San Francisco, CA
Should Waymo be allowed at SFO? Robotaxi company one step closer to airport service amid expansion
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Two major announcements came from Waymo Monday as the self-driving rideshare company has expanded its service to the South Bay.
The company first announced San Francisco is giving it permission to map roadways around SFO, one step toward driverless rides to and from the airport.
The second announcement was that the California DMV also granted Waymo approval to operate its vehicles in the South Bay, including most of San Jose.
Those rides will not be open to the public yet, but come after Waymo just announced expansion to parts of Silicon Valley.
MORE: Waymo’s driverless car service expanding to parts of Silicon Valley
While Waymo itself is happy with the double dose of good news, others, like Evelyn Engel are more skeptical.
Engel is a part of the SF Taxi Alliance and worries more autonomous vehicles could lead to more unemployed people.
“Maybe starting with Uber and Lyft drivers and then maybe taxi drivers. Perhaps even shuttle bus drivers. Perhaps even MUNI bus drivers,” Engel said.
South Bay State Senator Dave Cortese says he’s not against the robotaxis but is advocating for local officials to have more say over where they drive.
“When you see those Waymo ads that say the robots are here, they’re not kidding,” Cortese said. “They’re in charge right now. Your city mayor is not in charge of those robotaxis right now.”
MORE: Waymo exec. joins livestream, apologizes to SF residents for robotaxi honking mess
A Waymo executive spoke directly to the San Francisco residents via a livestream and apologized for the honking mess.
Many people are excited about Waymo’s expanding footprint too.
At SFO, ABC7 News spoke to several travelers and most of them were excited about the company’s announcements.
That includes San Francisco resident Makenna Growney and her parents, who said they’d happily book a Waymo to the airport if that option becomes available in the future.
“I think it also depends on how big they make the cars,” Growney said. “Because right now, they’re all sort of the same size and not that large so it depends on how many suitcases you have.”
Others like Todd Auker say they don’t love Waymo in general. But Auker says the choice would come down to pricing.
“I was just looking at the Uber rates to get home and they’re outrageous,” he said. “So more options, more competition, I think better service for the community.”
Waymo’s permit to map SFO roadways began Friday and will last for 30 days.
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San Francisco, CA
What have San Francisco police been doing at 16th and Mission?
It’s been nearly 300 days since Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a plan to clean up the 16th Street BART Plaza.
To mark the occasion, Mission Local is adding a new tool for tracking his promises: A dashboard, updated daily, that notes the arrests and citations issued by San Francisco police officers in a 300-meter radius around 16th and Mission streets.
Our dashboard uses daily incident reports filed by officers to track the enforcement of common violations, including drug-related offenses or disorderly conduct.
The San Francisco Police Department releases incident reports with a 24-hour lag. Our dashboard updates daily at noon to include the most current data: Arrests and citations issued the day before.
While the number of incident reports may form the basis of official crime statistics, it would be wrong to think of them as the “official” count, according to the SFPD. There are groups doing outreach work in the plazas, like Ahsing Solutions, that do not regularly release public data quantifying their activities, for example.
What this police data does show, over time, is where the police department is focusing resources and attention.
For example, reports show that in March 2025, after Lurie stated his intention to crack down around 16th and Mission streets, there was a massive spike in arrests and citations. This does not necessarily mean drug-related crimes increased in the vicinity, but simply that, spurred by the mayor’s statement, police officers began enforcing more proactively.
Use our interactive graphics to explore the number and reasons for arrests and citations issued, and keep tabs on trends in SFPD’s enforcement around the 16th Street BART plaza.
You can read our ongoing coverage of the crackdown on 16th Street plaza here.
Arrests and citations issued in last 6 months around 16th and Mission
You can access our archive, with arrests and citations data from 2018, here.
The calendar below shows a snapshot of the arrests and citations issued around a 300-meter radius of the 16th Street BART Plaza for the last six months.
The darker the date, the more arrests and citations took place that day.
The department continuously updates the status of incident reports as they are investigated, and it is possible that the official statistics reported by SFPD to the California Department of Justice may differ from our numbers.
The data below should be considered the most accurate moment-in-time representation of arrests and citations on the day they were filed. Hover over each date to see the reasons for each arrest or citation.
