Re: OT - interesting taxi concept

2018-10-14 Thread John
Looks like a squashed down 1984 Toyota LiteAce minivan with the middle row of 
seats removed. Doesn't look like it has the head-room a taxi really should have.


In that configuration (middle row seats removed) the LiteAce or HiAce would give 
about the same interior room as the old Checker Marathon that was the mainstay 
of taxi service from the late 1940s on (I think the first Marathon was offered 
in 1947).


I wonder why they didn't make the GAZ-13 Chaika in a taxi version? It's an 
almost "perfect" copy of the Checker Marathon (although I think they copied the 
cosmetics from the Packard Patrician).


On 10/12/2018 20:54, Igor PDML-StR wrote:


Some of the PDMLer are car enthusiasts, so, I thought some people might
enjoy this interesting car concept.

Someone sent me a photograph of the experimental taxi in the Soviet Union circa 
1964:

https://pikabu.ru/story/taksi_sssr_1964_g_5589293

The interesting thing that it could fit a bassinet-stroller (non-collapsible) or 
a refrigerator (!) - as in: you can bring home the one that you just bought at a 
store.


It had a [then] futuristic design, and most of its parts were from other 
contemporary mass-manufactured vehicle(s). ("Moskvich 408", primarily)



One can see some safety concerns, but back then the amount of car traffic was 
rather small. Even in the US, the car safety started gaining some
consideration only in mid-to late 50s, but US DoT and NTSB were not formed until 
1966 and 1967, respectively, and the first mandatory federal safety standard for 
motor vehicles was not established until 1966.



This morning, I was watching a news bite on self-driving taxis from Waymo
(Ex-Google-car) - in AZ. So, I thought that despite the technology,
the idea of a practical taxi, where you can stroll in with your baby,
has not been implemented.

Yes, there are wheel-chair-accessible vans, but those are very specialized 
services. And there are foldable strollers that can fit in a small trunk, that 
some PDMLers who live on that small island call "boot".

I am guessing that one of the reasons why the idea of accommodating
strollers in the car is that young families with small babies do not constitute 
the most financially-striving part of the population.
(And, of course, these days, you want to strap your baby in a car seat, which, 
in the realm of taxis is a big grey zone: taxis do not provide car seats, and in 
some localities, you are not *required* to use a car seat in a taxi. In both 
cases - I guess mostly for the same reason: such families are not frequent cab 
riders.)



For comparison, I know that Uber offers "Uber Car Seat (aka uberFAMILY) option 
for its uberX vehicles, but AFAIK, that is limited to NYC, Washington DC, 
Philadelphia and Orlando (and it costs $10 extra).

Even in pedestrian-friendly Boston and SF that is not an option.
Lyft does that only in NYC.
Those facts support my hypothesis that taxi/ride-sharing services do not see 
much of profit in catering to [young] families with small kids/babies.


Igor

PS. We are way pass the time we used a stroller, - so, I am looking at the 
problem, so to say, "from the academic point of view".






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Re: OT - interesting taxi concept

2018-10-13 Thread Igor PDML-StR



Hi Anthony,

Rather curiously,the same association (with the same images) was brought up 
in the very first comment at the bottom of that webpage. :-)
(It might be hard to read the comments because of the language, but the 
image is easy.)



Cheers,

Igor

 Anthony Farr Fri, 12 Oct 2018 21:00:54 -0700 wrote:

It reminds me of the Johnny Cab from the first 'Total Recall' movie.
http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/article_width/public/johnnycab.jpg?itok=mMLIwb0j


regards, Anthony


On Fri, 12 Oct 2018, Igor PDML-StR wrote:



Some of the PDMLer are car enthusiasts, so, I thought some people might
enjoy this interesting car concept.

Someone sent me a photograph of the experimental taxi in the Soviet Union 
circa 1964:

https://pikabu.ru/story/taksi_sssr_1964_g_5589293

The interesting thing that it could fit a bassinet-stroller (non-collapsible) 
or a refrigerator (!) - as in: you can bring home the one that you just 
bought at a store.


It had a [then] futuristic design, and most of its parts were from other 
contemporary mass-manufactured vehicle(s). ("Moskvich 408", primarily)



One can see some safety concerns, but back then the amount of car traffic was 
rather small. Even in the US, the car safety started gaining some
consideration only in mid-to late 50s, but US DoT and NTSB were not formed 
until 1966 and 1967, respectively, and the first mandatory federal safety 
standard for motor vehicles was not established until 1966.



