Things that Robert is thinking about that keep him from accomplishing anything.

 
Private Buses?
Perhaps somebody already does this, but is it not possible to develop a private bus service for adults that adults would use? Typically, it's the poor, young/elderly, minority, and/or extremely urban who use public transportation. Some of those are reasons for the non-poor, middle-aged, white, and suburban folks to avoid the bus. Also, public buses can be notoriously behind schedule making it unreliable for people who can afford other means of transportation.

Yet, we see fairly frequently examples of situations when white folks will ride the bus: shuttle service to/from an airport; shuttle service to/from a hotel; shuttle service between parking garages and other places (e.g., sattellite parking); riding on luxury buses for leisure trips (e.g., junkets to casinos, school/sports trips for themselves or their children).

I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to create a bus service that caters to middle- and upper-income people. The key ingredients seem to be comfort--cushy seats, wide enough that you don't have to touch people next to you--cleanliness, reliability, convenience (minimum waiting time at pickup locations), and possibly entertainment (e.g., t.v. or radio piped in). Imagine a bus service with a hotel shuttle-like vehicle that serviced a downtown building with several companies and specific suburban locations. Pipe in NPR, let them in the HOV lane, drop them off at their neighborhood school, and voila! I think people would be willing to pay for something like this. I need to get cracking.
posted by RSaunders at 12:36 PM ⇒