Along for the Ride #254
big buses, roundabouts, and the alps: these are a few of my favourite things
Bonjour coucous, bon vendredi.
This week it’s hard to start writing without thinking about the forest fires happening in Los Angeles and the incredible hardship that the city is presently experiencing, let alone the hardship that will follow. Sending all readers impacted a big hug, and noting that all readers can support victims of the fire using this handy dandy mutual aid spreadsheet.
I write to you from France where I took one bus and three trains to get to Domancy in the Alps. I am going to start this week’s podcast (more on that below) with a fun recap of the adventure and the trains I am planning to take while I’m here.
Some house-keeping after last week’s edition:
Podcast! 72 people listened to my first ever podcast, which is great because that means it’s not just my friend Claire who inspired the idea. I shall keep up with it! A few folks responded begging me to get an actual mic, and I’ll do that when I’m back in London in a few weeks time. Promise!! But for now please enjoy the vibe which is essentially the equivalent of me sending you a voice memo of this content + random stories added in.
Survey! So far 52 people have completed the survey. I’m keeping it up for one more week before I pick the winner of the cafe giftcard so be sure to complete it! I am loving your responses so far.
I am already committing to a new section: an Along for the Ride job board. This will be run by people sharing jobs they are hiring for and me posting them lol. So it’s really a group effort. Stay tuned for a launch next week!!
If you said you’re interested in collaborating (a bunch of you did! yay!), please give me a couple weeks to think through how I best manage that.
Time for the news. On y va.
I like big buses and I can not lie (and you should too)
Any opportunity to bring Sir Mix-a-Lot into the mix will be taken. Bloomberg’s CityLab takes on the idea of “Personal Rapid Transit” systems which are essentially micro-transit-esque systems that is essentially a dig at Elon Muck’s Cybercab concept. Muck unironically calls the Cybercab an “individualized mass transit” option. We may actually be living in the end times lol. Anyways… Bloomberg reminds us all why collective mass transit is what will actually solve our congestion / pollution / climate change problemos.
New York City starts congestion pricing program!
Rejoice!! I never thought I’d see the day!! Nothing quite like a cheeto puff becoming president to convince some left-leaning politicians to grow a spine. This article has all the logistical info to help New Yorkers understand how the program works (and all us non-New Yorker nerds who just wanna geek out).
Switzerland to open applications for AVs
Come March 1st, Switzerland will open applications that will allow the use of AVs on pre-defined routes, supporting trials. On said routes, AVs will be allowed to operate without a human driver.
Shoutout to my newsletter bestie John for writing this article (so cool). You can subscribe to Streetbeat here. John writes this kinda like a roundabout saga, looking to Ashland, Kentucky where resistance to five roundabouts led to local politicians losing re-election, while also mentioning other cities (including Carmel, Indiana which has a whopping 150 roundabouts) that have introduced roundabouts in an effort to “save lives, reduce traffic delays and cut emissions”.
How do we convince people that adding more lanes doesn’t solve traffic
One of the hardest things that I have to explain to people is that adding new traffic lanes won’t actually solve your traffic problems. Typically, in the short term, congestion may ease and traffic delays can be reduced. However, after an initial honeymoon period, traffic adapts. Turns out when you build infrastructure to make driving easier, more people choose to drive there (and choose to drive more), thus creating even more traffic than before. (Somewhere in his evil villain lair, Elon Muck is screaming out to the god’s above that induced demand is a hoax). This Bloomberg article does a good job of discussing and debunking this.
The AV legacy of San Francisco
David Zipper interviews the outgoing SFMTA Director, Jeffrey Tumlin, about how the AV boom in San Francisco impacted the city’s larger transportation network. I used to see Tumlin all the time riding his ebike around town. Many have their critiques of him, but he always struck me as somebody whose interests were well placed. I think the lack of political willpower from the Mayor and the red-tape of bureaucracy forced him to water down his aspirations for the city. He has his faults, but in general, he believed in modal shift and fought where he could to make that happen.
