SFO Looking at Distance
-Based Short System

Commission Sends SFO Management
Back to the Drawing Board After
Drivers Oppose Ending Shorts

SFO management says it is looking into a “technological solution to create a distance-based taxi short incentive system” now that its attempt to do away with the short line has been grounded by the Airport Commission. The commission refused to approve management’s proposal at a December hearing after cab drivers packed the room in opposition to the plan.

Management claims the current time-based short line encourages unsafe driving and is open to cheating. Its plan would have eliminated shorts, charged drivers $4 for all trips, boosted the pass-through fee to the passenger to $3 and instituted a minimum fare of $17 ($14 plus the $3 pass-through).

At the hearing on the proposal, the commission listened to about an hour of testimony from drivers, nearly all of it in opposition to the plan. With dozens of other drivers still waiting to speak, Commission President Larry Mazzola abruptly called the hearing off and asked management to reconsider its plan.

United Taxicab Workers supports the idea of a distance-based short system. At New York airports, a starter asks the passenger’s destination and issues a ticket to the driver if it is within the designated short area.

A technological version of the system would use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for purposes of determining whether a ride qualifies as a short. Such a system would be fair and hard to cheat.

Before proposing its plan, airport management met for months with a cab drivers committee to discuss the future of the short line. At first, the committee was virtually unanimous in its support for a distance-based short, but after management balked, most of the committee members signed on to the airport’s plan. Of the dozen committee members, only UTW representative Mark Gruberg and two other drivers, Bud Hazelkorn and Tariq Mehmood, openly opposed the plan.

SFO management is soliciting detailed ideas on how to implement a distance-based short system using GPS technology. Submit any ideas to SFOTaxi@flysfo.com.