Västtrafik (Transit Agency In Sweden) Releases Ad Mocking Self-Driving Cars (Video)
While common public transit modalities, such as bus services, are often held up by proponents as a solution to everything from traffic congestion, to greenhouse gas emissions, to air pollution, etc., the reality is that the sheer inconvenience of these options in many locations means that user growth has generally remained flat.
With that in mind, a transit agency in Sweden by the name of Västtrafik recently released an amusing video ad mocking the hype that surrounds self-driving vehicles. After all, if you don’t want to drive, then why not take the bus? (There are often good reasons not to, depending on where you live, of course. Reliable bus service may not even exist there, for instance. Nonetheless, it was a clever marketing idea.)
I’ll say here that some of the hype surrounding self-driving cars can seem a bit comical — if you take extreme proponents at their word then self-driving cars will apparently make urban transportation a completely problem-free experience.
Here’s the video:
And here’s a description of the video from Streetsblog (where we found it): “We already have the technology to address a lot of the problems that self-driving cars purport to solve — it’s called a bus.
“The ad uses car commercial cliches — tight shots of a sleek exterior, an overbearing soundtrack — to express a point that doesn’t get made often enough: We already have the technology to address a lot of the problems that self-driving cars purport to solve.
“Buses may lack the novelty and sheen of autonomous technology, but they have advantages that a four-door sedan never will — namely, the efficiency of moving more people in less space. And they work fine right now, not in 5, 10, or 20 years. We should see buses held up as the elegant transportation solution they are more often.”
It would be great if I could agree with that sentiment, but the truth is that bus service is non-existent or terrible in a great many places. Even in those where the service is alright, it’s still often far more time-consuming and inconvenient than driving, taking a taxi, biking, or even walking.
It’s not simply a matter of classism and habits, as some like to make it. If you have the choice between spending 3 hours on a to-and-from work commute on the bus, or 30–40 minutes when driving, which option makes the most sense? (Those who live in regions with good bus service are probably scratching their heads right now, but that’s the reality in many places.)
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