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Fenway taxi stand to be joined by ride-share stand starting tomorrow night
By adamg on Thu, 03/14/2019 - 10:07am
The city is marking off four spaces on Boylston Street at Kilmarnock for a pilot evening ride-share pick up and drop off area that starts Friday night.
The four spaces will be reserved for the use of Uber and Lyft vehicles between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. Signs are going up to warn other motorists to keep out of the spaces.
The goal is to see if creating these 21st-century equivalents of taxi stands can reduce the amount of block circling and double parking ride-share drivers now often do to pick up fares in a city where all the bars close at once.
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Comments
Deliveries
They should reserve those spots on the corners for delivery trucks from 9 am to 5 pm. Trying to get around during business hours is like a slalom course with all the double parked commercial delivery, UPS, USPS and Fed Ex trucks.
This 'pilot' is doomed. Four
This 'pilot' is doomed. Four spaces total in two locations...seriously? By definition, that can only reduce driving around traffic for 4 vehicles. Also, why put the spaces on Boylston? Why not on the crosstreets, where there is 90% less traffic?
umm
because people live there and for some of them it’s necessary to have a car
I don't think these are going
I don't think these are going to be used in the same manner as a taxi stand, more like a loading zone. I was down there at night recently and noticed you got whole blocks covered in double parked ubers and lyfts picking people up and dropping them off for the numerous restaurants and clubs on Boylston. If they have a space to pull over to do those pickups and drop offs they won't need to double park . That doesn't work on the side streets because people aren't calling for pickups on the side streets.
Of course it would be better to see more mass transit use and less ride share cars in that neighborhood. But with the lay out of the roads and stops around there - and the clientele generally being well off young professionals - let's face it they're not going to walk the distance from Kenmore, Fenway, or St. Mary's stations to get there while dressed up to go out dancing. It doesn't help that all of those walks would involve overpasses either, which act like psychological, walkability barriers. Nor does it help that subway fares are approaching the cost of taking a ride share, without the convenience of door to door service.
But they will.
But they will anyway. The police don't demand they behave better. Their customers don't demand they behave better. Neither Uber nor Lyft demand that they behave better.
So why will they bother? They won't.
And so few
If ride shares picking up and dropping off are such a problem, are only 4 spots really going to make a difference?
Alleys / loading docks
All of the buildings at this intersection have alley ways or specific delivery entrances. There is no reason for a delivery truck to be stopped on Boylston or Kilmarnock, or most areas of Boston. Drivers are lazy / don't want to "waste time" to park where they're supposed to in order to do their jobs.
Longwood is another example of where this egregious behavior happens. Nearly every building has a loading dock and delivery area. Yet, trucks still stop and park on Longwood and Brookline Aves, but everyone at risk.
Seriously
Do they really think four spaces is going to make a difference? Especially in that area, Fenway capactity was around 35K last time I checked, house of blues has to be 2500 or so. Four spaces is unrealistic to actually make a difference.
GreenAndYellow Cab
GreenAndYellow Cab service is as user friendly as ride sharing services https://greenandyellowcab.com/
Interesting. How does it compare
cost-wise to Lyft?
Probably more
Because it's probably not heavily subsidized by VC money like Uber and Lyft
However
They're based out of Somerville and can't be hailed (or called, I think) from outside of that City's boundaries.
GreenAndYellow serves
GreenAndYellow serves everywhere around the metro area. Pickup everywhere around the metro area https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apcurium.MK.GreenYello...
Until you go out of town and need a ride from the airport...
then you might be wishing you'd signed up for one of the nationally available ride-sharing services.
Not True!
They can pick you up if you arrange it in advance.
I meant the airport in whatever city you go to...
I'm assuming they won't be able to come get me in Dallas ;)
But I take your point, that's good to know. Assuming your flight is on time.
Will the Uber and Lyft apps
Will the Uber and Lyft apps direct people to request a pickup at those spots? Or will people still want a pickup at the exact spot where they are, regardless of how it inconveniences general traffic?
