I haven’t advocated for privatizing the system. Public transit agencies who see how Uber is beating them at their own game should respond by adapting and improving.
Fixing that one route would be a nice first step, but their inability to do something so basic (dispute countless rider complaints filed over years) doesn’t make me optimistic about the prospects for this institution.
Public transit could beat Uber at service quality. But it would come at the cost of abandoning their public responsibilities. Cut low use routes and focus on the profitable urban core. Raise fares to discourage low income customers. Go cashless. Ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Workers' Compensation, Social Security like Uber does.
This is a false choice. Sending a 15 ton bus on a route hardly anyone uses is not an efficient use of limited resources. Sending a car (or a wheelchair van) where and when it’s needed would allow transit agencies to provide better service and meet all of those obligations.
In wealthy countries 2/3 of public transit costs is hiring drivers. Peak demand determines how many drivers and buses you need. If vehicles are completely filled customers will have to wait for the next one. So using smaller vehicles doesn’t save as much money as one would think.
This is old thinking. With Uber-like services you don't have to hire drivers 8 hours at a time. Paying drivers when they aren't needed is very wasteful. That tax money would be better spent providing better ride services (e.g. flexible routes and schedules).
One driver driving one passenger is inherently low capacity. It's taxi service. You pay more for taxi fare because it's door to door and capacity is far scarcer than bus/train seats.
Small vehicles decrease capacity of the public transit network and increase labor intensity. Good luck finding a CDL holder driver who will work as a "gig" worker. Vans are cheaper than $250K buses, but that means each bus that ever has more than a dozen riders at peak usage will require two drivers or even three to service. https://humantransit.org/2019/08/what-is-microtransit-for.ht...
Fixing that one route would be a nice first step, but their inability to do something so basic (dispute countless rider complaints filed over years) doesn’t make me optimistic about the prospects for this institution.