[michaelt]

If two people want to travel from the suburbs to the city and they have their own cars, two journeys are made.

If they travel by taxi there's only one car on the road - but the taxi has to do a third trip, going back from the city to the suburbs between passengers. That trip is likely to be made without a passenger - because in the morning rush hour, far more people want to go in one direction than the other.

Of course, in some cases taxis may help reduce congestion - transporting people to and from train stations, and allowing people who usually cycle to transport bulky items, might enable more car-free living.

[analog31]

Interestingly, I was introduced to the term "drayage" in another thread, but seems apt here. I think some kind of last mile car service at the train stations would improve transit overall. But the 8-ball is having that transit system in the first place. Replacing one kind of inefficient car transportation with another improves nothing.

[seanmcdirmid]

In the late 90s, tuktuks would hang out outside of metro stations in Beijing to take people their last mile. For some reason, that isn't the case today.