Bus Lanes: the City Pays, Should Tech Companies Benefit?

San Francisco is getting a lot of new bus lanes to speed up transit, but now the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says those lanes will be open to any vehicles that fits the California Vehicle Code definition of a bus. "That means casino buses, tour buses, Chariots, and tech shuttle buses and others would all be able to compete with Muni for lane space," Sue Vaughan explains in an opinion piece for the San Francisco Examiner.

Vaughn argues that this expansion of those who can use the bus lane betrays the voters and activists who got them put in place. The Proposition K sales tax was a contentious bill, and, Vaughn argues, those supporting it were willing to pay the tax and give up street parking for transit, not to subsidize wealthy companies like Google and Apple to run shuttles down San Francisco.