Tenant advocates sue to stop SF tech bus program

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Tenant activists and labor leaders filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging San Francisco's pilot program that allows private tech shuttles to use public bus stops for a small fee, saying the project violates state traffic and environmental law.

The lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeks to end the pilot program, which was approved by city leaders earlier this year and upheld by the Board of Supervisors last month. The eight-month pilot, scheduled to begin in July, allows shuttles with permits to stop in certain red zones for $1 per stop per day.

Tenants groups and others, calling themselves the Coalition for Fair, Legal and Environmental Transit, have targeted the buses, which mostly carry technology workers to Silicon Valley and the Peninsula, as the most visible symbol of the tech boom they say is responsible for pushing up housing prices and driving long-term residents from San Francisco.

The Blue America coalition of rich and poor: struggle to get along.