The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[Rockatansky]

17 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Not me but someone here in Charlotte rode our entire light rail line starting at the new terminus UNC Charlotte all the way through uptown Charlotte to the south terminus at South Blvd I-485 and videoed it . It is 58 minutes from end to end but believe me in rush hour it would take more than that.   The first 30 minutes of this video shows the new extension that opened on Friday.  You can see all the construction of new apartments along the line even through our downtown (sorry all the big high rises were on the right and this was taken from the left hand side of the train going south)  Note how the line crosses over major intersections over bridges.  Only 3 cities in the southeast have rail transit now and I guess the question is will Nashville join us?  However NC will have a 2nd system in Durham and Chapel Hill that is working through all the approvals and planning now.    Buckle your seatbelt and enjoy your ride through the Queen City.

Thanks for posting. I lived in Charlotte back in the late 90's. I'm looking forward to see all the changes the city has experienced.

[grilled_cheese]

Uber autonomous vehicle kills jaywalker : (

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/uber-autonomous-car-involved-in-fatal-crash-in-arizona

[markhollin]

If voters approve the transit referendum, here's what Metro would do next:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/03/19/if-voters-approve-the-transit-referendum-heres.html

[PaulChinetti]

http://t4america.org/2015/08/31/urban-bike-trails-in-cities-like-indianapolis-dallas-and-atlanta-are-proving-to-have-rich-economic-benefits-to-city-neighborhoods/

Has some good links to different reports and things.

[Neigeville2]

On 3/19/2018 at 1:55 PM, grilled_cheese said:

Uber autonomous vehicle kills jaywalker : (

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/uber-autonomous-car-involved-in-fatal-crash-in-arizona

Notice that the first thing we're told is that the woman was "jaywalking"--rather than walking 100 yards to the nearest crosswalk--and not that the Uber car was speeding.  Article in curbed doesn't begin to match my outrage:  This is the moment when we decide that human lives matter more than cars  

"The fact that the state is so deadly for walkers is not a coincidence. The same factor that is responsible for Arizona’s high number of pedestrian deaths is the very same reason Uber is testing there—the state prioritizes cars over the lives of pedestrians.  When Uber was ordered to halt its autonomous testing in San Francisco for refusing to file a permit in late 2016, the company orchestrated a dramatic exodus to Arizona where Governor Doug Ducey welcomed Uber with the promise of “wide open roads.”"

 

[grilled_cheese]

8 hours ago, Neigeville2 said:

Notice that the first thing we're told is that the woman was "jaywalking"--rather than walking 100 yards to the nearest crosswalk--and not that the Uber car was speeding.  Article in curbed doesn't begin to match my outrage:  This is the moment when we decide that human lives matter more than cars  

"The fact that the state is so deadly for walkers is not a coincidence. The same factor that is responsible for Arizona’s high number of pedestrian deaths is the very same reason Uber is testing there—the state prioritizes cars over the lives of pedestrians.  When Uber was ordered to halt its autonomous testing in San Francisco for refusing to file a permit in late 2016, the company orchestrated a dramatic exodus to Arizona where Governor Doug Ducey welcomed Uber with the promise of “wide open roads.”"

 

Good catch.  I actually specifically added the "jaywalking" note to my post as I didn't want to seem to be furthering my own narrative.

[PaulChinetti]

The final report should be interesting, regardless of if a person or a computer is driving the car if the women stepped out in front of the car, physics works the same.

If it's a fault in the system, it better be addressed immediately!

[Rockatansky]

11 hours ago, Neigeville2 said:

and not that the Uber car was speeding.

Pretty surprised that Uber would allow their vehicles to break the law. You'd think they'd have a pretty good grasp on speed limits and not violate them.

[PaulChinetti]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/20/us/self-driving-uber-pedestrian-killed.html


"The vehicle was doing about 40 miles per hour on a street with a 45 m.p.h. speed limit"

Doesn't seem like the car was speeding. Takes about 80 feet for a car to stop that is going around 40. Probably more because this vehicle is an SUV. 

I'm sure all of this is recorded in their computers, probably with video and the cars lidar/radar etc. 

[MidTenn1]

An actual driver might have noticed someone about to step off the curb and prepared for the conflict. The final result of the incident might have been different. 

[PaulChinetti]

They do "see" a lot though. I wonder if it saw her as part of the trees she was under. A person would probably not have made that mistake.

BUT,  physics is still there regardless of who is driving though. 

[ruraljuror]

14 minutes ago, PHofKS said:

An actual driver might have noticed someone about to step off the curb and prepared for the conflict. The final result of the incident might have been different. 

