Would You Share a Cab with This Man?
Michael Bloomberg wants you to keep as much money in your pocket as possible. To that end, he's proposing that people now be able to share cabs. So now instead of spending $40 on a cab from the airport and entertaining yourself with that silly video screen in the back seat, you'll only have to pay $20—but you'll spend half an hour hearing about how cool Cancun is from the overly cologned real estate broker sitting 12 inches from you. Genius! Unfortunately, there seem to be a few unanswered questions about Bloomberg's plan to implement "sharing lines" at various locations around the city:
What if, in that sharing line, the first person is headed for the Upper East Side, for example, and the second person is headed for Greenwich Village? Who decides if they should share a cab? If their destinations are deemed too far apart, what then? Does the nearest person to the front of the line who also wants to go to the Upper East Side get to skip ahead? Where does this leave the Greenwich Village person, who has now been skipped? What if there is no other Greenwich Village person in the line for that rider to share with? Does he or she have to wait until another downtown person arrives? Similarly, if people who want to share are in the same line as people who don't, will the line attendants be able to sort them out in a way that leaves everyone happy?
Oh, yea, this plan is going to go down really well.
