Sponsored link
Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Sponsored link

UncategorizedSF signs on with private luxury transit system

SF signs on with private luxury transit system

MTA board members listen to testimony on the tech buses

By Tim Redmond

At the beginning of the Municipal Transportation Agency meeting on the “Google bus” plan, Ed Reiskin, the MTA director, issued a warning that would define how he and his board see the issue.

“We recognize there’s a lot of concern around housing and the cost of living, and these buses have fallen into these discussions,” he said. “But what we’re proposing is very narrowly tailored to address the transportation issues.”

And just like that, the MTA attempted to sever the impacts on San Franciscans of what can only be called a privatized transit system from anything but the question of when and how (not if) the private luxury buses can use Muni stops, and how much they should pay for the privilege.

It’s no surprise that, after more than an hour of often impassioned testimony, the panel approved the pilot project with very little debate.

The deal, as outlined by MTA planner Carli Paine, calls for the city to allow the buses to use select Muni stops – at locations still to be determined – for a fee of $1 a stop. That, Paine noted, means that a company running a shuttle that uses 20 stops, ten times a day, would pay $200 a day, or more than $50,000 a year. Major users could be forking over $100,000.

That, of course, is chump change to the companies that contract for the shuttles. (more after the jump)

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Marke B.
Marke B.
Marke Bieschke is the publisher and arts and culture editor of 48 Hills. He co-owns the Stud bar in SoMa. Reach him at marke (at) 48hills.org, follow @supermarke on Twitter.

Sponsored link

Featured

Last-minute election intelligence: Farrell faces huge ethics fine, Breed backers like Peskin

It could be a really tight race for mayor, with some ranked-choice voting surprises

In ‘Fictions of Presence,’ a View-Master and declassified 9/11 interrogation docs

Exploring how humans, machines, and humans aided by machines read differently—poetically and politically—at / (Slash)

‘They come across oceans’: SF International Hip Hop DanceFest keeps leaping ahead

26 years in, mastermind Micaya speaks on the wildly popular showcase's ever-growing global community.

More by this author

Luke Kraman’s soft missives from the queer demimonde

Documenting the underground, the photographer locates a 'queer liminal zone' in present/dreaming, chaotic/tidy contrasts.

Party Radar vs. Arts Forecast: Halloween happenings, Día invocations…

... and a queer Diwali celebration, too. Our monster mashup of devilishly delightful things to do this week.

Arts Forecast vs. Party Radar: Halloween debauchery begins!

Japanese ghost stories, house music legends, Swedish sex goddesses, and Green Gorillas in the monster mashup column event of the year
Sponsored link

You might also likeRELATED