Where else besides the pages of the Marina Times do you find supervisors Aaron Peskin and Mark Farrell side by side? In late January, they appeared together at a press conference condemning the plans of Bluegogo to launch a bike-sharing business in the city without permits. Opponents feared it would lead to thousands of bikes clogging up city sidewalks.
Peskin cast the issue as another tech company flouting local laws and seeking forgiveness later. Peskin was joined at the event by Farrell and Brian Wiedenmeier, representing the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
Ed Reiskin, director of Transportation at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, issued a letter to Bluegogo’s CEO, Gang Li, requesting that the company notify the city of its business plan and comply with local law. He also demanded Bluegogo ensure its plans would not infringe upon an exclusive deal the city made with bike-share company Bay Area Motivate.
“While San Francisco actively promotes bicycle transportation and we would welcome the opportunity to learn more about your proposed operations, we want to make sure you familiarize yourself with San Francisco’s requirements for use of its right of way and understand that San Francisco will actively enforce local laws protecting the city’s right of way,” Reiskin wrote.
The previous month, Uber launched and quickly curtailed the use of self-driving cars in the city without getting approvals.
