#tech bus

Close your eyes, listen to this video's soundtrack, and try to imagine what's happening. Are climbers cresting Everest's mighty peak? Is a physically disabled runner overcoming all odds to win the New York Marathon?

Nope. The rousing score is touting an ad for San Francisco's new luxury-bus service, Leap Transit.

Around corners in San Francisco Bay Area, you will see dozens of shiny white coaches with dark-tinted windows, no logo, but an LED display showing "GBUS TO MTV". It has been an usual scene of the morning SF. In fact, these are Google's commuter buses ferrying 4,500 - 5,000 employees every day to and from Googleplex in Mountain View which is 40 miles away.

These commuter bus services - not only for Google, but also other tech giants like Facebook and Electronic Arts - stirred controversies last year. Some views suggested that the bus services enabled the high-paid tech people to move into San Francisco and thus driving up the cost of homes. Some also opposed their unpaid use of public bus stops leading to delays and congestion.

Earlier this year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) required these firms to pay US$1 per day for each public stop used for picking up or dropping off their employees. Later, the agency conducted an 18-month "Commuter Shuttle Pilot Program" to increase fees and impose more regulations for the use of a shared Muni and commuter shuttle stops network. A permit (as shown in the photo between two headlights) had to be applied.

Last week, it occurred to me that I might start monitoring the local Wi-Fi environment to determine how often the Apple Bus really comes by. My wife guessed 10 times a day. I’d have said 20. After a week of reverse-wardriving, it appears the Apple Bus passes my house an average of 36 times a day, and is uncannily punctual, especially in the a.m., when the first bus reliably pops up on my Wi-Fi radar between 6:23:33 and 6:23:56 every morning.