(20 Aug 2021, 1:43 pm)Chris 1 wrote Ah I see.
In that scenario, you and a.n. other are still paying the full fare. Be it half each, split 3 ways or whatever. A similar journey with DRT, what each passenger pays is less than it costs to operate. So each passenger journey is subsidised. It's the economics that prevent DRT from working, crack that and the potential is huge.
Apologies for drifting off topic, but the ride sharing with a stranger comment sparked a memory - a number of years since, I remember seeing a feature on Look North. Taxi drivers from Gateshead, were wanting to pick up fares to get them back to Gateshead. As in, they take a fare from Gateshead to say Crawcrook, and were wanting to pick up on the streets (or bus stops) in Crawcrook on their way back so they weren't running all the way back to Gateshead empty. I can't remember what happened with it, though I seem to recall Go North East weren't big fans of the idea!
So, really the only difference is the pricing and marketing model, the principal of both DRT and 'ride sharing' is the same.
One is marketed as a shared taxi, whilst the other is marketed as an on-demand bus, but in the end both deliver essentially the same service.