Residents say an old Pets.com employee shuttle still drives the streets of San Francisco, seemingly at random. The driver, a mystery to all, emerges from the shuttle occasionally to buy a burrito and a Chronicle. But no one ever sees his face.
Like a ghost of tech-boom past, the Pets.com employee shuttle bus, which once drove Bay Area residents from the suburbs to the company's headquarters in San Francisco, is in constant motion on the streets of San Francisco. Residents all over the city report that the shuttle can disappear for months but is never really gone. They say the shuttle is still emblazoned with the company logo and an oversized caricature of the Pets.com sock puppet—a symbol of the fallen star of the dot-com era of the early 2000s.
Employees of Google and other companies who use shuttle services for transportation from their homes in the city to corporate headquarters located on the Peninsula and the Silicon Valley report that they often sense the Pets.com shuttle before they see it. Area psychiatrists report that cases of insomnia caused by Pets.com-shuttle-induced anxiety have been growing at the same rate as the Bay Area economy.
“Sometime it’s almost like this symbol of past failure—taunting all the hubris and extravagance of the current boom,” reports Rich Guy, an employee of Facebook who rides a company shuttle from his Mission condo to the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park. “Other times I just wonder if the driver is lost or avoiding going home and living with his parents in Concord, or wherever people used to live,” Guy says with a laugh.
FULL STORY: Pets.com Employee Shuttle Has Been Circling San Francisco Since 2000
Self-Driving Cars Still Can't Recognize the Difference Between a Wedding Planner and an Urban Planner
Pundits agree that planners need to prepare for self-driving cars. Self-driving cars still need to prepare for planners.
Florida Man Thought the New Comp Plan Included Zoning Changes
A Florida man is accused of not realizing an entirely separate process would be required to implement the zoning changes recommended in a recently approved comprehensive plan.
April Fool's Headlines That Didn't Make the Cut
"Who's the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?"
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie