Ticket to Ride

The old SF Greyhound station on 7th was clean, safe
and reliable. It has since moved to the Transbay terminal.

An old-fashioned way of getting the homeless out of San Francisco is being revived: [bold added]

Mayor London Breed on Thursday ordered city employees to offer homeless people a bus ticket out of town before presenting shelter or housing as an option.

...Thursday’s directive marks Breed’s latest effort to prove she’s taking a firm stance to address the city’s homelessness and overdose crises. Breed is in the middle of a tough re-election fight with many voters focused on the conditions of city streets and the state of unsheltered homelessness.

...The program of busing people out of San Francisco has existed for years, but it saw a sharp decline during the pandemic, prompting some critics and at least one mayoral rival to question why Breed’s administration hadn’t pushed the program more forcefully. Officials had already vowed to ramp it up earlier this year.

Frankly, if I were a homeless person in San Francisco I wouldn't take that deal. San Francisco is currently spending more than $100,000 per person on homeless services, and chances are that, if I stayed, some of it will trickle through to me, not all of it being absorbed by middlemen and bureaucrats.

Besides, how would I get my tent and shopping carts full of stuff on the bus?