A mash-up of Tesla mishaps:
A Tesla in Full Self-Driving mode veered onto some light rail tracks in Santa Monica, and the driver was forced to engage the car and run a red light to avoid being hit by a train (Jalopnik)
The US’ NHTSA has opened a probe on Tesla’s Summon feature in their app; I shared articles about this feature and how it does not work in last week’s edition (BBC)
Toyota prepares to launch Woven City
The Woven City will be nestled below Japan’s Mount Fuji, on a site that previously housed major Toyota offices / manufacturing space. It’s the ~city of the future~ complete with a bazillion gadgets including an autonomous vehicle test track. It will initially house Toyota employees and their families, with the built environment designed by BiG (Dezeen).
May Mobility invests in bigger buses
So on brand for the puns of this week’s newsletter, amiright. May Mobility has a new, all-electric bus that will take them from being a shuttle builder into a (almost) bus builder. The larger vehicles will be able to seat up to 30 passengers, and should be launched in the first half of 2026.
Pony.ai makes plans to launch service for airport workers in Hong Kong
Filed under: very niche. Hong Kong already has a fleet of Baidu AV’s providing service, but Pony.ai (heavily invested in by Toyota) is looking to take a piece of the mobility pie by offering commuter service to Hong Kong International Airport staff (with plans to later expand and cover service throughout the city).
I just coined that term and I’m proud of it. Every news outlet seemed to pick up on a story about a tech CEO from Los Angeles (but riding in Phoenix) almost missing his flight when his Waymo kept going in circling the parking lot of the airport. Lol. It’s not really news, but I will take any opportunity to say: build trains to your airport!! they are reliable and can move exponentially more people than a single car!!
Semi-related: Waymo is trying to convince San Francisco's stakeholders to let them do drop offs at SFO (Mission Local). The article includes a photo taken last month of a Waymo that rolled into a patch of wet cement (lol) on the grounds of a local Hospital and sank in.
McKinsey released a report on AVs
I am so un-enthused by industry consulting reports. I tend to find them out of touch with actual industry happenings and I do not hold them in high regard, but if they are your jam…. here’s another one to add to the reading list.
How ride-hailing companies are preparing for AVs
“Self-driving taxis have yet to prove they can be a viable business. But the ride-hailing leaders are betting robotaxi companies will prefer to join with already popular, established platforms to avoid downtime for their vehicles.”
Exploring generative AI in urban planning
“This paper evaluates the potential of emerging ChatGPT-like and generative AI models in addressing Planning Support System (PSS) gaps and enhancing planning support in AI urbanism. It reviews literature and considers recent technological advancements, emphasizing implications for urban planning. ChatGPT-like models show promise in improving PSS quality by improving data processing, creative generation, and decision support, and promoting user acceptance through increased public engagement, outreach, and superior communication and education.”
“As automated vehicles (AVs) become increasingly popular, the question arises as to how cyclists will interact with such vehicles. This study investigated (1) whether cyclists spontaneously notice if a vehicle is driverless, (2) how well they perform a driver-detection task when explicitly instructed, and (3) how they carry out these tasks. Using a Wizard-of-Oz method, 37 participants cycled a designated route and encountered an AV multiple times in two experimental sessions.”
Without going into too much detail, I have essentially run away from my life in London which is logistically complicated and am spending this month in the French Alps with my friend Al. Al is my number one adventure friend, and if you ever think I’m up to cool things there is a 90% it’s because Al has dragged me somewhere. He is one of those people who invest 120% in the vibe and the fun and whimsical moments. The highlight this week was Al playing Bombay Bicycle Club’s cover of Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me” and him telling me it was from 2010 and pre-dated Selena. I hope you can imagine the smirk on my face when he realized this bop is about Justin Bieber and the chaos of young love lol.
Presently we eat breakfast / lunch / dinner together and Al asks fun breakout questions like “when did you disappoint your parents the most?” or “what ways of moving through the world did you inherit?”. I’ve contributed recipes including these pancakes (inherited from a family I used to babysit for from Vancouver) and this extra garlic-y pasta recipe (from NYC’s Lilia originally!) to soften the blow of these mind-imploding questions.
This week, we’ve also been watching Presumed Innocent on Apple TV and I both enjoy it and hate it. Jake Gyllenhaal looks like he took a few too many ‘roids?
That’s all from me. Have a beautiful weekend friends.
Sarah
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