On Mayor Lurie’s plan to allow Waymo on Market Street

San Francisco Transit Riders’ full statement

*Read our initial joint statement with other mobility advocates here.*

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s unilateral decision today to allow Waymo free rein on Market Street is dangerous, undemocratic, inequitable, and un-San Franciscan. This plan unfairly benefits Waymo — an under-regulated multibillion-dollar tech corporation — at the expense of the safety and mobility of real San Franciscans.

A Waymo car simultaneously obstructs a bike lane, a Golden Gate Transit bus, and an ambulance on Folsom Street in 2024

Removing cars from Market Street has demonstrably improved Muni service and reduced injuries for pedestrians and people on bikes, improving Muni travel times by up to 14% and reducing traffic collisions on Market by 40%. These successes are the result of two decades of work by city agencies, public servants, elected officials, and advocates to create and implement a plan to improve Market Street. With this announcement, Mayor Lurie is upending that public process and setting a troubling precedent of unchecked mayoral interference.

Allowing Waymo exclusive access to Market Street essentially creates a nearly two-mile-long City-sanctioned monopoly for the Google-owned tech company — all while the City is drastically cutting vital Muni service on the same corridor. Transit riders will now not only need to deal with increased transfers and delays brought on by upcoming service cuts, but also the delays and hazards caused by a fleet of new Waymo vehicles flooding Market Street.

Last year, over half of San Francisco voters supported Prop L to fund Muni and rein in companies like Waymo. Now Mayor Lurie is instead cutting Muni service and expanding Waymo’s access to our streets.

We cannot allow the degradation of Muni — one of San Francisco’s most beloved public services — to be leveraged for the benefit of private companies with a direct line to the Mayor’s office. This move by the Lurie administration is a shameful mimicry of the patterns we are currently seeing at the federal level, where the Trump administration is unilaterally chipping away at and privatizing public services to further the interests of his billionaire allies. Cutting Muni buses on Market Street and inviting Google to fill in the gap is a step toward the privatization of our street space and public transit options. Rather than one public transit system shared by all San Franciscans, Mayor Lurie is helping to expand an alternative private transit system for the wealthy. It must be stopped.

San Francisco has a storied history of standing up against the privatization of our public transit services. Muni was initially created by a vote of the people in 1909 as the first municipally-owned transit system in the nation after corrupt private streetcar companies failed to provide adequate service. When the auto industry conspired to replace municipal streetcar lines in the 1970s, Mayor Joseph Alioto denounced the industry’s “monopoly evil” for its goal of “destroying a vital form of competition; namely, electric rapid transit.” More recently, San Franciscans’ fight against transit privatization has continued with popular grassroots movements against private shuttle buses, rental scooters, and — indeed — autonomous vehicles.

Using Waymo is a privilege that only some can afford. Muni, on the other hand, is a beloved public service that delivers thousands of affordable, reliable, and sustainable trips every single day. It is a lifeline for any resident, visitor, or worker in any part the city. San Francisco Transit Riders will never give up the fight to keep it that way.

We urge Mayor Lurie to rescind this decree immediately and instead make the investments needed to help Muni rapidly grow toward our city’s longstanding climate, street safety, mobility, and economic goals.

For more information, historical context and data about car-free Market Street, please refer to this fact sheet.

A Waymo car obstructs a crosswalk on Clay Street in 2024