Mapping Silicon Valley's Clandestine Private Transit Network

Project to map corporate shuttle routes of Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Google, & Facebook, outlines the forces behind gentrification in San Francisco and reveals a startling pattern of reverse sprawl.

September 7, 2013, 1pm PDT | Abhijeet Chavan | @legalaidtech

Researchers map the not-so-secret routes of corporate shuttles transporting tech workers from San Francisco to Silicon Valley.

"Whichever side of this issue you’re on, it’s clear that we’re looking at a reversal of the historical norm: The workers that used to live in residential suburbs while commuting to work in the city are now living in the city, while the largest technology companies are based in the suburbs and increasingly draw their labor supply from dense urban neighborhoods."

"...conventional wisdom has it that the routes are a way for companies to respond to the desires of young, hip urbanites who want to experience the frisson of urban life in between their shifts down to soulless suburbia." But tech companies do not have room to build more parking lots so they are using private shuttles for commuting employees.

"For better or worse, we’re looking at a situation where private networks start to supplant public infrastructure."

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Mapping Silicon Valley’s Gentrification Problem Through Corporate Shuttle Routes

Published on Friday, September 6, 2013 in Wired