Council-MTC Study Finds 9.6 Million Ride Commuter Shuttles
Public and private shuttle services around the Bay Area carried more passengers in the 2014-15 fiscal year than all but six of the region’s public transit agencies, according to the 2016 Bay Area Shuttle Census released this month by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Bay Area Council. The census results follow the Council’s multi-year effort in leading a coalition of companies that operate shuttles to develop a pilot program in San Francisco to ensure their safe operation.
Produced through a year-long effort by the Council and MTC, the 2016 Shuttle Census marks the first comprehensive assessment of the region’s varied shuttle resources ever conducted; and includes three years (2012-14) of origin and destination information, as well as data on capacity, ridership, fleet size and service mileage reported by 35 shuttle sponsors and operators, including Apple, Google, Salesforce, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and many others. During this time, the number of shuttle vehicles on Bay Area roadways jumped by more than 60 percent and ridership increased by 45 percent.
Regionwide, the number of shuttle vehicles grew to 765 in 2014 from 473 in 2012, with total daily capacity soaring to 34,000 from 18,000 and aggregate annual boardings rising to 9.6 million from 6.6 million. Silicon Valley has emerged as the heart of the Bay Area shuttle market; with the lion’s share of regional service linking Santa Clara County with San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. To engage in the Council’s commuter shuttles work, please contact Policy Director Adrian Covert.