If you’re a San Franciscan, you may already know that Uber and Lyft have agreed to charge you an extra 1.5 to 3.25% for each ride you take that starts in San Francisco. Uber and Lyft negotiated this surcharge with City leaders (even though you as the consumer will be the one actually paying the charge) as a way to combat complaints that Uber and Lyft are responsible for the insane growth in San Francisco traffic. Sure, you’ll get to vote on the tax, but Uber and Lyft are bound to spend a bucket of cash to get it passed if it keeps the City folks out of their wallets and into yours. As someone who has been stuck behind Uber and Lyft drivers who appear to have had their driver’s license for about a week and have been driving in the City for about a day, I understand the desire to blame Uber and Lyft for the traffic in San Francisco. But here’s a better way to cut down on traffic without spending more: the Pet Camp Express!
Unlike Uber and Lyft cars that seem to just drive around the City, the Pet Camp Express only goes where it’s needed when it’s needed. We don’t have the Pet Camp Express vehicles randomly circling around the City, creating congestion and adding more CO2 to the atmosphere. The Pet Camp Express does a morning loop and an evening loop picking up and dropping off campers. To limit the amount of time a camper is on the Pet Camp Express we have different Pet Camp Express vehicles doing different routes. Imagine if all those Uber and Lyft cars were parked at a few central locations rather than just roaming the streets how much less traffic there would be. Yes, you might have to wait a few minutes for a ride and be forced to even plan ahead a bit, but you might make up that time by sitting in less traffic.
The default Pet Camp Express opportunity is Uber Pool or Lyft Line, not a private ride. Just think how much less traffic there would be if each Uber or Lyft vehicle had five people in it, not just one! If my math is right, we could get rid of 80% of the Uber and Lyft cars out there! That would be amazing! Think how much faster your camper could get home if there were 80% fewer Uber and Lyft cars in San Francisco! But wait, if there were 80% fewer Uber and Lyft cars on the streets of San Francisco (that has a nice ring to it), would you still use the Pet Camp Express? Man, we hope so!
Our drivers actually get trained on driving the Pet Camp Express vehicles on City streets! Unlike that Uber or Lyft driver who doesn’t know where the Ferry Building is, our drivers train and practice by driving in the City before they are allowed to transport a camper. Imagine how much faster we could move if Uber and Lyft drivers knew where they were going instead of having to rely on their phones to find those hard to spot locations like the SalesForce Tower.
There you go, the Pet Camp Express solves San Francisco’s traffic problems without imposing a fee AND the Pet Camp Express “pet-pool” even furthers San Francisco’s “Transit-First” policy. So ditch the car, Uber, or Lyft, and hop on the Pet Camp Express.
Give us a call or check out this page for more on the Pet Camp Express and how you can sign up.