Big Companies Moving Closer to Transit for Controlling Traffic and Making Transport Easy for Employees

Victoria Makras works at her marketing department job at Box Inc. after commuting by Caltrain in Redwood City. Box is one of a few companies that has relocated to more transit-friendly environs and offers free Caltrain transit passes to its employees.

Makras said, “You step off the station and you’re in the office. I have more time for work, to go to the gym, to see friends and family, or sleep in a little. It’s less stressful.”

San Francisco planning and research organization, SPUR, is pushing for other companies to follow in Box’s tracks. According to the study, eighty percent of jobs in the Bay Area are concentrated in suburban fringes with little access to regional rail. The offices of Google, Apple, and Facebook are all more than 3 miles from the nearest rail station.

Allison Arieff, editorial director of SPUR said, “This isn’t going to be good for the companies’ economic vitality in the long run. Something’s gotta give.”

One solution to this problem is to build housing closer to offices. So employees can walk, bike, or drive short distances easily. But Silicon Valley cities like Menlo Park, Mountain View, and Cupertino homes to Facebook, Google, and Apple have not been building enough homes to fulfill demand.

On this Arieff said, there are areas like San Mateo that have offices near public transportation. And Fremont is also planning more office space near the Warm Springs BART station.

Carl Guardino, president of Silicon Valley Leadership Group is agreed with the SPUR. He also said, there is too much demand for office spaces near rail and not enough to accommodate rapidly growing companies. He said the region needs to nail down funding to electrify Caltrain, which plans to upgrade its service with more and faster trains.

Arieff said, “In no way do we think this is going to be easy, but if we keep talking about it, we can outline what the options are that accommodate growth that makes sense. Or we could do nothing and watch things get worse.”

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