Activists Take San Francisco to Court Over 'Google Buses'

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Protestors from the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco demonstrate outside SF City Hall in January.

Image: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

By Kurt Wagner2014-05-03 00:34:37 UTC

San Francisco's Google Bus protesters are bringing their message from the streets to the courtroom.

A group of activists filed a lawsuit Thursday against the City of San Francisco in an attempt to halt a tech shuttle pilot program that will allow Silicon Valley tech giants like Apple and Google to use public bus stops to pick up and drop off employees for a small fee.

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The tech companies already utilize city bus stops as a way to transport employees around San Francisco and to company headquarters in the Valley, sometimes as far as 50 miles away. The 18-month pilot program was first approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority's Board of Directors in January as a response to public outrage over the tech shuttles. The pilot program was later upheld by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last month.

The program is slated to start in July, and will charge buses $1 per stop, per day to use public bus stops, a fee that has been scoffed at by activists for being too low. Public transportation in San Francisco costs $2 per rider, per trip.

Plaintiffs in the case, including the Coalition For Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit and Service Employees International Union Local Union 1021, claim that what the city is doing with the pilot program violates state laws. According to California Vehicle Code 22500, it is illegal for private vehicles to use public bus stops, a law that has been ignored by police and elected officials, according to the lawsuit.

According to state law, any new transportation project also requires an Environmental Impact Report in order to determine how transportation changes may impact the local community. The lawsuit comes exactly one month after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-2 in favor of moving forward with the pilot program without first completing an EIR.

The lawsuit is yet another step in what has become a long, difficult process for both the city and activists — And the issues go much deeper than the enforcement of a state vehicle code.

Someone vandalized a tech shuttle on Friday with black marker in San Francisco's Lower Haight neighborhood.

The tech shuttles in San Francisco are seen by opponents as a symbol of the gentrification taking place in the city. According to protesters, rents have risen dramatically in neighborhoods near these shuttle stops, forcing lower and middle income families out of their homes. The shuttles also cause delays in public transportation, according to the lawsuit, and pose a threat to pedestrian and bike safety.

Supporters of the tech shuttles argue that they keep thousands of cars off the road by providing transportation to employees who would otherwise have to drive.

Protestors have taken to the streets in recent months to voice their displeasure over the city's willingness to allow tech shuttles to operate at very little cost. A few of the most recent protests have garnered attention for their aggressive approach toward tech employees and shuttle riders. One protestor in Oakland (where tech shuttles also operate), vomited on a bus windshield. Another group of protestors gathered outside the home of Google Ventures Partner Kevin Rose, handling out flyers to his neighbors that identified him as a "parasite."

Richard Drury is serving as legal council for plaintiffs of the lawsuit, and also represented tech shuttle opponents last month in the appeal the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that was rejected. Drury did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.

A handful of tech companies were named in the lawsuit as defendants. Both Apple and Google were named, but neither company immediately responded to Mashable's request for comment. Other well-known shuttle providers like Facebook and Cisco were not named.

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Topics: google bus, lawsuit, Politics, protests, San Francisco-San Jose, Tech, tech shuttle