This morning, I was watching a news bite on self-driving taxis from Waymo
(Ex-Google-car) - in AZ. So, I thought that despite the technology,
the idea of a practical taxi, where you can stroll in with your baby,
has not been implemented.

Yes, there are wheel-chair-accessible vans, but those are very specialized 
services. And there are foldable strollers that can fit in a small trunk, 
that some PDMLers who live on that small island call "boot".

I am guessing that one of the reasons why the idea of accommodating
strollers in the car is that young families with small babies do not 
constitute the most financially-striving part of the population.
(And, of course, these days, you want to strap your baby in a car seat, 
which, in the realm of taxis is a big grey zone: taxis do not provide car 
seats, and in some localities, you are not *required* to use a car seat in a 
taxi. In both cases - I guess mostly for the same reason: such families are 
not frequent cab riders.)



For comparison, I know that Uber offers "Uber Car Seat (aka uberFAMILY) 
option for its uberX vehicles, but AFAIK, that is limited to NYC, Washington 
DC, Philadelphia and Orlando (and it costs $10 extra).

Even in pedestrian-friendly Boston and SF that is not an option.
Lyft does that only in NYC.
Those facts support my hypothesis that taxi/ride-sharing services do not see 
much of profit in catering to [young] families with small kids/babies.


Igor

PS. We are way pass the time we used a stroller, - so, I am looking at the 
problem, so to say, "from the academic point of view".





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Re: OT - interesting taxi concept

2018-10-12 Thread Anthony Farr
It reminds me of the Johnny Cab from the first 'Total Recall' movie.
http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/styles/article_width/public/johnnycab.jpg?itok=mMLIwb0j

regards, Anthony

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OT - interesting taxi concept

2018-10-12 Thread Igor PDML-StR



Some of the PDMLer are car enthusiasts, so, I thought some people might
enjoy this interesting car concept.

Someone sent me a photograph of the experimental taxi in the Soviet Union 
circa 1964:

https://pikabu.ru/story/taksi_sssr_1964_g_5589293

The interesting thing that it could fit a bassinet-stroller 
(non-collapsible) or a refrigerator (!) - as in: you can bring home the 
one that you just bought at a store.


It had a [then] futuristic design, and most of its parts were from other 
contemporary mass-manufactured vehicle(s). ("Moskvich 408", primarily)



One can see some safety concerns, but back then the amount of car traffic 
was rather small. Even in the US, the car safety started gaining some
consideration only in mid-to late 50s, but US DoT and NTSB were not 
formed until 1966 and 1967, respectively, and the first mandatory federal 
safety standard for motor vehicles was not established until 1966.



This morning, I was watching a news bite on self-driving taxis from Waymo
(Ex-Google-car) - in AZ. So, I thought that despite the technology,
the idea of a practical taxi, where you can stroll in with your baby,
has not been implemented.

Yes, there are wheel-chair-accessible vans, but those are very specialized 
services. And there are foldable strollers that can fit in a small trunk, 
that some PDMLers who live on that small island call "boot".

I am guessing that one of the reasons why the idea of accommodating
strollers in the car is that young families with small babies do not 
constitute the most financially-striving part of the population.
(And, of course, these days, you want to strap your baby in a car seat, 
which, in the realm of taxis is a big grey zone: taxis do not provide car 
seats, and in some localities, you are not *required* to use a car seat in 
a taxi. In both cases - I guess mostly for the same reason: such families 
are not frequent cab riders.)



For comparison, I know that Uber offers "Uber Car Seat (aka uberFAMILY) 
option for its uberX vehicles, but AFAIK, that is limited to NYC, 
Washington DC, Philadelphia and Orlando (and it costs $10 extra).

Even in pedestrian-friendly Boston and SF that is not an option.
Lyft does that only in NYC.
Those facts support my hypothesis that taxi/ride-sharing services do not 
see much of profit in catering to [young] families with small kids/babies.


Igor

PS. We are way pass the time we used a stroller, - so, I am looking at 
the problem, so to say, "from the academic point of view".



--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow 
the directions.