TL;DR Sign this petition to support the commuter shuttle program and make sure there are stops where we need them most.

The battle over the commuter shuttle program is not over. At a San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency (SFMTA) community meeting held last week in Noe Valley, anti-shuttle residents showed up in force to protest the program and demand fewer, smaller shuttles in their neighborhood. The main complaints were related to traffic congestion, the provision of public curb space for a “private” bus stop, and the supposed relationship between shuttle stops and displacement. These complaints — and the demand for scaled back service — are completely misguided.

Some Noe Valley residents pushing for fewer, smaller shuttles. When we’re not in the room, other people make policy for us.

If you ride a shuttle to work, you already know that they can reach capacity in the mornings. To have fewer as well as smaller shuttles would be an unacceptable loss of service and guarantee overcrowding. And, it would push more of us back into road-clogging cars as well. As for providing providing curb space for shuttle stops, that’s just good public policy; commuter shuttles fill a huge gap in our transportation systems, and regularizing how they operate helps policy makers work with the shuttle providers to address any legitimate concerns that actually arise. And while it’s true that access to good transit can have a micro level impact on housing prices, housing is expensive region-wide because we don’t build enough of it. Getting rid of shuttle stops in San Francisco would not change that fact.

Ultimately, opposition to the shuttle program is garden-variety NIMBYism. Long-standing homeowners like their neighborhoods they way they are. They have the time and resources to petition public officials for what they want, and if left unopposed they’ll eventually get it. There’s already a petition calling for “sensible” reforms to the program, and if we do nothing we risk seeing the the entire thing die by a thousand cuts. The shuttle stop at 18th and Dolores in the Mission disappeared because opponents out-lobbied us, and the same thing can happen again.

Aside from merely defending the program as-is, we should also support proposals from the SFMTA that would make it more effective. The most recent proposal — discussed at the Noe Valley meeting — was to establish additional shuttle loading zones along 24th street. As it stands, a shared Muni zone at 24th and Church is the only eastbound stop. Shuttles and Muni buses crowd the stop between 7:30am and 8:00am, and we could definitely use more space.

SFMTA staff provided a map where people could suggest where to put a stop for eastbound shuttles. The most support for a stop was at a) the SE corner of 24th and Church (across the street from the current stop), and b) the SE corner of 24th and Sanchez, in front of the town square.

A new shuttle loading zone will make 6 parking spaces off limits to private automobile parking 6am-10am, Monday-Friday. Those spots are usually empty in the mornings anyway. The zone will help the flow of traffic, and it will help hundreds of Noe Valley residents get to work faster on Muni buses or on commuter shuttles. I and the SFMTA agree that a morning loading zone would be an better use of curb space than parking, and I hope you agree too.

Shuttle opponents lobbying San Francisco D8 Supervisor candidate Rafael Mandelman.

Sign the petition

If you support the shuttles, sign this petition to support the additional stop on 24th street. Please identify yourself as a Noe Valley resident, a San Francisco resident, or bay area resident and by name if you feel comfortable. Being a resident gives you legitimacy when debating other residents. Identifying your neighborhood/city interests politicians who want your vote, and it gets the attention of city agencies that care about your public input.

Write a comment and talk about why you support it.

You can say you are a shuttle rider. You can say how the shuttle means you don’t drive to work, and they take cars off the road. You can say that this change will help traffic and everyone who uses 24th Street. You can say that you support public transportation and this will make Muni run faster. You can say that it makes your shuttle commutes shorter and more predictable, because buses will spend less time waiting for other buses in the morning.

Share the petition, share this article, and talk about it with your friends, neighbors and coworkers. We can pair individual action with outreach and make sure our fellow neighbors and riders also support shuttles. There is strength in numbers.

SFMTA maps for community input on adding new shuttle stops.

Many thanks to the shuttle supporters and shuttle riders who showed up to make stop suggestions, leave thoughtful public comment, and engage in dialogue with shuttle opponents.