S.F. to charge operators of tech commuter buses City readies permits, fees amid backlash over boom

Protesters surround and block a Mountain View-bound Google employee commuter bus Monday morning at a Muni bus stop at 24th and Valencia streets in San Franciscoâ€™s Mission District. The demonstration delayed the bus and its riders for about half an hour while protesters held up signs and chanted against private buses using Muni buses to pick up employees. less Protesters surround and block a Mountain View-bound Google employee commuter bus Monday morning at a Muni bus stop at 24th and Valencia streets in San Franciscoâ€™s Mission District. The demonstration ... more Photo: Ellen Huet, The Chronicle Photo: Ellen Huet, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close S.F. to charge operators of tech commuter buses 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Employee shuttle buses for Silicon Valley technology and Peninsula biotech firms, which have become a symbol of income disparity in San Francisco, will soon be charged for using public bus stops, city officials said Monday.

The agreement among the city, shuttle operators and the companies that use them had been in the works for months, but the issue took on added urgency in recent weeks as tenant advocates and other protesters blocked Google buses in San Francisco and Oakland. In San Francisco's Mission District last month, protesters blocked a bus carrying tech workers for about half an hour. Days later, demonstrators carrying a banner that read "F- off Google" broke a window of a bus at the West Oakland BART Station.

Fairly or not, the air-conditioned, Wi-Fi-equipped buses and their passengers have become the most tangible symbol in the backlash against the city's tech boom as longtime San Francisco residents and others try to cope with soaring housing prices and commercial rents, which have been blamed for forcing out tenants, artists and nonprofits.

But blaming tech workers - and targeting their method of transport - is misguided, said San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes the Castro and part of the Mission.

"We need to stop politicizing people's ability to get to work," Wiener said as he stood with Mayor Ed Lee, other city officials and businesses representatives to announce the agreement at Muni headquarters.

The employee shuttle buses, which are credited with reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, have created a different set of problems.

Workers, students shuttled

San Francisco residents have complained for several years that the gleaming, tinted-window shuttles hog public bus stops and benefit from a taxpayer-funded resource while snarling traffic, delaying Muni buses and forcing Muni passengers into the street to get aboard public transit.

Myriad shuttles ferry not just workers to companies such as Apple in Cupertino and Genentech in South San Francisco but also students to Academy of Art University sites and medical campus workers in San Francisco.

"In recent years, we have seen a Wild, Wild West on our streets," said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. "This is an important first step in bringing some more order and rules to our roads, as well as asking our companies to pay a fair share of what it costs the city to maintain our streets."

$1 per day per stop

Under the 18-month pilot program that Lee announced Monday, shuttle operators, such as Bauer's and Compass Transportation, will need a city permit to use Muni bus stops. The fee will be $1 per day per stop. If companies are contracting out their shuttle service, that fee will presumably will be passed along to them.

The permits will be valid only for specified Muni stops, and private shuttles will not be allowed to use the most heavily trafficked stops, said Ed Reiskin, director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

"Where we have frequently generated Muni service, those stops will generally be off-limits," Reiskin said. "What we're really trying to do is steer them to the stops where they're less likely to have any adverse impact."

Two hundred of Muni's 2,500 bus stops will be approved for shuttle bus use, officials said, which is basically the same number of stops private shuttles are now using on their own. The stops handle more than 35,000 shuttle boardings per day, according to the city.

Permit holders will be required to yield to Muni buses, avoid steep and narrow streets, and provide ridership and location data for enforcement and program adjustments.

The fees, by state law, will be limited to covering the costs of the pilot program, which is pegged at $1.5 million. That covers design and implementation, as well as improvements to select stops - like signage and perhaps larger bus shelters - and enforcement, Reiskin said.

"Obviously, this will only work if it's enforced," Reiskin said.

Private shuttles have been using Muni bus stops for free, in some cases for years, despite private drivers facing a $271 fine if caught parking in a bus zone. Now, shuttles without a permit will be subject to that fine.

'A good first step'

Although there is substantial variance between companies in terms of ridership and stops, the average permit cost is estimated at $100,000 per company, officials said.

"We see this pilot program as a good first step," said Veronica Bell, manager for public policy and government affairs for Google.

The program needs the approval of the Municipal Transportation Agency's Board of Directors, which will vote on it Jan. 21. That board's chairman, Tom Nolan, anticipated easy approval.

Lee said the shuttles are an invaluable component of the regional transportation network that simply needs greater coordination with the city to prevent things from getting "literally out of hand."

"I think shuttles are here to stay," Lee said.