shared, zero-emission, and ultimately autonomous vehicles. We commit to actively engage these groups in the decision-making process and support them as we move through this transition.
In other words you'll get raped and we shall, through the force of government, demand you do so and wind up with all control (and the money) from transportation within cities. Want to go somewhere we don't? Tough crap.
10. WE SUPPORT THAT AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES (AVS) IN DENSE URBAN AREAS SHOULD BE OPERATED ONLY IN SHARED FLEETS. Due to the transformational potential of autonomous vehicle technology, it is critical that all AVs are part of shared fleets, well-regulated, and zero emission. Shared fleets can provide more affordable access to all, maximize public safety and emissions benefits, ensure that maintenance and software upgrades are managed by professionals, and actualize the promise of reductions in vehicles, parking, and congestion, in line with broader policy trends to reduce the use of personal cars in dense urban areas.
And of course here's the punchline: You won't be able to legally buy and own a driverless car.
You will only be able to rent rides in one owned by Uber, Lyft and similar.
In other words here's a nice so-called "NGO" that is "partnering" with those nice folks like Rahm and his cadre of guns that all involved, including Uber, Lyft and others, intend to shove up your nose and force you to use their services in order to get around. The personal ownership and use of such vehicles for those living in cities shall be prohibited under the law.
Your current car is likely to be the last one you're legally able to own and operate. The ability go to when you want, where you want, and how you want is about to disappear all because you enabled and cheered on these firms.
Congratulations fools; you're all stupid beyond words and may you get exactly what you deserve and what I predicted -- long and hard.
And building directly on from the previous post you put up regarding being banned from platforms... what happens when you tick off one of the only companies that provides transport? Yep.
In the X files episode with the clip I posted they humorously depict the consequences of not tipping or giving negative feedback. The implication was that you'll be punished for not just passively acceding to poor goods and services.
"Your current car is likely to be the last one you're legally able to own and operate. The ability go to when you want, where you want, and how you want is about to disappear all because you enabled and cheered on these firms."
Yes. This is where it's headed: however, I disagree that my current car "is likely to be the last" one I'll legally be able to own, but I wholeheartedly agree that this is what the collectivists want... Will they succeed? I highly doubt it. Why?
What I really believe will happen long before an Uber takeover is what I call, "The Great Crash and Burn"... This is when the SHTF and conditions get even worse than they were during the Great Depression. Somewhere over the horizon is a time when people won't even bother to pay of a license renewal, because that will be the last thing on their minds. They will just ****ing drive -- if they can. And the biggest problem won't be getting a ticket from some goon squad or Uber, Lyft and similar "services" taking over, but instead the problem will be getting resupplied with fuel because of the total ****ing breakdown in the supply chain...
But that's just another dystopian story which I may or may not live to see play out.
I'll go to a company car if/when that happens. (by selling my POV to my company).
They can't expect employees to unload/reload a couple hundred pounds of tools into an Uber every time they go see a client.
And I suspect a lot of people would do something similar. Form "Bob's Lawn Care", that never gets any business, but has a WeedWhacker in the trunk of the "company" car.
Big cities will of course try to pass a bunch of extra "commercial vehicle" fees, but that doesn't apply to me, since I don't live in/near one.
It sounds so nice.. they care about people over vehicles. Like all this commie hore **** the name is the exact opposite of what is intended. "Mobility" and "livable cities"
City and regional planners ultimate goal. I see this all the time in the forms of creeping regulation, to the point that I tell my clients they should find another city to build in.
simple, there is going to be a very big difference between living in these left wing cities and elsewhere such as country, towns and sane urban areas. since no one can make you work (once we go there it is over), i do not have to put up with their bs. regular cars will be plentiful for decades as so many good ones were built since the late 1980's and very recently. they will be sold to us smart people in the vast lands outside of the control center prison camp cities. you are going to see a great divide happen, guaranteed. btw, autonomous is not necessarily bad, simply i might want the option without control and surveillance. this is where perhaps we will have a renaissance in DIY as people give up mindless entertainment and start again to be competent. my youngest who did not study stem is however self-learning a lot about electronics and computers just for the hell of it and has mentioned an idea that i once considered of making a conversion kit for when you wish your standard car to go auto drive. perhaps there will be catalogs like to old JC Whitney online selling the necessary modules built by hobbyists and eventually small concerns. a good hard economic and social crash should be the inspiration for this. along with the current movement towards more free time which translates into DIY. i can fix just about anything on a car, combine this with some personal innovation and **** the control grid cities.
