It really depends on the location I guess. I ride the bus a lot in my city. And the bus drivers here do a lot more than just drive the bus. Their most important secondary duty is helping users of wheelchairs and other mobility devices. The buses have wheelchair ramps that fold down, which the drivers manually operate. Then once on the bus, a front section of seats will fold up, and there is a system to strap a wheelchair down securely. It is the bus driver that does this.
Now, one area automated buses could really help would be expanding the pool of potential drivers. Our system has a hard time recruiting new drivers, as a CDL (commercial drivers license) is required. And people with such a license can usually make better money driving trucks for for-profit businesses. So it’s really hard to get, train, and retain bus drivers, as few people are actually qualified to drive a bus.
So in our city, we would still need an employee onboard to help with these secondary duties. However, with an automated bus, they could be done by anyone. Instead of a driver with a CDL, we could hire some college kids to ride around the city in the auto buses. They could offer assistance when needed, but spend the majority of their time just working on their studies. As such, they could be hired at a very affordable cost to the city.
Yea, public transit differs wildly depending on area. Like I mentioned above, most drivers I saw actively resented this part of their job. To my recollection, the ramp was automated, but other than that the drivers would basically require you to ask for assistance and then huff and puff the whole time. Not all drivers, but a disproportionately large percentage. Would love to see that part of the job occupied by someone with more compassion, but you’re correct that with the current system someone would need to be there for that. I was figuring that if the vehicle was automated they’d have ADA compliant automated safety features as well.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !technology@beehaw.org
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
It really depends on the location I guess. I ride the bus a lot in my city. And the bus drivers here do a lot more than just drive the bus. Their most important secondary duty is helping users of wheelchairs and other mobility devices. The buses have wheelchair ramps that fold down, which the drivers manually operate. Then once on the bus, a front section of seats will fold up, and there is a system to strap a wheelchair down securely. It is the bus driver that does this.
Now, one area automated buses could really help would be expanding the pool of potential drivers. Our system has a hard time recruiting new drivers, as a CDL (commercial drivers license) is required. And people with such a license can usually make better money driving trucks for for-profit businesses. So it’s really hard to get, train, and retain bus drivers, as few people are actually qualified to drive a bus.
So in our city, we would still need an employee onboard to help with these secondary duties. However, with an automated bus, they could be done by anyone. Instead of a driver with a CDL, we could hire some college kids to ride around the city in the auto buses. They could offer assistance when needed, but spend the majority of their time just working on their studies. As such, they could be hired at a very affordable cost to the city.
Yea, public transit differs wildly depending on area. Like I mentioned above, most drivers I saw actively resented this part of their job. To my recollection, the ramp was automated, but other than that the drivers would basically require you to ask for assistance and then huff and puff the whole time. Not all drivers, but a disproportionately large percentage. Would love to see that part of the job occupied by someone with more compassion, but you’re correct that with the current system someone would need to be there for that. I was figuring that if the vehicle was automated they’d have ADA compliant automated safety features as well.