Tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and more, may soon have to pay fees for using San Francisco's bus stops.
Many tech companies currently use San Francisco's bus stops and railway stops as pickup locations for their employees traveling for work to Silicon Valley campuses. The use of public bus stops by private buses has irked local residents, prompting the Board of Directors of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) to unanimously agree upon a pilot program that intends to charge corporate companies a small fee for using the city's bus stops to transport their employees to their work place.
The SFMTA says that it has approved around 200 shuttle stops in San Francisco and will charge the shuttles $1 per stop per day, which will begin from July 2014. Carli Paine, project manager of SFMTA, who outlined the program to the board, estimates that the project will cost smaller companies around $80,000 per year and larger companies may have to shell out over $100,000 per year.
SFMTA employees will regulate the approved bus stops and may also award fines to shuttles that do not follow the rules properly. Shuttle vehicles will also have to be clearly identified with a new permit, which will allow them to use the Muni stops. Just like normal vehicles, shuttles without proper permits will also be ticketed.
The latest program from SFMTA may not affect companies who generate billions of dollars in revenue every year and, therefore, many San Francisco residents stll grumble that the $1 fee is very low.
The program is set to be implemented in July this year.
