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Finland's Algorithm-Driven Public Bus
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Where's the Uber-like interactivity for getting a bus to come to you after a tap on your cell phone? In Finland, actually. The Kutsuplus is Helsinki's groundbreaking mass transit hybrid program that lets riders choose their own routes, pay for fares on their phones, and summon their own buses. It's a pretty interesting concept. With a ten-minute lead time, you summon a Kutsuplus bus to a stop using the official app, just as you'd call a livery cab on Uber. Each minibus in the fleet seats at least nine people, and there's room for baby carriages and bikes. You can call your own private Kutsuplus, but if you share the ride, you share the costs — it's about half the price of a cab fare, and a dollar or two more expensive than old school bus transit. You can then pick your own stop, also using the app."
Now, I am not trolling, but can some one tell me what innovation haas come from the USA in recent years? It all seems to come from countries afar!
State officials would use it to keep a lifetime's worth of movement on every citizen, and then monday morning quarterback the people engaging in activities (even if only the heuristics suggest it) they don't approve of. Same is true with autonomous cars and anything else billed as a public convenience. They would also be used to rake people over the coals if they are late on their treadmill taxes/useless license 'fees' in unrelated areas. Oh, you want to go to work? Sorry, denied, citizen. You didn't renew your 'autonomous transportation safety license.'
It's already bad enough as it is, no thanks.
"The bus fare here in Finland varies between cities (it depends on amount of municipality aid to operator) but generally, single adult fare is 3.8 USD to 4 USD (and price doubles at night) and you may be allowed to use the same ticket again within certain time perioid (1 hour or so)."
I'm from Luxembourg, Europe and here too lots of small towns have also a call-a-bus system like that.
But you just use the regular tickets for it, it's 2€ for 2 hours, no matter where.
Lots of people use it to get to doctor's appointments or to places where parking is either expensive or rare.
Obviously lots of seniors use it too.