Competition Arises for Public Transportation and the Morning Commute

In San Francisco, there’s a boom.

More and more money is being invested into technology, which allows for more companies to be formed and more jobs to be created. The influx of workers has caused the city to cram, driving housing prices through the roof and leaving the public transportation system (MUNI) in shambles. There are simply not enough places for people to live and not enough municipal buses and trains to get people where they need to go.

On the transportation front, ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft have alleviated some of the burden that the tech boom has caused the city. Both companies have recent features (Uber Pool and Lyft Line, respectively) that allow for one ride to be shared by two different parties who are headed to a similar destinations. This smart, “car-pooling” feature allows the price of traditional Uber and Lyft rides to be driven down, though they are still significantly more expensive for commuters than catching the MUNI.

And that’s where Chariot comes in.

Chariot is a private van service that has specific routes and stops throughout San Francisco. To start, Chariot has been focusing on districts whose commuters have the most difficult time getting downtown due to their public transportation situation. The Marina District, for instance, has been notoriously bad for city commuters. But with Chestnut Bullet route, commuters are able to take a Chariot to the Financial District in a fraction of the time it would take on the bus. And the most compelling part about Chariot for it’s passengers — the cost won’t break the bank as much as it would taking an Uber or Lyft every morning.

The cost of a MUNI ride in San Francisco is $2.25. The cost of a Chariot (if you purchase a 24 ride ticket) is $3.75.

Chariot now has 8 different routes throughout San Francisco and has plans to expand. New lines are added when enough users download the app from a district that currently isn’t served. In this way, Chariot is able to gauge demand and put routes where people want them.

But not everyone thinks that Chariot is good for the city. Some are worried that this new commute option will further deplete the passenger fares that allow MUNI to run. These passenger fares make up only 30% of MUNI’s spending budget today and could go down even further with more and more private competition. However, private competition could be a positive for MUNI, who some say needs to do a better job managing their current resources and logistics strategy. For instance, MUNI’s buses are the slowest of any major urban city in the country, averaging 8.1 MPH. That’s not a money issue. That’s a logistics issue.

Competition forces MUNI to take a major look at their current operations to see where improvements can be made. But so long as buses are late, passengers are crammed, and meetings are missed, competition in the commuter transportation space will continue to rise in San Francisco and other cities like it.