Google donates $6.8 million to San Francisco youth bus rides

Protestors blocking a tech shuttle bus.

(Credit:cjmartin via Flickr)

It appears Google is looking to temper some of the backlash it's experienced over its high-tech commuter buses in San Francisco.

The Web giant has donated $6.8 million to the city to fund the Free Muni for Low Income Youth program for two years. This program, which launched last year, provides low- and moderate-income students free rides on San Francisco's public buses. Since it began, the program has assisted more than 31,000 students.

Google's donation is one of the largest private contributions toward direct city services that San Francisco has ever received, according to the mayor's office. And now that the city doesn't have to pay for the program, those tax dollars can be used elsewhere.

"With this unprecedented gift from Google, we can keep this successful pilot program running for at least two more years at no cost to taxpayers or Muni riders and free up critical funds for other vital Muni maintenance and services," San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement. "Google is demonstrating with real action and real resources that they are a true partner in addressing our city's affordability crisis for lower and middle-income families."

Google and other tech companies have recently been under fire for increasing income inequality in the Bay Area. With high-paid tech employees moving in, San Francisco has experienced increased gentrification and rising rents.

Related storiesGoogle looks to be expanding its commuter ferry boat serviceSan Francisco approves tech shuttle bus pilot program Are security guards now manning Google shuttle stops?Forget buses, Google's using ferry boats to shuttle workersProtesters break window of Google bus, report says The commuter buses that roam the city each morning and evening, picking up and dropping off tech employees, have become a symbol of wealth disparity and the target of a slew of protests.

Adding to some residents' resentment was the fact that the buses had been picking up passengers at stops designated for the city's official public transportation without paying the city. However, Mayor Lee announced last month that the city is now charging the tech buses for stopping at public stops. But the city apparently won't see increased revenue from this, according to the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

"San Francisco residents are rightly frustrated that we don't pay more to use city bus stops," a Google spokesperson told CNET. "So we'll continue to work with the city on these fees, and in the meantime will fund Muni passes for low income students for the next two years."

(Via The Verge)

Topics: Google, Corporate and legal Tags: San Francisco, low-income, bus, Google bus, Ed Lee, protest, donation, youth, transportation, Google, Muni, inequality

View the Original article

Dattch, The Dating App For Gay Women, Launches in San Francisco

Aimed exclusively at lesbians, bisexual and/or bi-curious women, the Dattch dating app ought to be a shoe-in for the large San Francisco market. So it’s no surprise that the startup – after raising money and honing its product in London – has now launched into the California city. You can download it for iOS here.

The product emphasises photos — not just profile photos but photos of where someone lives, what they wear, what they like etc — and thus draws comparisons with Pinterest in user interface.

Unlike Grindr, Dattch does not emphasise proximity-based social networking, allowing users to pick the distance they want to see people within, allied with age range.

It incorporates Facebook Connect and makes a point of weeding out fake profiles created by straight men fishing for willing partners.

CEO and co-founder Robyn Exton has repeatedly said the gay female dating scene is badly served, and – given the success of Tinder and the like – an app experience now makes a lot of sense.

She thinks re-hashing a gay male platform for women (such as Bender to Brenda Or GaydarGirls) just doesn’t work. Exton ought to know what she’s talking about – as she’d already built a straight dating product prior to Dattch.

Dattch targeted London and other UK cities initially, but it opting for a geofenced city-by-city rollout in the US. Australia is also on its roadmap.

The mostly female team was one of 17 startups in the Wayra London incubator, and has also closed a small $160,000 Angel round, alongside Wayra’s

View the Original article

Google Barge bids farewell to San Francisco, to make Stockton its new California home

Still think of the Google Barge as a wacky idea from a company that makes more money than it knows what to do with? Well, Mountain View will soon prove that a floating building has its merits: for one, when the company gets in trouble with authorities, it can get the hell out of dodge... literally. According to CNET, the vessel is slated to set sail to Stockton, California, after it was discovered in early February that it didn't have a construction permit in San Francisco. The barge is still a work in progress (hence the need for the proper paperwork), but once it's done, it will showcase the company's more avant-garde creations like Glass, autonomous cars and other projects from Google X's lab.

Google's moving because the 35-day window it got from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to secure a permit is almost up. Without the permit, Google's liable to be fined up to $30,000. Clearly, even though 30 grand is pocket change for the tech giant, it chose to pack its bags and finish construction in friendlier waters (read: outside BCDC's jurisdiction). A rep from the Treasure Island neighborhood (where the barge is currently moored) said the vessel could leave as soon as next week, and since Stockton's just on the other side of the bay from SF, it'll be there in no time. Fingers crossed that Google can now focus on finishing construction, because we can't wait to confirm if the barge's party deck exists.

0 Comments Share

Source: CNET

Tags: barge, california, google, googlebarge, projectx, sanfrancisco Next: Netflix engineers experiment with bump-based video sharing and sleep tracking .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

View the Original article

Airbnb Is Testing Out An Affordable Cleaning Service For Hosts In San Francisco

Peer-to-peer lodgings marketplace Airbnb has been focused on finding ways that it can help its hosts improve the quality of experience for guests that stay in their homes. As part of this effort, the company is trialing a low-cost cleaning service for some hosts on the platform.

According to an email sent to a host in the San Francisco Bay Area that was forwarded to TechCrunch, Airbnb is piloting a program that will make cleaning services available to some people who make their homes available on the platform. The email claims those services will be “affordable, easy to schedule, and can be tailored to include amenities such as linen service and gift baskets.”

In a statement from an Airbnb spokesperson, the company confirmed the trial, saying: “We’re always testing ways to make the experience on Airbnb better. This is a test we’re looking at in one market.”

Airbnb is working on a number of ways in which it can better support the people who list their homes on the platform. It recently brought on a new head of hospitality, Chip Conley, and created a Hospitality Innovation Lab in Dublin aimed at determining best practices for hosts.

It’s also introduced a new suite of mobile apps that are aimed at making the listing process easier. At the same event in which those apps were unveiled, Airbnb announced that it would relaunch Airbnb Groups to enable hosts to communicate and share tips with each other, and even toyed with the idea of offering up smartphones to hosts as a way to improve response times to guests and boost overall bookings.

But chief among the ways that Airbnb hosts can improve the quality of stay for their guests is through cleanliness of the spaces that they list. Those who frequently have Airbnb guests already know this, and many so-called “super hosts” already schedule regular cleaning sessions between stays.

Doing so can be expensive, however, and can eat into the money that hosts make — especially those who rely on income from Airbnb to help them pay their rents. At $55 for a three-hour cleaning, the price is slightly below what you might get from a service like Homejoy, which generally charges $20 an hour (in San Francisco, at least). Individual cleaners can run even higher, depending on the size of the home or how much cleaning is needed.

Offering hosts a somewhat discount price is a nice perk, especially for those who regularly rent out their homes to other members of Airbnb. It also improves the overall quality of their stays, could lead to better reviews, and overall increase the likelihood that hosts will have future guests.

Full text of the email sent to our host contact below:

Hi

View the Original article