Look out, Manhattan, here we come! With the once-mysterious giant gleaming white buses now embroiled in local controversy, San Francisco is becoming the national poster city for sky-high housing prices and income disparity.
The shiny commute buses used by Google, Facebook, Genentech and Apple have been cruising around the city for years now, generally using public bus stops to load and unload their valuable workers. Sometimes, though, a bus isn't just a bus. These buses represent a growing disparity between the haves and the have nots. The buses have multiplied and so has the outrage.
At the simplest level, it's outrageous that the city has been letting these corporate buses use public bus stops for free. I get a fat ticket if I park in a bus stop, why shouldn't Google and the others? But really, this is about much more than a commute bus program. The corporate bus controversy is really just the beginning of a conversation San Francisco, and every other city, must have about income disparities, affordable housing, the perils of privatization and livable cities. Enjoy the cartoon, like, comment and share it with the other white bus in the lane next to you! And as usual, you can find more links to the stories behind the cartoon at my website.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
The rents in the city go up, up, up, all through the town.
The buses get blamed, left and right, left and right, left and right.
Techies on the rise by day and night, all through the town.
Use the public stops almost for free, almost for free, almost for free.
Billionaires back the bus can't see, and don't make a sound.
One dollar for them, two dollars for you, two dollars for you, two dollars for you.
The public's yours and the private's theirs, don't confuse the two.
It's not all about the bus you see, the bus you see, the bus you see.
The income gap pits you and me, all over town.
The middle and low get squeezed on out, squeezed on out, squeezed on out.
The rents and sales go up, up, up, all over town.
The people in the 'hood go change-change-change, change-change-change, change-change-change.
It's happened before, back time and again, all over town.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
The rents in the city go up, up, up, all through the town.