Thursday's Presidio A-GO-GO

Comedian George Carlin once observed, "Did you ever notice people who drive faster than you are maniacs, but people who drive slower than you are idiots?"

San Francisco was the home to the first modern environmental organizations. In 1912 it was also the home to the first municipal public transportation system in the United States. The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) opened for service in 1972 and was the first regional subway system built in the United States in almost 60 years.

Being the second most densely populated city in the United States, parking and traffic is usually the first topic most San Franciscans lead with when they talk. I have a cousin who grew up here and used to say, “If you want to do something in San Francisco, you don’t go to the place and find parking. You find a parking spot and figure out what you can do around it.”

The Presidio (the former military base originally founded by the Spanish in 1776) tucked away in the northwest part of the city, became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1994 when the army relinquished control of it and handed it over the National Park Service.

Areas previously closed to the public soon found themselves open and inundated with curious visitors – and their cars. Soon thereafter the Presidio encountered something it had never seen before, traffic jams along its narrow Civil War-era streets.

Then something wonderful happened.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Presidio Go Shuttle which has two routes, and runs a free (That’s right, I said FREE) shuttle service, between the Presidio and the Financial District in downtown San Francisco.

The other route zig zags and crisscrosses the park, giving easier access to some of the more rugged sections which are harder to get to. The shuttles run seven days a week, from 6:00am to 7:00pm on weekdays and 9:00am to 6:00pm on weekends.

And just how has the Presidio GO Shuttle managed to stay free all these years? Since the Presidio opened up office space left vacant by the army, it has become the hottest destination for new start-ups. All those new businesses pay impact fees for operating in a national park.

Therefore, it is funded by multiple sources including Presidio tenant organizations and a portion of the money collected from Presidio parking fees. In addition to those funding sources, subsidies also come from the Presidio Trust and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

In the end, who cares why it’s free. It is just a great way to go from skyscrapers to forests at no cost to you.

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