Google says $6.8 million for youth Muni passes just a start



less In this file photo, students board a MUNI bus after school at the corner of Van Ness Ave. and Chestnut St in San Francisco. Google has agreed to fund the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's program to provide free MUNI all youths between the ages of five and seventeen years for two years at a cost of $6.8 million. In this file photo, students board a MUNI bus after school at the corner of Van Ness Ave. and Chestnut St in San Francisco. Google has agreed to fund the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's program ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Google says $6.8 million for youth Muni passes just a start 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Google's $6.8 million gift Thursday to cover two years of free transit for working-class San Francisco kids is just the first in what Mayor Ed Lee expects will be a series of donations from the tech giant as the industry increasingly looks to improve its local image and ease the city's affordability crisis.

"They said, 'This is the first step we want to make,' " Lee said, describing a meeting with a senior Google executive this month. "This is so dramatically exciting because it's a catalyst for other companies."

The donation, the largest ever from a nongovernment entity to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, will fund an existing pilot program that allows low- and middle-income San Francisco kids ages 5 to 17 to ride Muni for free. It costs about $3 million a year. So far, more than 31,000 youths have registered and received passes.

It comes as tech companies are facing a backlash from city residents upset about rising housing costs, gentrification, a wave of evictions, and perceived aloofness from those companies and their employees.

Those ills are often blamed on the large number of technology workers who live in the city but commute to the Peninsula and the South Bay on corporate shuttles that have been using city bus stops for free. Google's buses to the Mountain View headquarters, in particular, have become the symbol of that anger.

Mayor's actions

Lee, who has embraced tech companies with tax incentives, weekly tours and pro-business policies, has for months been calling on them to do more to help curb the spiking cost of living, boost philanthropy and become more engaged in the community.

That urging appears to be bearing fruit.

San Francisco software firm Salesforce.com this week publicly supported Lee's and state Sen. Mark Leno's effort to amend state law and make it more difficult for real estate speculators to evict tenants after buying apartment buildings so they can flip the units for sale. Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com, is the exemplar of tech philanthropy: He and his wife have donated $100 million for a children's hospital, more than $1.5 million to help homeless families and $2.7 million for public middle schools, with more expected.

Sf.citi, a technology chamber of commerce with more than 800 member companies - many of them small startups - will also be lobbying to amend the state Ellis Act to slow down evictions in the city, said its founder, Ron Conway, an angel investor and major supporter of the mayor.

"We will make sure tech is involved every step of the way," Conway said.

In need of support

Stung by protests against the fallout from the tech boom, the industry realizes it has a public relations problem, said Sam Singer, a San Francisco communications specialist whose firm has worked for housing site Airbnb but has no other tech clients.

Tech firms "are starting to take steps in the right direction," Singer said. "There is tension right now that shouldn't exist. The technology companies need to do more, which I think they're starting to do, but the people who are haters need to stop hating, too."

Google's Muni donation came after Supervisor David Chiu had private discussions with its corporate executives for more than a month to ask them to increase their civic engagement, officials said.

"For those of us who encouraged Google to step up, we appreciate (the donation) as an important example of how tech can make long-term commitments to our transit and our city," Chiu said.

City leaders and community members who support the free Muni program said they are happy to see Google getting involved but hope it's just the first step in an ongoing dialogue with those most affected by the tech boom.

"This is a good first step," said Supervisor David Campos, one of the program's most vocal supporters at City Hall. "It's a sign the community is being heard and, certainly, it's appreciated, but there are still more discussions to be had around the future of free Muni ... and other issues around affordability."

Donaji Lona, a Mission District mother of two, said the free bus passes help her 13-year-old son get to music classes and take some pressure off her tight budget as a single mother. The gift from Google will help, she said, but shouldn't be the only thing the industry does.

"As a mother and part of the Mission community, I can see a lot of fear of how the neighborhood is changing. A lot of people like me are leaving the city," she said. "I have mixed feelings. I see, on the one hand, the impact these companies are having, changing our community and displacing people, but on the other hand, of course we want a program like this to continue. The sad part is this is just for people who live in San Francisco. If you can't live here, how does it help?"

The demonstrations

Protesters have blockaded the corporate shuttles - including Google's buses - on several occasions in recent months both in San Francisco and Oakland, once smashing a window and slashing tires.

An agreement hammered out in January between San Francisco officials, shuttle operators and the companies that use them requires the bus companies to get a city permit to use Muni bus stops and pay $1 per stop. Last week, a coalition of political groups, tenants and union workers who want the companies to pay more filed an appeal of the permit program. State law dictates that the city can't charge more than the cost of running the program.

"San Francisco residents are rightly frustrated that we don't pay more to use city bus stops," a Google representative said in a statement. "So we'll continue to work with the city on these fees, and in the meantime will fund Muni passes for low-income students for the next two years."