Tech bus protests: They're not just for the Bay Area anymore.
Demonstrations against corporate commuter shuttles, which ferry tech workers to and from Silicon Valley, have become more commonplace in recent months in San Francisco and Oakland. The buses have become a potent symbol of the culture clash between the technology industry and non-tech community, as rents go up and old neighborhoods become gentrified.
Looks like some of that animosity has traveled up to the Great Northwest, though the protest in Seattle was significantly smaller than those in the Bay Area. On Monday, two masked protestors held up a banner that read, "Gentrification Stops Here," blocking Microsoft corporate shuttles in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, via GeekWire.
Tensions have been heightened recently in high-tech hubs. Later this week, Seattle is holding a housing forum in City Hall, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. In San Francisco, the average rental price has risen to three times the national average. To help curb some of the tensions in San Francisco, the city last month approved a pilot program that would require the shuttle buses to pay a $1 fee stop at certain areas designated for the city's official public transit.
Microsoft declined to comment on the protest.
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