recently turned down a position in good old NYC. they asked why. said i had to be miserable to earn money that i would have no time to spend. this is the real fear; they told me that they are having trouble getting people to work there, interesting. brutal commute or live in a hole in the wall paying for overpriced goods and poor service, no way. if the cities wanted to deal with the very real traffic problems, games like this are not necessary. they should massively improve their transit systems and people would use them more. they are going to be in a very bad position with all of the autonomous vehicles if this ever pans out which is debatable. they will massively clog the streets to a level that has never been seen before because if you make something easy, it experiences growth. people who avoided a two hour commute or drive into the city might not care if they can read or watch stuff while riding in their own little room. they might even pay more like so many rich people in Manhattan, NYC. they may be in traffic going 2 MPH, but they are not packed into the trains or sweltering in the heat or driving, someone else is. once someone else is a robot, it will be the mass marketing of something that the wealthier only do. this happens with many things that trickle down to the middle and lower class. people will pay for this and the traffic will be a nightmare. the autonomous car thing means that the authorities and this new NGO as Karl accurately calls it have other agendas and are relying on the stupidity of people to implement it.
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There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little. snow, seasons, distance and dirt roads: SSDD "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7)
This sounds like part of the the latest global elite plan for socialist city states that replace nation states. for the children. They will never understand that basic human behavior (wants and desires) does not evolve.
This has already begun in the PNW. King County, which contains Seattle and it's greater metropolitan area has gone full retard with car tabs.
It was rolled into a transportation bill that dragged in the county to the north and to the south (the one I live in). Where voters saw "1% increase" in the wording what really took place was that they would slap 1% of the brand new retail value of your vehicle every year. Own a nice car? $1700 per year tabs thank you. The tabs for my friggin motorcycle were $287, and included a weight tax ($30 which is the lowest threshold) and a tax labled TBD ($20).
Even the liberals bitched about the tab increase.
The overall bill is for billions of dollars which Sound Transit admits is just the down payment. The light rail they're building is a complete scam. They force home owners out using eminent domain and pay them the going price for their property as of a few years ago when they dreamed this up.
They buy quite a swath on each side of the intended rail, then when the rail is complete they sell the land to the developers who built the rails for pennies on the dollar.
They closed down a perfectly good floating bridge to devote it to light rail. Light rail on a floating bridge is an engineering challenge and a complete waste of time. They could buy a thousand buses and run them where ever they need buses.
Their efforts to change motorist behavior has worked beautifully. I cannot be talked into driving to Seattle for any reason, and my wallet snapped shut on every business on the east side when they installed dynamic tolling lanes on 405.
Never used or participated in any of these services and never freely shall. One of the company VPs was bragging about these services at a DNC convention. I just rolled my eyes. These people have no clue. Of course these are the kind of people that encourage such things.
I'll take a real taxi thank you - one that is properly insured with a legitimate company. As far as autonomous cars I just see nothing more than rape, murder, and robbery occuring with these things especially if allowed to pick up more than one fare in transit to "share the ride." Rest assured you will also be watched by camera and monitored the entire time in these vehicles. You conversations will be recorded. Find one low on fuel that must go back to the central station to refuel and leave a them a special gift.
My car is my fortress on the road to a certain extent. Though not perfect it is a barrier between me and whatever is out there. Anything that wants in without permission into my vehicle can meet Mr. 45auto and Mr. .357 Magnum. You can be damn sure you will not be able to legally defend yourself within this collectivist hell inside their vehicles.
EMG said:
Quote:
It's almost as though "Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state" was part of the Communist Manifesto.
