We all know better than to leave a bike unlocked while it's perched atop a Muni bus's bike rack—especially while the bus is creeping down Market Street—but allow Doug's experience serve as a cautionary tale in case anyone has been lulled into a false sense of security:

I was enjoying some after work drinks on Election Night when I decided I had one too many to safely ride my bike home. I put my bike on the front rack of an outbound #71 at Market and 2nd, and took a seat on the front of the bus. I was on the sixth seat back, and had a decent view of my bike. The next stop was Stockton and we pulled up to a red light. As people were boarding the bus I had my head down until the driver called out that someone was taking my bike. By the time I stood up my bike was gone. I ran off the bus and headed back down Market assuming the thief was riding off in that direction but I couldn’t see anything among the lights of Market Street rush hour traffic.

Bummer, Doug.  And if anyone spots a red singlespeed rigged up with surfboard rack mounts, do let him know.

[Ice Tubes]

This Giants mural would be oh-so-much-better if under the hood of a Ford, but we'll take it.

[Photo by Zach Bass]

Let's not pretend I don't have an inherent dislike for the start-up Uber, because I do.  Their promotions are awful, the Town Car-first transit offering always struck me as an arrogant flaunting of tech wealth, and their name is just douchie.  But this isn't about that.

Yesterday, Uber unveiled their new “Uber TAXI” service.  No, they're not rolling out their own yellow cabs on the city streets, rather turning our existing unreliable cabs into Uber-powered taxis.  Uber explains:

• Drivers will continue to use the meter in their taxis and will input the fare into their Uber iPhones at the end of the trip. This will include all tolls and out-of-city surcharges that would normally apply for any SF taxi ride
• A 20% gratuity will be added to your fare, plus a $1 booking fee. This will be done automatically and charged to your credit card, exactly like a standard Uber ride

They go to point out that it isn't a dispatch service, but rather an “electronic hail” that goes out to pre-approved, city-licensed taxi drivers, much like Taxi Magic.  The critical difference is that they work with all cab companies, as long as the individual driver is up to Uber snuff, and payment is done in-app.  As they say, “Because CHOICE is a beautiful thing.”

But is this really giving us a choice, or taking more cabs off the streets and into a private network?

It's highly unlikely cabbies today receive a 20% tip on every fare they pick up, so Uber's pricing model creates this vicious, market-cornering cycle.  Considering flagging down a cab in this city is as difficult as finding a decent slice of pizza, Uber will find customers willing to put up with the inflated $1 + 20% price for a more reliable ride.  Drivers will clearly prioritize Uber's customers over the dumb slobs waiving their hands on the corner because of said 20% gratuity, taking even more available cabs off the streets and thus creating more demand for Uber's “hailing” services.

The net effect isn't we have more cabs or a more reliable service (Uber themselves admit they cannot “fix” the number of taxis on the streets, as the city only has “about 1,500” medallions available), but rather we have to pay more money for the same, lousy taxi services we already have kinda available today.  Brilliant business, yes, but undeniably evil.

Anyway, I'm glad I own I bike.

[Photo by Ian Fuller]

The folks over at Stamen Design, famous for their Crimespotting and Cabspotting maps, created this handy transit map explaining the approximate routes all those pesky 'gentrifying' (according to some stencil outside of Ritual, at least) wifi-equiped white buses full of tech workers take:

Fundamental shifts are underway in the relationship between San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Historically, workers have lived in residential suburbs while commuting to work in the city. For Silicon Valley, however, the situation is reversed: many of the largest technology companies are based in suburbs, but look to recruit younger knowledge workers who are more likely to dwell in the city.

…Several Stamen staff live on Google shuttle routes, so we see those shuttles every day. They're ubiquitous in San Francisco, but the scale and shape of the network is invisible.

We decided to try some dedicated observation. We sat 18th & Dolores one morning, and counted shuttles. We counted a new shuttle every five minutes or so; several different companies, high frequency. We also researched online sources like Foursquare to look for shuttle movements, and a 2011 San Francisco city report helped fill in gaps and establish basic routes.

As you can imagine, this map isn't completely accurate.  They wanted to imagine what this all would look like if the private shuttles were an actual transit system, so they simplified things a bit.  But, at the end of the day, this alt transit network carries 35% of the Caltrain load every day—and the Mission is well represented.

Now, if someone would mash this map with average rents, things could get really interesting.

[Stamen]