The San Francisco County Transportation Authority recently released a report on the role of shuttle services in San Francisco's transportation system. The study seeks to document the role of shuttles citywide, with a focus on examining the operations of regional employer shuttles within San Francisco neighborhoods. The study was spurred by the significant growth in recent years of shuttle operations in San Francisco, especially private employer-provided regional shuttles which provide direct service to the employment site from either residential neighborhood stops, or from major transit hubs (e.g. BART, Muni, or Caltrain stations).

The conclusion: "Shuttles play a valuable role in the overall San Franscisco transportation." The report goes on to discuss the significant and widespread benefits of regional employer shuttles.

From the public perspective, these benefits include congestion and air quality improvements. Respondents to a survey included in the study felt that after the introduction of shuttle services noted that parking on the street also bacame easier, which respondents attributed to some of the people riding shuttle buses having given up their cards.

Employers should also take note of the responses of respondents who were themselves shuttle riders. Many of these respondents said that the provision of shuttle services by their employer was key to their employment and residential location choice. A full 14% of employee respondents stated they would leave their current employment if the shuttle service were unavailable, 92% of respondents indicated that they gained productive work time by riding the shuttle, and 86% said they also gained personal time.