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I have an unpopular answer. Back in the oughts, companies like Google and Facebook started running charter buses that stopped illegally at public bus stops to f

I have an unpopular answer. Back in the oughts, companies like Google and Facebook started running charter buses that stopped illegally at public bus stops to ferry their employees to the south bay. If those people had taken public transit instead we would have pumped billions of dollars into Caltrain, enough to fund vastly improved services. There would definitely have been an adjustment period where more people would have driven and made traffic even worse. But that discomfort would have helped create the political will to improve public transit.

skybrian 5y ago
But you might also think of these private bus fleets as a reaction to the vetocracies delaying or outright preventing significant public transportation improvements. Large corporations might be more willing to fund public transport if they thought it would work? For example, many of Google's new campuses are have very good connections to public transport, so it's not like they're inherently against it.
epistasis 5y ago
> If those people had taken public transit instead we would have pumped billions of dollars into Caltrain This denies the actual reality of the situation in that there was no public transit that was equivalent, the local political power structure is hostile to improved transit, and the power structure is in particular extremely opposed to transit that might be used by tech workers, much less predominantly used by tech workers. During the recent Caltrain electrification battle, there was a large anti-Caltrain political force because it was seen as "for tech workers."
nitwit005 5y ago
They blamed the rising housing costs and changing neighborhoods on the tech workers. They would have opposed public transit alternatives as well. They didn't want those people living in SF and working elsewhere.
anonymoushn 5y ago
If those people had taken public transit instead their commutes would have been twice as long innit.

skybrian 5y ago

But you might also think of these private bus fleets as a reaction to the vetocracies delaying or outright preventing significant public transportation improvements. Large corporations might be more willing to fund public transport if they thought it would work? For example, many of Google's new campuses are have very good connections to public transport, so it's not like they're inherently against it.

epistasis 5y ago

> If those people had taken public transit instead we would have pumped billions of dollars into Caltrain This denies the actual reality of the situation in that there was no public transit that was equivalent, the local political power structure is hostile to improved transit, and the power structure is in particular extremely opposed to transit that might be used by tech workers, much less predominantly used by tech workers. During the recent Caltrain electrification battle, there was a large anti-Caltrain political force because it was seen as "for tech workers."

nitwit005 5y ago

They blamed the rising housing costs and changing neighborhoods on the tech workers. They would have opposed public transit alternatives as well. They didn't want those people living in SF and working elsewhere.

anonymoushn 5y ago

If those people had taken public transit instead their commutes would have been twice as long innit.