Same as the airport
The app will direct you to specific places. Airport pickups are similar.
How will this be enforced
How will this be enforced? The problem with ride shares treating every corner of the city as a cab stand is that they do not get ticketed. Police need to step up on Uber, Lyft, etc and treat them like other drivers. Worst case scenario they raise a ton of revenue in tickets for the city...wouldn't that be a shame?
But will they do it
I'd like to know if this will be enforced. Yeah we get it, its a safety thing
But I've had not the brightest drivers from Uber or Lyft sometimes..
Making a suggestion is one thing but execution is an entirely different story.
It will not be enforced
It will not be enforced during fenway events. Nothing is enforced during fenway events. You can park on the sidewalk.
umm
That’s not true. You will be towed if you park in a resident parking spot in that area during Fenway events
Towing even NOT during Fenway events
If you park along the Fenway or any DCR streets that require a resident sticker, they may tow, not just ticket your car. Even if Fenway is empty.
Up to companies right?
A poster on an earlier thread stated that the companies can limit pick-ups and drop-offs to set locations when pushed. Maybe they can do that for Boylston St. so only these designated areas can be used?
"Geo-fencing"
"Geo-fencing"
They figured out how to do it at Logan. This
doesn't seem that hard, and it probably simplifies things for them. I've had Lyft drivers struggle to pick me out of a crowd after a Sox game.
They also do it at South
They also do it at South Station and I think Forest Hills, too.
I am a regular uber user. I
I am a regular uber user. I am confused. I want them to come to my door. I am not walking to a corner to look for them. This seems silly. Uber is a good and better service. Don't turn it into cabs.
Uber shouldn't be able to
Uber shouldn't be able to break the law by parking in crosswalks or bike lanes because you are too lazy to walk 50 feet.
You are what is wrong with
You are what is wrong with Uber as a concept.
You are why we have drivers double parking in bike lanes and blocking traffic.
If there is not a legal place to stop in front of your door, you shouldn't expect to get picked up in front of your door.
This attitude is why I'm so adamant that drivers shouldn't be faulted for stopping illegally to pick people up - riders should be faulted for requesting a pickup in an illegal place.
Question
Are cab stands (and ride-share stands) provided free of charge by the city? Or does someone (eg, Uber or cab companies) pay for them?
Are resident parking spaces paid for by the user?
or do car owners pay for them?
Do suburban Uber / Lyft
Do suburban Uber / Lyft drivers pay to illegally park in city bike lanes and crosswalks?
Lol
The street paint will fade and the entire idea forgotten by late August.
Not what taxi stands are for
Taxi stands are where taxis without a current fare can park and where people in need of a taxi can easily find them, the are not meeting places for an already-hired taxi. If the taxi gets a hail over the radio it will leave and drive to that location, not instruct the patron to come meet them on the corner.
Now, if the idea is this is where Ride Share drivers can idle while waiting for a hail, that's one thing, but it's going to fail utterly as a designated meeting place.
Not true
One whole block of my building is a taxi stand, and its purpose is to pick up fares. They only sit until the car ahead has picked up a fare.
I agree it won't work.
People have been hit by cars because of ride hailing services. And that is out in the neighborhoods. There are just too many drivers. They spend a lot of time hot parking at meters. They should not be allowed to idle in these pick up spots.
These ride hail services are hurting our cities. It is a pump and dump stock scheme. you know whats worse than a few rich medallion monopolies living off the hard work of undocumented workers? The 1% conning millions of people into leasing new cars (self dealt from the rideshare company) to flood the market with cheap rides. They pump up their stock for the IPO, and pocket billions. It is cheaper to take lyft or uber than to ride the subway. The traffic increases and the pollution increases. If we are going to change things, why not kick them off Boyleston street altogether? Why not return the night owl bus and make rideshare companies pay for it?
