San Francisco community group, union sue city over social inequality in Google bus

In a lawsuit filed against Google Inc, a community group and a municipal employee union argued that the shuttle buses of the search engine giant and other Silicon valley companies should be outlawed, Bloomberg reported. Pointing to the blackened windows, upholstered seats and Wi-Fi access of the technology companies' shuttle buses, the groups claimed that it is not fair that the city of San Francisco only collects a meager fee of a dollar for each public bus stop they use considering the fact that Their drivers and other residents pay double the amount on public buses.

Former president Aaron Peskin of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who is a member of the community group suing the city, said in a statement that the contribution from the technology companies were a pittance compared to the rest of the city folks who had been struggling to keep up with increasing rents.

"Car pooling and getting additional cars off the street is important, but it doesn't mean you go about it this way, as a giveaway, which is what this program is, without any alternatives considered. This program was created by the tech industry for the tech industry," Peskin argued.

According to the plaintiffs, the defendants, which include the city;s transit system, Bauer's Intelligent Transportation Inc, violated a state law that prohibits private buses from parking in public bus zones. The lawsuit was filed yesterdy in a San Francisco state court, Bloomberg said. The Coalition for Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit, SEIU Local 1021 and other activists also said that the shuttle bus program was illegal as the city of San Francisco failed to study the environmental impact of the shuttle buses or its alternative transport system to them. The complaint said that over 350 private shuttles, which has been exempted from environmental review, have over 35,000 boardings on a daily basis at public bus stops, while a public bus transit effectiveness program is undergoing environmental study.

San Francisco City Attorney's office spokesman Matt Dorsey begged off comment regarding the lawsuit and said, "We haven't seen the complaint and it's premature to comment."

Tags

Google Inc, Coalition for Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit, Bauer's Intelligent Transportation Inc

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