 

I get your point, but an actual driver could also just as easily have been texting, or drunk, or distracted by any number of things.  I completely agree that we need to do everything possible to make driverless cars as safe as possible, but the only way to fairly evaluate whether or not they are actually safer and less accident prone than human-operated cars will be by long-term statistical analysis and testing.

As I think has been discussed on this board before, the tougher question will be whether or not the driverless operating systems are programmed to make split decisions that prioritize the lives of its own passengers over pedestrians/passengers in other cars and how much property damage  will factor into those equations.

Edited March 21, 2018 by ruraljuror

[PaulChinetti]

Like Will Smith in iRobot, SAVE THE GIRL!

If I buy a car I would think it would prioritize my safety. But then what if cars don't, woof, would people buy those cars if they know they will only save them if they have a 60% chance or better of living. I can't even imagine.

[MidTenn1]

Passenger or pedestrian?

[grilled_cheese]

Here's a website that highlights the least used roads in every state and TN 104 is Tennessee's.  We better not be spending one cent on this road until we get Nashville transit fixed.

 

https://www.geotab.com/americas-quietest-routes/

[PruneTracy]

1 hour ago, grilled_cheese said:

Here's a website that highlights the least used roads in every state and TN 104 is Tennessee's.  We better not be spending one cent on this road until we get Nashville transit fixed.

It's getting widened to four lanes from US 412 to SR 188 in Dyer and Gibson Counties.

https://www.tdot.tn.gov/projectneeds/spot#/

The methodology for that article is BS anyway. SR 104 is a little-used route but I can think of a few sections of state routes in Tennessee that have fewer vehicles per day, just not along the entire route. It's pointless though because more often than not TDOT's state route numbering is just a convenience for functional classification and not a method of marking a point-to-point route.

[grilled_cheese]

31 minutes ago, PruneTracy said:

It's getting widened to four lanes from US 412 to SR 188 in Dyer and Gibson Counties.

https://www.tdot.tn.gov/projectneeds/spot#/

The methodology for that article is BS anyway. SR 104 is a little-used route but I can think of a few sections of state routes in Tennessee that have fewer vehicles per day, just not along the entire route. It's pointless though because more often than not TDOT's state route numbering is just a convenience for functional classification and not a method of marking a point-to-point route.

Straight up theft.  I want my money back from these craphole counties that add nothing to my life.  I will never visit them nor drive on their craphole roads.

[donNdonelson2]

And I’m sure the fine folks in those quaint rural counties would say the feeling is mutual.

[grilled_cheese]

8 minutes ago, donNdonelson2 said:

And I’m sure the fine folks in those quaint rural counties would say the feeling is mutual.

Difference being they take more than they contribute.

[Guest]

^ ha we agree! I am sure you will support my claim to recapture my property taxes and income taxes that are being redistributed! Let's start a petition.

[PaulChinetti]

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/group-offers-a-plan-b-for-nashville-transit

Haven’t been able to watch the video yet. Anyone want to cliff notes their plan?

[BnaBreaker]

7 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/group-offers-a-plan-b-for-nashville-transit

Haven’t been able to watch the video yet. Anyone want to cliff notes their plan?

Their "plan" is literally to rent passenger vans and use them in a rideshare program.  I wish I were joking.   Why is this even getting media coverage?  I mean, I suppose I could see this idea as being useful as a supplement to a much larger plan, and I guess I appreciate the effort to think outside the box to some degree, but I just can't take seriously anyone who thinks that renting a fleet of church vans is a suitable transit solution for a city of two million people. 

Edited March 21, 2018 by BnaBreaker

[Neigeville2]

11 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

The final report should be interesting, regardless of if a person or a computer is driving the car if the women stepped out in front of the car, physics works the same.

If it's a fault in the system, it better be addressed immediately!

The key issue we don't know yet is whether the car swerved-it should have had plenty of time and space to do so-or at least braked.  Every mile an hour slower at the time of collision increases the pedestrian's chance of survival.   If its radar and whatnot didn't perceive a person stepping into the space in front of it, that's a real problem because that's exactly what it's supposed to do, and, especially at night, do better than a human driver. 

Amazing thing (perhaps not, considering this is Arizona) is that the landscaped median actually has a brick-paved path across it at this point, with a small sign telling pedestrians not to use it.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Neigeville2

[SoundScan]

2 hours ago, nashville_bound said:

^ ha we agree! I am sure you will support my claim to recapture my property taxes and income taxes that are being redistributed! Let's start a petition.

Perhaps save that for when Tennessee as a whole can pull it’s own weight financially, no? 

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/

[samsonh]

1 hour ago, SoundScan said:

Perhaps save that for when Tennessee as a whole can pull it’s own weight financially, no? 

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/

I’ve posted similar articles in the past. There is no response because there is no comeback to raw stats.