Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car

Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by KRAKRISMOTT on Sunday November 19, 2023 @07:30PM (#38340412)

> So he and his wife left the Australian-made station wagon in the garage for the month, during which they only drove their eight-year-old electric BMW twice. “Just on her urgent things. Other than that, we didn't drive at all.”

But that's half the point of car ownership, in the event of an emergency, you have an escape plan and won't have to rely on others for transport.

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Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by tsudounym on Sunday November 19, 2023 @07:35PM (#38340465)

That's just not true. They'll just be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Wanna know how I know? Because that's exactly what happened in the opening days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Luckily, Ukraine has a well functioning train system and the majority of refugees escape by train to Poland.

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Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by KRAKRISMOTT on Sunday November 19, 2023 @09:10PM (#38341303)

Not really, evacuations by car are very common in most suburban areas. You are thinking in city-centric terms. Most of the US and Australia are not 5 minute cities with subway stations located a stone throw away from your house.

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Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by tsudounym on Monday November 20, 2023 @01:21PM (#38352019)

That's because the US and Australia are run by brain dead individuals (and the voters who enable them) who let the train system they had crumble into disrepair. Even the famously corrupt Ukrainian government did a much better job at multi-modal transport option. The Ukraine refugee situation is the best example of how refugees should be evacuated in the event of a catastrophe. if they did it all by car, it would've been absolute chaos and lead to many more causalities.

Sources: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/05/world/ukraine-railwa...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/magazine/ukraine-trains.h...

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Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by quickthrower2 on Sunday November 19, 2023 @07:34PM (#38340451)

It is an expensive contingency though. And public transport, taxis, non-uber rides etc. do exist. As do electric bikes. As does the option to move somewhere where not having a car is less of an issue. Or pooling a spare car between a few people.

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Re:Uber paid 58 Australians $1350 to have One Less Car by fragmede on Sunday November 19, 2023 @07:35PM (#38340464)

Except for relying on others to have left your car alone, and to have left the roads accessible, and relying on gas or ev charging stations to be up and running.

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