San Francisco approves employee shuttle rules (Update)
San Francisco transportation officials have approved a new pilot plan to regulate private employee shuttles operated by tech companies like Facebook and Google and charge a fee for the vehicles to use public bus stops.
The shuttles that transport thousands of workers each day have become a symbol of economic inequality and rising housing costs and evictions in San Francisco.
The Municipal Transportation Agency unanimously approved the pilot program Tuesday in a room packed with people eager to opine about the contentious topic.
The meeting came hours after protesters blocked a Google shuttle bus, hanging a sign on it that read "Gentrification & Eviction Technologies" as police officers moved in.
The city and the companies say the shuttles remove thousands of vehicles from local roads and reduce carbon emissions.
© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
