Poll: Next Time You Need To Get From ‘A’ To ‘B’ (not in your own car), Which Type of Service Would You Use?
The poll this week is about car sharing for hire services like traditional taxicabs and new app-based services like Uber, CARmil, Lyft, etc. I have some personal thoughts but I’ll hold those for later, I don’t want to persuade anyone before the poll. The question this week is: “Next time you need to get from A to B (not in your own car), which type service would you use?” The list includes the three apps listed above, local taxicab, and unsure.
The poll, as always, is at the top of the right sidebar. Mobile users need to switch to the desktop layout to see the sidebar.
— Steve Patterson
Some of us would either just walk or bike, but most would just ask a friend for a ride . . . .
Yes, that wouldn’t help understand which paid service was more popular.
I guess I was just taking the headline at face value – three parts: “Next Time You Need To Get From ‘A’ to ‘B'”, “(not in your own car)” and “Which Type of Service Would You Use?” The four choices given focus solely on paid, chauffeured options. My point was that “unsure/no answer” did not cover what most St. Louis residents would choose, which would be, in order, a) ask a friend, b) not go / wait until their own car was available, c) rent a car, d) borrow a car, e) steal a car, f) walk, g) bike, or h) take the bus. Using either a taxi or an “app-based service” simply isn’t on the radar / in the vocabulary of most people in the St. Louis region! I’m not “unsure” and I do have an “answer”.
Forgive me for not including the phrase “of the following” in the poll question.
You don’t need to ask forgiveness! We just have completely different perspectives, likely because of our recent car ownership / non-ownership patterns and experiences. People who own (or have ready access to) a motor vehicle rarely have to ask for someone else’s help in getting around, so asking a friend for a lift is an infrequent occurrence, and when the need does arise, it’s usually accommodated without much imposition on the other party. When one is car-free, the whole dynamic changes – the requests become more frequent and there’s no way to easily reciprocate. In that situation, paying for some non-friend to both provide and to operate the vehicle then becomes a much more realistic / important option.