Though the pilot program to allow corporate shuttles (AKA "Google Buses") to share Muni stops got its final OK in April, the SFMTA has moved in its own considered pace to figure out just how a formal program like this might work. And this week, they told us, with a map of stops and a promise of punishment for scofflaws.
As you know already, because you live in the world, corporate shuttle buses have been using Muni stops for some time, but have only recently become a focal point for general frustration with (if I may grossly simplify things) issues around income gaps, displacement of longtime residents, and overall changes to what some describe as "the soul of San Francisco".
Perhaps in consequence, the SFMTA in January approved a plan to formalize this use, and to charge corporate shuttle companies $1/per stop at approved and specified locations across San Francisco. After a detour at the Board of Supervisors, the clock was running to plan the 18 month pilot of this bus stop sharing program.
And planned it has been! For, as the SFBG points first noted, this week the SFMTA's announced their proposed network of stops that Muni vehicles and corporate shuttles will use in tandem.
According to the MTA, the transit agency talked to shuttle service providers and area residents to come up with a pleasing mix of:
- Zones requested by shuttle service providers
- Zones requested by residents
- Alternative zones within a few blocks of requested zone locations
- New white zones in locations where demand is high but sharing with Muni would likely disrupt Muni service for inclusion in the pilot network
You can take a look at a full map of stops here, and see a written list of the stops here.
According to the SFMTA, zones with frequent Muni service (they describe this as places where vehicles stop "every 10 minutes or less," which, where is that because I am moving there), zones along Muni's busiest lines, and stops that are in the street, away from the curb on the bicycle network won't be part of this network, for obvious reasons of transit and safety.
And with this more formal plan reportedly comes more enforcement for those who ignore it! SFMTA commuter shuttle program head Carli Paine told the Guardian that implementation of the pilot "will include placards on the vehicles, signage at the zones that are in the pilot network, and additional enforcement."
The SFMTA's public hearing on the proposed network for the 18-month pilot is planned for 10 AM on Friday, June 20. Here's the agenda for the meeting which, as mentioned above, also lists the shared stops.
Previously
Group Files Suit Against City Over Google Buses
Board Of Supervisors Reject Bid To Hold Up Tech Shuttles