"We commit to actively engage these groups in the decision-making process"
Yeah, our city does this. And then when we tell them they're freaking stupid they say 'well, we're doing it anyway.'
Actually it is a form of fascism. Here we have all these entities trying to form their own collectives to monopolize an industry that have big friends in the state structure. It is their hopes and dream that their state friends will then APPOINT them as the primary provider for the state. The fascists pigmen run their business but they do it with the blessing and FORCE of the state. They know they can not truly compete. Therefore they must make life miserable and take away all other popular, viable, economical, and competitive choices to FORCE everyone else to come to them.
This is NOT free enterprise if the population has been left with the choices of a SLAVE.
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The other fallout is what such a policy would do to cripple the auto manufacturing, fuel, highway, auto repair, and other related industry.
Honestly these collectivist people can't think one step ahead when it comes to interferring with their" true beliefs". Or perhaps they can and just do not care!
I think the unions will be taking Uber/Lyft to task when it starts to hurt their cut of the bezzle. It will get ugly very fast with the pussified collectivists enraging hardened union thugs. Both parties want the state blessing on what they do. That will be an interesting civil war.
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"Mass intelligence does not mean intelligent masses."
>>Their efforts to change motorist behavior has worked beautifully. I cannot be talked into driving to Seattle for any reason, and my wallet snapped shut on every business on the east side when they installed dynamic tolling lanes on 405.>>
I have tickets for 'Hamilton' in a week or so--that will likely be the last time I visit 'downtown' Seattle.
Last fall we tried to go to dinner on the waterfront--nice October day, middle of the week. We spent 45 minutes trying to go around one block, once. They removed at least two travel lanes and left one in the middle of the street--the other lanes were converted to bike lakes. We never saw a bike. Seattle has hills. Further, the remaining pavement would destroy rims if not split bike frames. We bailed out, headed back to West Seattle (son lives there for now) and found a nice waterfront restaurant with all kinds of access and all kinds of surface parking. Probably a better view, too.
the unfolding transition to shared, zero-emission, and ultimately autonomous vehicles.
So I presume that electric cars are out? Or do they plan on building a crap ton of new nuclear power plants?
All these people driving around in their coal, oil and natural gas powered "electric" vehicles think they are saving the planet. Even the infrastructure to build windmills and solar panels aren't "zero emission" since they depend on power generated by power sources that likely "emit"....
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I just realized... they aren't saying, "Keynesian Economics" they're saying "Kenyansian Economics". Grass Huts for everyone! Welcome to historys first Double Dip Depression
Public transportation and shared-use fleets will accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles. Electric vehicles shall ultimately be powered by renewable energy to maximize climate and air quality benefits.
All those vehicles shall be powered by renewable energy? Right, show me the math on that one. (Let me guess, all of the fly-over countryside will be populated by wind turbines and solar panels. Um, where is your food going to come from, *******s?)
They removed at least two travel lanes and left one in the middle of the street--the other lanes were converted to bike lakes.
They're doing this insanity in Los Angeles as well.
And the roads they have chosen to remove lanes on, in many cases, are roads that are heavily trafficked, in effect making the gridlock worse. I can't find an internet citation, but on the KFI John and Ken show (an excellent local radio show), that the bike lanes were actually destroying businesses.
They were interviewing a restaurant owner, his restaurant on a road where they removed a car lane and replaced it with a bike lane. He says the traffic is so gridlocked now that patrons stopped coming to his shop, and the cash ran dry. "Green" city planning was literally destroying viable businesses.
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"If you don't have borders... if you don't have laws... you don't have a country."
This has already begun in the PNW. King County, which contains Seattle and it's greater metropolitan area
Don't forget about the new building meme that has taken hold. In Redmond and Bellevue they are building massive 4-5 story structures of apartments with retail on the street level. Hundreds of units (2-3 bedrooms) are built on a city block which is surrounded by two-lane roads. The congestion is getting epic. But that is the plan - make it so you don't want to use a car or force the issue by making it impractical.
