This master’s thesis does provide some evidence that shuttle stops are correlated with localized rent increases. This is a survey rather than an experiment; the

This master’s thesis does provide some evidence that shuttle stops are correlated with localized rent increases. This is a survey rather than an experiment; there’s no way to tell whether the shuttle lines caused rent increases, or whether they simply started in already up-and-coming neighborhoods. It’s also impossible to tell whether the desirability is due to shuttles or other transit; all the chosen shuttle stops (“selected by the San Francisco Tenants’ Union”!) are also within a couple blocks of a Bart station or the intersection of major Muni bus lines. I wish she had at least compared these locations to other Bart and Muni stops that don’t have shuttles (although admittedly this can be difficult). She also makes no attempt to correct for geography or neighborhood differences and just assumes that the annulus around a circle contains “similar units in the same neighborhood.” I doubt that this would be too useful to the greater debate, however. The real problem is not that a few bus stops are getting too expensive; it’s that the entire city and peninsula are getting too expensive. And to discuss that, we really need to quote the number of housing units and the number of jobs in the area.