Drug incidents around 16th and Mission
Arrests and citations issued for drug-related offenses skyrocketed earlier this year, after Mayor Lurie made the plaza one of his targets to show how the city can make a difference.
Explore the number of drug-related arrests and citations issued by SFPD around 16th and Mission each month since 2018.
Data for the most recent month will always be incomplete (and consequently lower) because it includes only arrests and citations through yesterday, while previous months reflect full monthly totals.
Drug incidents at 16th and Mission vs. citywide
In most years, the area around 16th and Mission accounts for a majority of the Mission’s drug-related police enforcement.
In the spring of 2025, this area, which accounts for a mere 0.2 percent of the city’s geographical landmass, was responsible for nearly 27 percent of San Francisco’s drug incident reports that resulted in an arrest or citation.
During the pandemic, drug-related arrests and citations dropped to an all-time-low around 16th and Mission but it has recently surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Most common incidents around 16th and Mission
The table below shows the top 15 offense categories at 16th and Mission, ranked by total number of arrests and citations, over the past 12 months. The sparkline — the small line chart — shows how each category has changed month to month, and the percentage compares the current year to the year before.
We use a rolling 12-month window (365 days from yesterday’s date), rather than a calendar year, so the data stays current. Because the dashboard updates daily, the most recent month will always be incomplete, but using a full year of data minimizes the impact of any one partial month on the overall totals.
San Francisco, CA
15 injured after San Francisco cable car comes to screeching halt
More than a dozen people were injured when a cable car in San Francisco came to a screeching halt on Monday afternoon, rattling passengers inside, according to authorities.
A total of 15 people suffered minor to moderate injuries after the cable car abruptly stopped without warning and tossed around those onboard, the San Francisco Fire Department said on social media.
Two people were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, 11 others were hospitalized with “minor aches and pains,” and two people refused assistance at the scene, authorities said.
Fire officials told ABC7 that an object might have been thrown at the cable car, causing the abrupt stop. Authorities have not officially released information on what led up to the incident.
Some of the cable car’s windows were completely shattered, according to photos of the aftermath. Video posted by fire officials also captured several ambulances crowded around the stopped cable car.
“Safety for our passengers on all Muni vehicles continues to be our top priority. We’ll be conducting a full review of incident details to ensure continued safety on the cable cars,” SFMTA said in a statement.
Cable cars first began running in San Francisco in the 1870s, and became designated as a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s.
Passengers on the famed tourist attractions do not wear seat belts and often hang off the cars, which are partially open-air.
The SFFD and the SFMTA will investigate the incident.
With Post wires
San Francisco, CA
This Week: E-Bikes, Happy Hour, Holiday Lights – Streetsblog San Francisco
Here is a list of events this week.
- Monday/tonight! Introduction to E-Bikes. This is a San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, SFMTA/SFCTA-sponsored virtual class. Monday/tonight, December 15, 6-7 p.m. Register for Zoom link.
- Tuesday Bike It Forward Community Repair Night. Join the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition as they rehabilitate donated and abandoned bicycles and get them to folks who need them. Tuesday, December 16, 5-7 p.m. San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, 1720 Market Street, S.F.
- Wednesday Car-Free Happy Hour. This event is open to everyone, whether they’re car free, car light, car-free curious, or they just want to hang out with fellow urbanists. Wednesday, December 17, 5:30-7 p.m. Cornerstone Berkeley, 2367 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.
- Thursday Vision Zero Committee Meeting. This committee supports the work of improving street safety in San Francisco. Thursday, December 18, 1 p.m. Union Square Conference Room, Floor 7, SFMTA Headquarters, 1 South Van Ness Avenue, S.F.
- Thursday Transform Happy Hour with the New Executive Director. Come meet Transform’s new leadership, mingle with like-minded folks, and give your input for Transform’s next chapter. Thursday, December 18, 5:30-8 p.m. Line 51 Brewing Company, 303 Castro Street, Oakland.
- Friday Alameda Holiday Lights Ride and Christmas Caroling. Ride to see the holiday lights in Alameda. Friday, December 19, 6:30 p.m. meet, 7 p.m. roll out. Finishes at 10 p.m. MacArthur BART, 555 40th Street, Oakland.
Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.
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