Public pressure led the city of San Francisco to cut and relocate tech shuttle stops. Now the cities at the other end of the commute might be dealing with the consequences of those decisions.
According to an article by Wendy Lee, more employees of Facebook are driving alone to the company's headquarters in Menlo Park since San Francisco cut the number of shuttle bus stops allowed in the Mission District and other neighborhoods around the city.
According to Lee, the SFMTA "has closed 33 shuttle stops, while adding others" since the launch of a pilot program in August 2014. "With an official program in place as of April," adds Lee, "the total number of stops has gone from 125 to 110." That official program "allows tech buses to share Muni stops for at least a year but also requires buses longer than 35 feet to stick to major thoroughfares."
As a result, fewer Facebook employees are taking the shuttle and choosing to drive instead—according to a recent Facebook report to the city of Menlo Park. According to that report, "on May 9, trips entering Facebook’s complex at One Hacker Way increased by about 16 percent to 12,400 compared with May 8 of last year." The MTA is also undertaking a study of shuttle ridership, and considering further refining the shuttle system to operate on a hub model—which would move stops to locations like the Transbay Terminal instead of the residential neighborhoods.
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