Weekday commutes are bad enough but now it is grid lock on the weekend too. I just stay home.
nothing that cannot be solved by a good hard economic crash. it has this wonderful ability to dry up wasteful spending that these dirtbags depend upon to fuel their nightmares. most people do not realize how long many things in the cities were postponed after the great depression. some effects lasted into the sixties and forever stopped even some necessary and useful projects. the broken down nature of the cities due in part to this fueled the suburban boom along with changing attitudes after the war. the cities, especially new yuck, have always wanted to address the issue of people who work there because they have to but take the money to other communities. cars are a big part of this issue for them as well as suburban commuter railroads. these are often run on a string since they are inconsistent with keeping the herd in the city. just trying to get some investment in better transit in and out of the cities is a bear as deep down the city father do not want it. the ultimate plan which is aligning realty interests and other business interests is to acculturate and formally force people to live in city borders so that they keep the money in house. this is the plan. you have your little shelf apartment and no matter how much you earn, it is spent in city. remember there is very little that must be done economically within the cities borders. they deindustrialized for the most part. many like nyc are giant real estate scams. they sell the concept of core competency of having lots of productive people close together at the higher end of intelligence but this is bs. many businesses that i consulted for literally have nothing to do with anyone even their neighbors in the same building. they could leave tomorrow and massively cut their costs, internet anyone, shipping companies? nyc was saved from its financial disaster decades ago as it is a major store of foreign and other influential wealth that gets compounded by poor monetary policy. this is where trump benefited as he simply aligned himself with where the politics and monetary slop was being thrown. he was actually a glove box for the wealthier interests to implement some of their plans, a paid employee in a scam business. he is not a great business leader, just someone that they gave enough money to so that he could be a jerk without consequence. he panders to people who have nyc like interests such as unions and scam business as he grew up in the easy money world that pays them off when they align with city interests. thus he scammed the middle and southern country people who rightly so usually distrusted the new york way. new york and its media is a master at selling bs to the folks who watch morning shows filmed here. this newest socialism push with the techies is merely nyc like cities figuring out a way with their aligned business interests to move the herd towards their profit centers. been going on a long time and it is not socialism rather corporatism. otherwise known as fascism.
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There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little. snow, seasons, distance and dirt roads: SSDD "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7)
Everything that is successful in the market depends on individuals making the decision of entering or not into the deal.
Eventually the number of people that decide that the new option is better, that it becomes the new standard. And usually happen fast.
When you have a centralized coordination, sometimes it may work, most of the time do not. After 150+ years, passenger trains are not able to turn a profit almost anywhere. You can go to countries where they have an state run airline to check how profitable they are.
When Ford made the model T affordable, people, one by one, decided to change from the horse carriage to a car (With the respectable but not shared Amish point of view). It happened in 20 years.
Internet succeeded by the same mechanism. It happened in 10-15 years.
I agree that a single user car is the second most wasteful invention in term of energy efficiency for transportation (the first is private jets).
But as of today, nobody has come with a transportation system where individuals can get in or out voluntarily while at the same time begin more efficient beyond making cars more efficient. It will require a visionary like Ford, not a lobbyist group.
If this proposal by Uber and Lyft has a future, it will be one of inefficiencies, poor service and subsidies.
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Face a bear robbed of her cubs, but never a fool in his folly! Proverbs 17:12
Switching everyone from private cars to Uber cars does nothing to ease congestion. I hate these companies that think their technology will save the world. They don't think. These guys are highly motivated to promote this crap, talk about a conflict of interest. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. No thought of the long term ramifications, they just see dollar signs. Would Uber bankrupt itself promoting the solutions that would actually improve mobility around cities? Not likely. Uber and self-driving cars will not solve the problems created by sprawl and high real estate prices (thanks to zoning laws).
Our closest city (just over 50k population) put in bike lanes about 3 years ago. Must have been with state/fed funds, no way they could have afforded all the work done.
Didn't hurt congestion that I can tell, but I've yet to see a single bike using any of them. Not a single one.
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It's justifiably immoral to deal morally with an immoral entity.
