The corporate shuttle buses that transport thousands of workers to and from Silicon Valley every day will continue operating for another year, under a backroom deal finalized this week that limits the scope of the program.

It essentially mirrors a tentative one worked out earlier this month.

The negotiations included three members of the Board of Supervisors, David Campos, Norman Yee and London Breed, representatives of the major tech companies that use the shuttles, and Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which threatened to challenge the program through an environmental impact review unless the program was modified.

On Monday, with the agreement finalized, SEIU withdrew its request for an environmental appeal.

The deal caps the number of locations at which the buses can stop at the current 125. If the number of buses that stop at each location increases significantly, a mandatory air quality assessment would be triggered. And it requires the Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to study transitioning the program to a hub model, where riders would get on and off the buses at a set number of locations.

In the coming weeks, the supervisors will introduce trailing legislation that commissions the budget and legislative analyst to study the impacts of commuter shuttles on neighborhood displacement. That was a major point of dispute in the negotiations, as the tech companies don’t want the shuttle program linked to the city’s housing crisis. While that issue was resolved, there are ongoing negotiations about who will pay for the study — the city or the tech companies.

Campos called the deal a success. “Without this agreement, we might be undergoing a lengthy environmental review and a return to a commuter shuttle Wild West,” he said in a statement.

The tech companies might differ, but facing a hostile Board of Supervisors, they had little choice but to negotiate.

— Emily Green

Student housing: The low-income housing tax credit is widely considered one of the most successful drivers of federally subsidized affordable housing. Established in 1986, it provides tax incentives to private businesses to invest in the development and rehabilitation of below-market rental housing.

But there’s one drawback: If everyone in the household is a full-time student, they can’t live in units funded by the tax credit.

Supervisor Mark Farrell says that’s a problem. And he wants the Board of Supervisors to go on record supporting legislation before Congress that would allow people who were recently homeless to attend school full time and live in such units.

“Obviously, one of the main solutions for homelessness is to get people in housing, plain and simple,” Farrell said. “And it is simply nuts from my perspective that current federal law basically discourages formerly homeless people from seeking education.”

In San Francisco, the low-income housing tax credit subsidizes 126 housing sites, according to Farrell’s office. He said many part-time students want to attend school full time but are prohibited from doing so. That would change if Congress passes legislation by Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

“It’s important we take a stand and support federal or state legislation that has an impact here in San Francisco,” Farrell said.

Of course, a resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors has no binding influence on, well, anyone. But it does put the city on record as supporting the legislation, which is one step toward building momentum to get it passed.

— Emily Green

Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider @emilytgreen