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I've heard this argument a lot, but is the bus driver really more than a rounding error on the balance sheet of the transportation company? I have no experience in this field, but I would imagine the infrastructure for buying and maintaining a fleet of busses, creating a route network, dealing with ticketing, dealing with disruptions, etc, etc, makes up most of the costs around running a public transport company?

I think the benefit to transportation companies would not just be about salaries, but also about predictability in staffing. I've experienced a few times in the past that a strong flu season causes specific bus lines to be serviced with reduced frequency due to staffing shortages.

But concretely, regarding the staffing costs, if I roughly read the financial report section correctly, it looks like for the Berlin transport agency, salaries make up half of all expenses[0]!

Given that that's such a big portion, I think autonomous buses could likely unlock a lot of mobility in big cities by having more flexibility in creation of additional bus routes (as you don't have to consolidate multiple routes into one because you have to pay drivers for each).

[0]: https://www.bvg.de/dam/jcr:67ef63fc-3fd1-4e95-aae6-2ab8c8c2b...


> is the bus driver really more than a rounding error on the balance sheet of the transportation company?

Yes. For my suburban bus system, about 30% of the total budget (operating AND capital) goes to drivers (and related support like HR, managers, etc.).


interesting, maybe "AWS is down" will become the new "the server is down" that some non-tech people throw around when anything unexpected happen on their computer?


I'm having the same question about sewing. I feel like the lead time to first stitch is quite high, but I think I could make quite significant progress on my projects if I could use the all small 15-minute breaks to make some progress.


The question is how far can you break things down. Also what your job is (if you need to wash your hands before starting that matters)

If you are sewing a ballroom dress (that is any very large project) you probably need longer stretches to get it together. However you could take an individual piece and put in a few embroidery stitches.

Still it does feel like you get 2 minutes of work for your 15 minute break


This won't work for the sewing itself, but while Siri itself is still a hot mess, it can launch shortcuts into other apps. Aka can ask "Siri captains log" and I've configured my phone to launch voice recording so I can journal via voice. That isn't the same as actually sewing, but organizing my thoughts has value, especially if it's during time I otherwise would have burned.


kind of feeling like this too much skeuomorphism for my taste, why recreate the office experience when I can already do the work without the commute over slack and teams?


I do my work remotely via slack and teams, it's more for the return to office crowd.


just keep in mind that not all kinds of HPV vaccines protect against all the strains causing warts! Some do, but not all, check the specific brand you're getting! Obviously cancer is worse, but the extra protection is nice to have.


> People often think that if you don't respond to an argument in two seconds you "lose"...

This one is especially annoying! A lot of people seem to get away with extremely poorly thought out arguments, relying entirely on logical fallacies, or using factually incorrect information, just because they are able packaging it as a fast comeback. On the other hand, people seem to treat not being able to remember details about something or taking a little time to think before replying as meaning that the underlying facts are incorrect. Surely the underlying facts does not depend on the debaters ability to remember them on the spot, but it seems like a lot of people treat it that way.


I don't feel like it is unreasonable to put a different set of ethical standards to an animal out in the wild and a human.


Sure, as long as it concerns other humans.


Not to say there's nothing wrong with modern construction, but keep in mind that most roman buildings also only lasted a few decades. You only see that ones that didn't disappear.

Also, do we really want to build houses that are meant to last 2000 years? It seems expensive and very impractical when you want to tear it down to build something new.


I find it unlikely that any functioning adult in western society does not understand that would be incredibly offensive.


I've also noticed that when asking difficult questions, the real solution is somewhere in the pages of "reasoning", but not in the actual answer


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