Re:Why People Hate the Google Bus
by potatolicious on Sunday May 26, 2013 @04:44PM
(#5772361)
> "but I didn't understand what private buses have to do with real estate prices."
It's pretty simple. These companies are located very far outside of the city, but a substantial portion of their employee base prefer urban lifestyles. So companies run these bus lines into the city in order to attract said employees.
The normal housing demand in San Francisco is proportionate to the number of jobs in San Francisco. Now the housing demand is all the jobs in San Francisco and all the jobs in the Valley - and that's a lot of extra jobs. By running these bus lines Google, Facebook, et al have successfully unloaded a lot of the housing demand from their local areas into the city, raising prices sharply.
It's pretty simple. These companies are located very far outside of the city, but a substantial portion of their employee base prefer urban lifestyles. So companies run these bus lines into the city in order to attract said employees.
The normal housing demand in San Francisco is proportionate to the number of jobs in San Francisco. Now the housing demand is all the jobs in San Francisco and all the jobs in the Valley - and that's a lot of extra jobs. By running these bus lines Google, Facebook, et al have successfully unloaded a lot of the housing demand from their local areas into the city, raising prices sharply.