Chariot Banned from Competing with Muni: New San Francisco Jitney Rules

Chariot services are going to face a ban on Muni Routes due to a large number of complaints against it. The motive of this new SF Jitney rule is to ban private shuttles to come across in Muni routes. According to Alex Jonlin who is an SFMTA transportation analyst said, “These regulations would require any new route does not duplicate Muni service,” said Alex Jonlin, an SFMTA transportation analyst, at a media briefing on the rules Wednesday. All the private transits which match the timing of Muni routes will not be permitted.

The step is to cut off the competition between public and private buses. Also, private transit services need to share the GPS data of their vehicles, register for California Highway Patrol vehicle inspections, ridership number, bolster safety training, and more. According to SFMTA, this program will cost around $250,000 annually.

On creating new rules of jitney in SF, The head of SFMTA taxi services, Kate Toran said, “Our big concern is public safety”. This rule came after people have complained of Chariot vehicles double parking, stopping in Muni bus stops and blocking driveways. Around 62 complaints have been reported through email and 311 about Chariot and additional private transportation services since 2015 and 28 complaints have filed only in 2017.

Sue Vaughan, who sits on the SFMTA’s citizen advisory council said that behavior of Chariot vehicle to block Muni Buses can be seen in a number of photographs. It is also noticed that most of the San Franciscans don’t prefer to travel in Muni as they complain it is too crowded, dirty, and uncomfortable. On this, he said, “I think the solution is for those kinds of people to get over themselves.”

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