Public Transit Network Effects
Public transit offers an array of network effects, each one potentially reinforcing the other.
The fact that, by definition, it is a connecting network of places contributes to it; but it's complicated in that not all networks deliver the same level of value to a given user.
This is what makes the puzzle a difficult one.
For example, just because many people find it useful to go from the Marina to SOMA creates a local network effect for those people who have this common commute.
This common commute is valuable because of an overlap in demographics: income, industry, education.
But for the person on the margin -- Bayview to Sunset -- does not benefit from the increasing network effects. In this regards, it looks like a market failure.
These market failures are the reasons public transportation often becomes a public good.
I'll write further about why I believe our blockchain-based solution helps bridge the division between public good and privatized peer to peer networks in another essay.
Before the Route is established, when using a Chariot Route Staking mechanism, each additional Router participant increases the likelihood of every other participant to gain the Route they want.
Once a Route is established with sufficient capacity to meet those additional Riders, however, one could argue that the effects turn negative: since a given Chariot has fixed capacity and these are reserved, each additional looks like it detracts.
However, the value actually moves in a step-function upwards: as more