Transit Fantasies

[xd_1771]

When you think about it, drivers aren't enthusiastic about playing that role of being the mediator, at the potential expense of their safety. So I don't think we should be expecting that of drivers to begin with.

These days, modern buses have CCTV cameras that to an extent could take care of the monitoring aspect. Though I can understand why you'd want to up the amount of transit security officers (at cost) to make up for the lack of drivers on buses. SkyTrain is a fast, fixed system where you can deploy an officer as needed quickly if there's an incident on a train. Imagine if one of these driverless buses were used on the outskirts of Langley or Aldergrove... you wouldn't have the same flexibility.

On the topic of making transportation driverless, it does go to show why keeping things full-on driverless may be more suitable for taxis/private vehicles, as that will give users full privacy. There would obviously be even more efficiency with a driverless bus, but integrating the transit network with driverless, personal taxis (as long as we can bring their cost down and have them operated as part of the transit network) would still be relatively efficient compared to the status quo.