The irony isn't lost on the authors of a new report by SPUR: Bay Area companies committed to technology innovation obstinately rely on traditional and inefficient commutes in automobiles.
Nicholas Cheng shares news of a new study from SPUR that pushes big companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area to better connect their workplaces with public transit.
Cheng writes of the large challenge for transportation planners and commuters: "Eighty percent of jobs in the Bay Area are concentrated in suburban fringes with little access to regional rail, and three-quarters of Bay Area workers drive alone to work as a result, the study’s authors note."
SPUR editorial director Allison Arieff is quoted in the article, saying that a lack of transit options for employees is a competitive disadvantage for many tech companies.
Meanwhile, examples of car-centric planning and political decisions abound. For instance, the recently opened Warm Springs BART Station has line of sight to Tesla's Fremont factory—unfortunately it's a two-mile walk between the two locations. Also "Silicon Valley cities like Menlo Park, Mountain View and Cupertino — homes to Facebook, Google and Apple — have not been building enough homes to match demand," writes Hueng.
Read the full story: Study calls on big tech companies to move closer to transit
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