Uber, Lyft and traffic congestion in SF

From an op-ed in this morning's Chronicle:

London, Stockholm and Singapore have used congestion pricing for years to clear traffic-choked streets. New York is contemplating a plan that would impose fees for driving into the city center during the busiest periods, which would make it the first U.S. city to adopt congestion pricing. San Francisco should be the second.

San Francisco has always been insecure about its status as a big city; it's only 13th in population in the United States. But it's one of the most densely populated cities in the country.

Reality check: London's population is 8,788,000. Singapore's is 5,763,000. New York's population is more than 8,500,000. Stockholm is closest to SF in population, though  it still has almost twice as many people at 1,500,000.

Seems that the Uber and Lyft boom in SF is the biggest cause of traffic congestion in the city. The op-ed proposes curbing, so to speak, that relatively recent development:

Fees on transportation networking company vehicles imposed through trip charges and registration fees. Consider limits on the number of transportation networking company vehicles allowed to pick up passengers in San Francisco...

That would solve the problem without the need for congestion pricing

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) seems to agree. (Uber and Lyft-type taxis are called "transportation network companies," aka, TNCs):

TNC trips are concentrated in the densest and most congested parts of San Francisco, including the downtown and northeastern core of the city. At peak periods, TNCs are estimated to comprise 20–26 percent of vehicle trips in downtown areas and the South of Market. On an average weekday, more than 5,700 TNC vehicles operate on San Francisco streets during the peak period. On Fridays, over 6,500 TNC vehicles are on the street at the peak.

In any event, implementing congestion pricing in San Francisco is not only unnecessary it's also very unpopular, as public opinion polls in recent years have found.

The most ridiculous proposal in the op-ed: imposing tolls on traffic from SF's southern border: "But there are no tolls on traffic coming from the Peninsula. So roughly 280,000 cars a day pour into San Francisco from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties."

Right. San Francisco's restaurants, theaters, clubs and other tourist industries would really like penalizing visitors who want to come to the city!

An unlikely version of congestion pricing