The Tech Bus Saga continues

[bing101]

http://abc7news.com/technology/sfmta-to-hold-hearing-regarding-tech-shuttles/126017/


Well Tech companies are just trying to offer employees alternatives to Public Transit and Cars


The Muni Strike only enables more employers to offer private bus service.

[citrus]

Not mentioned in that article: it's something like 3 parking spots in a city with hundreds of thousands. (Source: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/19/chrons-math-re-purposing-0-01-percent-of-parking-devouring-parking/ yes it's Streetsblog so feel free to ignore the opinions, but the facts are there.)

I ride one of these tech buses! Without it, I would be driving as public transit would be at least 2x at long. Some say that without these buses, riders would move closer to work, which is probably true to a point. Doesn't help me, though - my partner works in SF, so moving closer to work would just be trading one commute for another!

BTW, the article says "residents aren't happy", but "residents" include people like me, and sentiment is not nearly as one-sided as it claims.

[cpzilliacus]

Not mentioned in that article: it's something like 3 parking spots in a city with hundreds of thousands. (Source: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/19/chrons-math-re-purposing-0-01-percent-of-parking-devouring-parking/ yes it's Streetsblog so feel free to ignore the opinions, but the facts are there.)

I ride one of these tech buses! Without it, I would be driving as public transit would be at least 2x at long. Some say that without these buses, riders would move closer to work, which is probably true to a point. Doesn't help me, though - my partner works in SF, so moving closer to work would just be trading one commute for another!

BTW, the article says "residents aren't happy", but "residents" include people like me, and sentiment is not nearly as one-sided as it claims.

In general, I think the buses serve an important public purpose at little or no cost to the taxpayers.

However, do those buses need bus stops?  Are the parking spaces those that generate revenue?

Could the bus stops be "part" time (the District of Columbia has some bus stops that are peak-period (sometimes peak-flow direction) only, and parking in them is allowed  when the buses that serve the stops do not operate)?

[citrus]

In general, I think the buses serve an important public purpose at little or no cost to the taxpayers.

However, do those buses need bus stops?  Are the parking spaces those that generate revenue?

Could the bus stops be "part" time (the District of Columbia has some bus stops that are peak-period (sometimes peak-flow direction) only, and parking in them is allowed  when the buses that serve the stops do not operate)?

I believe the proposal removes 3 spots permanently, and several more during peak-period only (some AM, some PM, and some both). The streets the buses stop on vary greatly - some are multilane arterials, and some just have 1 lane in each direction. Dwell time tends to be 15-40 seconds from my experience, which is probably too long to block a lane of a very busy street or an entire moderately busy street in one direction.

The 3 permanently removed parking spots are not revenue generating, but I'm pretty sure some of the peak-period-only spots are.

[mrsman]

It is shameful that it has to come to this.  It is wonderful that there are buses, not paid for by taxpayer dollars, taking hundreds of employees to work, thus removing hundreds of cars from the road.  This is good for the environment, a worthy goal of many people (including liberals).

Yet, the social justice types say that having Silicon Valley types in SF causes the displacement of poor people so we should attack their buses.  It's crazy.


The best solution to this problem would be to reserve a handful of parking spaces for the pickup and drop-off of the buses during peak hours only.  The tech companies should be charged a moderate fee for the right to utilize civic space, but it should be relatively cheap.