What Will Automation Do to Mass Transit?

 

In Helsinki, Finland, self-driving public transport busses are being tested

At a recent County Commission meeting, several bus drivers from ECAT appeared before the board and implored the board to improve pay and benefits.  One commenter went through the pay scale meticulously and the rates of pay were low.  Shockingly low.

So what is the solution to the problem of low pay for bus drivers?

An easy solution would be to raise taxes and increase driver pay, changing the employment status of bus drivers from what they currently are-- contractor employees working for a third-party company—to making them regular county employees with pension plans and higher pay. 

This is what the union wants; this is what the drivers want.  If I was a driver, this is what I would want, too!

Thomas Friedman to NSBA Conference 2014: The Flat World is Becoming Hyper-connected

Thomas Friedman, the author of 2004's "The World is Flat" blew the NSBA general assembly away this morning with some keen insight and anecdotes about the way our planet is becoming not only flatter, but also hyper-connected with amazing  technology, automation, and software.

He knows things are changing, but will we keep up?

These changing technologies will lead to great opportunities for creative entrepreneurs, but simultaneously these will lead to great challenges for workers, particularly those of average skill who do rote, repetitive tasks and who are paid well.

Friedman stated "high wage, average skill jobs will disappear and non-routine local jobs if not performed creatively are in jeopardy."

Friedman believes and stated that for these workers "Average is officially Over!"--meaning that lazy, under skilled, non-motivated workers will be left behind in the new world of high technology, automation, and outsourcing.  "There is no bottom-level jobs that high school dropouts will be able to go to" he stated.

"Things are so incredibly different now than just a decade ago," Friedman remarked, that "Facebook didn't exist, big data was a rapper, skype was a typo, and the cloud was something in the sky!"