
SF MTA Blames Uber, Lyft for traffic congestion in SF - gnicholas
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-traffic-Uber-Lyft-SFMTA-blame-10791265.php
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gnicholas
> According to the San Francisco Examiner, some 45,000 Uber and Lyft drivers
> are now working in the city. By comparison, a mere 1,800 taxi drivers cover
> the same turf.

Of course, they're not all working at the same time, so this isn't a great
comparison. Lyft/Uber drivers also likely have a wider geographic range, so
this probably counts drivers who serve primarily outside of SF but
occasionally venture in.

Also, black car drivers don't show up in this data, further obscuring the true
comparison.

The overall article wasn't bad, but stats like this don't help.

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choxi
It certainly doesn't help that our only subway covers 1/6th of the city. It
seems like most other major cities are constantly investing in transportation
infrastructure, and in SF the only large project I can think of is the new
Transbay Terminal (which will probably make traffic congestion even worse).

Why does it feel like SF is so tragically mismanaged as a city? Is there
something about the location that makes city planning more difficult, or is it
just bad governance?

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sparky_
This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what these services provide.
The real statistic would be to example private car ownership in the city.
Namely, as Uber/Lyft become more prevalent, does private car ownership (or
rate of growth thereof) shrink?

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convolvatron
its more than just numbers

users make a point of forcing u-turns on busy streets running a red only to
block the intersection in the other direction stopping a full lane to pick up
or drop or a fare, or even just check their phones idling in the bus lane,
ignore the honking bus, and forcing it* to take on and discharge passengers in
the traffic lane

but in any case, it doesn't matter matter. for whatever reason SOMA is
gridlocked throughout the day you can easily take an hour to traverse the last
mile before the bay bridge. its just not working anymore. i think the ubers
cause a lot of it..but someone has to do something

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convolvatron
i did talk with someone from sfmta a couple days ago. they some really
marginal ideas planned. basically they want the city to extend the taxi/bus
only lanes further and further out from market. they also plan on taking out
the center median on van ness to make a new dedicated bus lane.

as another poster commented some incremental investment in underground during
the last 40 years would have made a big difference. after the disaster of
extending the T into chinatown, not sure we can even meaningfully discuss that
as a option

