The buses use public land because they are entitled to - they pay road tax just like every other commercial operator. It makes me chuckle seeing the SF gov't complaining about this when it really makes SF richer through property and income tax paid by city residents who would likely live on the peninsula were it not for these corporate buses. Anecdotally I saw LOTS more engineers choosing to live in SF once the shuttles started at Google.
If paying "road tax" (DMV fees, in California parlance) entitled me to park or idle wherever I wanted — like in bus zones — I'd be a much happier driver :)
Also, as I've mentioned elsewhere in the thread, SF has no income tax (per state law), and the property taxes are held quite low by Prop 13, so saying Googlers make the city richer (compared to other residents) isn't really correct. They certainly do pay some nice sales tax, I'm sure, but it's not like a Googler who makes 2x median income is going to benefit SF 2x a median citizen.
