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Not a bus
Make waiting rooms and offer free bus rides | |
Free public transit would solve some problems with getting people to use it. Free point to point vans would solve even more. One problem with this idea is the number of homeless people who would start using them as hotels, just to have a warm place to spend the night.
This companion service would
offer free waiting rooms near bus and train stations. (not in the bus/train stations, that's too busy, not designed for resting, and not a place a hobo can rest for more than an hour) These waiting rooms would offer air conditioning, a number of soft benches and a small shared bathroom, and no other amenities. They would be closed for cleaning for a couple of hours every day to prevent camping. Otherwise they would present a more desirable option than the actual bus for a much lower cost.
[link]
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// not designed for resting, and not a place a hobo can rest for more than an hour // |
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How do you enforce that? The amenities you describe (soft benchesm restroom) would be more attractive to a hobo than riding a bus/train all day long, and they will want to stay for as long as they can. |
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Those are the problems with the bus station itself. The non bus would be available for up to 24 hours at a time. |
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Oh, I misunderstood. So you're hoping "free shelter" combined with "free public transit" will offer some synergy, making both better than they on their own? |
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(or - perish the thought - are you really saying "I'd ride the bus more if it wasn't for all these hobos stinking up the coach!" ?) |
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I think the Help File specifically forbids ideas along the lines of "take an existing good thing and make it free or cheap, but without explaining how it becomes free or cheap". |
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//how it becomes free or cheap// In times past, The Rich simply paid to keep suffering huddled masses of The Poor sequestered, away and out of sight. The Judges could be paid well to enact supportive legislation. |
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Poor houses, work houses, prisons, mental institutions, public transit, public schools and public libraries all kept the lesser-thans occupied and off the streets. None of these situations was particularly comfortable, because of the Puritan impulse to blame the victims of capitalism. |
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[Voice] has suggested comfort and compassion be added to these public services--possibly as a result of realizing the Have-Nots lost the birth lottery in a skewed system stacked against the 99%--which is arguably a completely new idea. |
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A completely new idea? Arguable indeed! |
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Never thought of it yourself? Every social and economic philosopher in recorded history and maybe before just skipped over it? |
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// I think the Help File specifically forbids ideas along the lines of "take an existing good thing and make it free or cheap// |
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This idea is for a new thing, the non bus, which would help allow a free thing which is sometimes suggested. Like an idea which would allow a car to function better is not an invention of the car. |
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//you're hoping "free shelter" combined with "free public transit" will offer some synergy, making both better than they on their own? // |
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This form of shelter, as far as I know, is not offered anywhere. The idea is not for a homeless shelter of any kind. No registration of people, no checking people at the door, no verification of income, no offer of free food, no rooms, etc etc. It's just some close-packed benches and a bathroom. A full substitute for sitting on the bus, so no one has to sit on the bus unless they actually want to travel. |
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This makes it less expensive to provide free bus trips. Every aspect of the non bus (air conditioning, bathroom, cleaning) is cheaper to provide than the same services but on a bus. Weight is saved. Seats are freed up. |
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