More on Tech Companies' migration to funding transit over "Google Buses"

This is not the Google Bus you are looking for

It remains unclear whether the businesses plan to invest their own funds into projects with Caltrain officials in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Other local transit agencies, like the Valley Transportation Authority, have also sought to enlist business resources in efforts to improve light rail and bus service, but there has yet to be a major funding announcement. 

Another possibility is leaning on large employers for advocacy and lobbying support for other potential funding mechanisms. State and federal funds are always a possibility, and business advocacy group the Silicon Valley Leadership Group — another member of the new Caltrain coalition — has also signaled an intent to campaign for a 2016 sales tax hike to fund both roadway and transit improvements. 

The dual possibilities for public and private investment in badly needed infrastructure upgrades is also reminiscent of the region's housing crunch. A debate is under way over whether developers, employers or taxpayers might be tapped by local cities to help pay for new affordable housing.

It all circles back to the notion that Silicon Valley's rapid job growth has created unique pressures for residents who live and work here day to day, which observers say have been mounting during the region's current tech boom. 

Russell Hancock, CEO of think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley, told me earlier this fall that the entire region needs to "own up to our dysfunction," which goes way beyond funding shortfalls to encompass dynamics like entrenched suburban development patterns and political opposition to more dense, transit-oriented projects.

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