San Francisco Looks At Special Curbs For Uber, Lyft To Reduce Congestion
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- Looking to end congestion from Uber and Lyft drivers on San Francisco streets, Mayor Ed Lee has come up with a proposal to free up the roads.
Ridesharing drivers stopping in the middle of the lane to drop off or pick up passengers has become a common sight throughout the city, often causing anger among cyclists and other drivers.
"My ear is a little bit deaf all the yelling of people saying we're so congested. It's become unsafe," Lee told KPIX 5.
The mayor has proposed a deal with Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing companies that would provide specially painted curbs dedicated to ridesharing vehicles.
In some cases that will mean using scarce parking spaces; although it's not clear how many.
The companies in exchange would provide the city information about how many of their cars are on the streets and in what areas.
"I'm asking them to use their data, share it with us, so that we could figure out where are good drop off points for their customers and for ours as well, but safe ones," Lee said.
Perhaps the city's hardest hit intersection is Valencia and 16th Street in the Mission, which has a dedicated bike lane that is often filled with cars that pull over.
According to a recent transportation study, on any given Saturday more than 2,000 rideshare drivers either pull over or drop off at this intersection.
The mayor said the program would be run by SFMTA which will do community outreach before it goes in place.
So far, no neighborhood has been selected for the pilot program.