Warning: Grumpiness ahead.

This is cool and all, but do we really need another service catering to this demographic? I get that this sort of thing is hot right now, but I’m still disappointed; I wish I was reading about a company bringing some innovation to MUNI instead of cashing in on the area’s urban upper-middle-class.

Some of the stuff they’re doing would do wonders for the public transportation sector. Off the top of my head:

• Good GPS tracking would help customers plan their schedules more efficiently provide transit authorities with valuable data that can be used to create more efficient schedules and services.
• Bluetooth check-ins would help alleviate some of the headaches and time-consuming parts of the boarding process. Those with BT-enabled devices could simply walk onto the bus or train and take their seat, while others could use normal passes or cash.
• Knowing seat availability might help people plan their schedules more efficiently. Maybe the bus you usually take is crowded; the one 15 minutes later typically has more open seats, so you decide to take that one and have a more relaxed commute.
• We won’t be seeing vending machines on buses any time soon, but contracting with grocers placing vending machines stocked with WIC-approved items at a few stops might help lower-income individuals get food on the go.

tl;dr: Neat service. Keeping my fingers crossed that this eventually helps disrupt public transit and doesn't stop at providing Bay Area yuppies with another taxi service. I’d probably give it a shot if I was in SF.

“Then the two 20-something industrialists rode off into the sunset aboard their gleaming palanquin of tech privilege.”

“And they lived happily ever after. The end.”

So confused by this. From their Terms of Service:

LEAP OFFERS INFORMATION AND A METHOD TO OBTAIN THIRD PARTY TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, BUT DOES NOT AND DOES NOT INTEND TO PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES OR ACT IN ANY WAY AS A TRANSPORTATION CARRIER Leap provides a means to enable persons who seek transportation to certain destinations to find, use and pay for private buses to get to those destinations.

It seems like the buses are fake? It's just an app and qr reader.

This is some borderline hipster thing..

How long is this journey? Done some calculations and it's either 30 minutes on a bike or 20 minutes by car (obviously be a bit longer by bus, say a conservative 40 minutes). Correct me if I'm wrong but that ain't much of a commute.

I live in the UK and have never been to SF so I can't pass too much judgement but I really dont get it.

I need to go down to the Marina one morning and see if the buses are actually that full. If they are, MUNI just needs to up their rates to $3 a ride (if people are willing to pay SIX DOLLARS for this service?)

It would be interesting to see an Uber-like bus where the route is defined by people requesting pickups and dropoffs via their phones as opposed to a predefined schedule.

Additionally, the general perception of buses is pretty dreary—only undesierables use them. However, when the buses appearance is modernized, their appeal goes way up. http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/02/the-myth-that-everyone-naturally-prefers-trains-to-buses/385759/

Perhaps this is where both of those worlds meet?

Only in California!

This would never work in London.

I have no idea what this those. Can someone simplify this with colloquial copy?

Meanwhile in Africa...

If this is trying to solve the bad public transportation in SF, money and resource well wasted. We don't fix bad water in the fishing tank by putting in more expansive fish with the hope they'll purify the water.

Um, it's been a few years since I've lived in SF, but isn't that pretty much the 41/45 bus route?