Number of cars should be capped
x many for Lyft, x many for Uber. require the company to track how many active cars are in the city at the time and if it's at the limit, then a new driver can't accept fares. Someone goes out of service or leaves the city, then the new driver can pick up fares. I'd also require a regional percentage or something where drivers have to be, at a minimum registered in MA, if not within the city.
Because the medallion system
Because the medallion system worked real well...
How about we let the market decide how many uber and lyft drivers we need.
Let the market decide?
You do realize Uber and Lyft are subsidizing the cost of each ride, right?
I disagree
I don't own a car expressly because I have access to services like Lyft and Uber. I suspect I am not the only
one. I can take one from point A to point B where the driver can then pick up someone going from point B to
point C, then someone from point C to point D. If all three of use using the service don't have to make those trips
in our own cars we have significantly reduced the number of cars on the road.
I always chat with my driver and I've yet to meet one who purchased/leased the car for the only purpose of driving
for a ride-share. The vast majority are driving part time to supplement their and/or their family's income.
And before telling me to "take pubic transportation"; try taking a howling cat to the vet on a bus. (I've done it. Once.) Take home a week's worth of groceries on the train during rush hour. (Never again.) Need to get get from Brighton to Downtown in anything less than a hour? Not happening. Trying to get anywhere in town after 2am. Also not happening.
you should do whatever you want
What I am saying is that these companies are keep prices artificially low to drive market share. They are also signing up new drivers by leasing them cars. Which is like mining companies that rent houses and sell groceries to their employees. But they are not employees so they assume all the risk. They are doing this to pump up their companies so that they will make billions when it goes public.
I am glad the medallion system has crashed. But the amount of Lyft and Uber cars out there causes problems for all of us. Limits need to be set, Traffic near clubs is the least of it.
We all realize that the drivers are working hard, I'm not blaming them. You chatted them up? I guess you are an expert then.
pseudo taxi services are not the only way to get around without a car. Your demonstrated insecurity is not due to my comment. Its a free country, you don't need my permission.
LOL you are significantly ADDING cars to the road
Everything you mentioned is about personal convenience, you want to go where you want to go when you want to go there, everyone else be damned. Thats called entitlement.
Like ok, take can uber for your cat. Whats stopping you in this new scheme, oh you have to walk a couple blocks? Maybe get groceries off-peak? I dunno, I manage fine in the 57 with my week of groceries from time to time. You need to get downtown in less than an hour? Is it an emergency, did this come up last minute? How come you didn't plan ahead? The 2am thing just points to a greater need for Night Owl and late night service, just because uber is convenient for you at 2am doesn't mean it is for the countless late night workers that would prefer affordable public transit.
Because despite your delusional thinking, those Ubers you take are extra cars on the road, they aren't dropping someone off near you and picking you up most of the time, they are in fact driving around looking for fares and adding to road congestion.
Same deal for the farcical AV world some are trying to sell us, thats just going to add more and more cars to the road so that people like you can demand responsive pick ups at the expense of adding additional congestion for everyone else.
are gypsy cabs still illegal
are gypsy cabs still illegal ? how are they different from ride-share.
Good question
For that matter how is Uber legal? They started with the big lie that they are a "ride sharing" service. In fact they and Lyft are nothing more than illegal, unlicensed cabs, same as gypsy cabs.
The fact is that political leadership lacks the courage to address the issue because Uber is so popular and provides an app and pick up services that traditional taxis do not provide, and they are sometimes cheaper.
The taxi drivers who played by the rules, and who purchased or leased expensive medallions, deserve some relief. The government should refund their medallions costs or make Uber drivers pay for medallions.
The pilot is doomed...
4 spaces is nothing. Add spaces to Newbury for all the U/L and food pickups. And get them to stop standing in residential spaces. Another night of 2 hours on the road and trying to get U/L stranding cars in residential spaces to move so I can park. At 2 hours I'm kinda done, hungry, need to pee and the cat want's to be fed...