A group of seniors and people with disabilities, protesting against the tech industry and its workers, block two shuttle buses picking up tech employees at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco on Friday. 

Image 1 of 10 - Tech bus protest

A group of seniors and people with disabilities, protesting against the tech industry and its workers, block two shuttle buses picking up tech employees at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco on Friday. 

A group of seniors and people with disabilities, protesting against...the tech industry and its workers, block two shuttle buses picking up...tech employees at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco on...Friday. 

Image 2 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

Seniors and people with disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and Valencia streets on Friday. 

Image 2 of 10 - Tech bus protest

Seniors and people with disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and Valencia streets on Friday. 

Seniors and people with disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and...Valencia streets on Friday. 

Image 3 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

Image 3 of 10 - Tech bus protest

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle...buses. 

Image 4 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and disabled residents blocking two shuttle buses. 

Image 4 of 10 - Tech bus protest

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and disabled residents blocking two shuttle buses. 

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and disabled...residents blocking two shuttle buses. 

Image 5 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

The driver of a tech shuttle bus watches as a group of seniors and people with disabilities prevent his and another bus from moving at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

Image 5 of 10 - Tech bus protest

The driver of a tech shuttle bus watches as a group of seniors and people with disabilities prevent his and another bus from moving at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

The driver of a tech shuttle bus watches as a group of seniors and...people with disabilities prevent his and another bus from moving at...24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

Image 6 of 10|Tech bus protest

A tech worker waits to board a bus as seniors and people with disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and Valencia streets on Friday. 

Image 6 of 10 - Tech bus protest

A tech worker waits to board a bus as seniors and people with disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and Valencia streets on Friday. 

A tech worker waits to board a bus as seniors and people with...disabilities protested tech buses at 24th and Valencia streets on...Friday. 

Image 7 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

A Yahoo shuttle bus picks up employees in the middle of the block to avoid a group of seniors and people with disabilities that blocked two other buses at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

Image 7 of 10 - Tech bus protest

A Yahoo shuttle bus picks up employees in the middle of the block to avoid a group of seniors and people with disabilities that blocked two other buses at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

A Yahoo shuttle bus picks up employees in the middle of the block to...avoid a group of seniors and people with disabilities that blocked two...other buses at 24th and Valencia streets in San Francisco. 

Image 8 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

Elizabeth DeYoung and a group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

Image 8 of 10 - Tech bus protest

Elizabeth DeYoung and a group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

Elizabeth DeYoung and a group of seniors and people with disabilities...block two shuttle buses. 

Image 9 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

Image 9 of 10 - Tech bus protest

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle buses. 

A group of seniors and people with disabilities block two shuttle...buses. 

Image 10 of 10|Tech bus protest

The Chronicle

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and people with disabilities blocking two shuttle buses. 

Image 10 of 10 - Tech bus protest

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and people with disabilities blocking two shuttle buses. 

Police officers move in to clear away a group of seniors and people...with disabilities blocking two shuttle buses. 

The shuttle buses that ship techies from San Francisco to Silicon Valley have become loaded symbols over the past year, physical targets for community outrage over the tech boom’s role in the city’s skyrocketing rents and growing income gap. 

Now seniors and people with disabilities are taking issue with the buses themselves. 

On Friday morning, protesters from groups including Senior and Disability Action, the Gray Panthers and Eviction Free San Francisco blocked two tech shuttle buses stopping at 24th and Valencia streets en route to the Valley. 

But protesters argued that small fee is not nearly enough to offset the high costs of the shuttles for seniors and disabled people — though state regulations require the city’s fee not exceed costs associated with managing the program. 

Tech shuttles, protesters said, create safety hazards for seniors and people with disabilities.  When private shuttles use MUNI stops, city buses can’t always pull over at the designated area.  Sometimes, activists say, they must walk into traffic to get on the bus.  Other times, the bus is forced to stop so far away they can’t catch it at all. 

“We’re not just protesting the evictions,” said Alice Bierman, 40, who is legally blind and works for Senior and Disability Action.  She said she often misses the bus because she can’t see where it has stopped if it’s not in its designated spot. 

Mira Ingram, a MUNI rider who is wheelchair-bound due to a combination of neuropathy, arthritis and diabetes, said she often misses the bus because of tech shuttles.  The 45-year-old said she canceled a regular morning doctors’ appointment because she missed her bus so frequently due to private shuttles.  The private buses, she said, block MUNI drivers from getting close enough to the curb to operate the bus’ wheelchair lifts. 

“Tech shuttle workers, if you’re inconvenienced, imagine if you were a 98-year-old,” one demonstrator shouted at the commuters on the buses, which were stalled for more than a half hour before city police broke up the protest. 

Eugene Koontz, a Siri Operations Engineering waiting to board a blockaded Apple shuttle, said that he supported the protest. 

“We should have more affordable housing,” he said. “ It’s absolutely unfair.” 

At the same time, he said, the shuttles should have the right to operate in the city so long as they pay for that use. 

“It’s like a parking spot,” he said. “ You should be able to pay to park for a certain amount of time.” 

The Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored public-policy advocacy organization that helped broker the pilot deal, said that although some issues with the tech shuttle buses remain, the group is confident the program will help the city find solutions. 

“We don’t think that adding 327,000 car trips per year to city streets will make it any easier to get around the city,” said Rufus Jeffris, a spokesman. 

“Some shuttle opponents have attempted to conflate the shuttles with the city’s housing problems,” he added. “ We don’t subscribe to that, but we believe the housing issue is one that also must be addressed.” 

The city had originally planned to charge tech shuttles only $1 per stop during the pilot.  Last month it increased the fee after the number of stops in the pilot was reduced, meaning the program would generate less revenue, and estimates for administrative costs of the program increased. 

That change in policy, though, did not appear to satiate protesters. 

“Maybe the techies don’t mean to be a part of the problem,” said Judy Brady, 77, a protester who uses a wheelchair. “ But they are ipso facto part of the enemy.”