Commission Gets a Reprieve
The Taxi Commission may be on its way out the door, but not as fast as had been supposed.
Legislation to abolish the commission and transfer its powers to the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) had a hearing before a committee of the Board of Supervisors on May 12. The MTA currently oversees Muni and Parking and Traffic.
Had the legislation been enacted, the transfer would have taken place July 1. But the committee put up a stop sign instead, sending on to the board a...
click here to read this article

An Open Letter To Nathaniel Ford
Editor’s note: In light of the probable disbanding of the Taxi Commission and the transfer of its powers to the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA), United Taxicab Workers’ Chair Bud Hazelkorn recently sent the following letter to MTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford:

Dear Mr. Ford,
We at United Taxicab Workers very much appreciated meeting with you and Mss. Johnson and Boomer in your office recently. We have great hopes for our future at MTA.
Fundamental to our outlook are these principles:
· San Francisco cab drivers could, and should, be able to make a reasonable living commensurate with the cost of living in the Bay Area; and ...
click here to read this article

A Personal Statement:
How SF Officials
Disrespect Our Labor
Or
It's Been A Long Time
Since Harry Bridges
by Dave Schneider
We have worth. We are entitled to dignity and to be treated fairly.
Here's some of the value of our labor:
We take folks to the doctor, train station, fancy stores and restaurants, the airport and out to party at the clubs. We even drive them to City Hall, although perhaps we should know better. A full time cab driver may drive 35,000 miles a year, carry in excess of 7,000 passengers per annum and pay the company about $25,000 annually. And that doesn't include the gas we have to buy.
And what benefits do we get?
Yup, when the Supervisors patronize us they call us the city's ambassadors of good will, but they treat us like trash and we don't have the benefits of other workers, like the employees of Sunset Scavenger.
click here to read this article

Appeals Board Upholds Approval of 69 More Cabs

Drivers Get One-Two Punch
Following Gate Increases

By Dave Schneider
San Francisco's Board of Appeals has sustained a decision of the Taxi Commission expanding the fleet in these troubled economic times by approving 69 new medallions, bringing the size of the fleet to...
click here to read this article

Board Amends Requirements For Receiving a Medallion
In response to complaints of unfairness from drivers, the city has amended the driving requirement for obtaining a medallion. The eased rules may allow some drivers to qualify sooner, and make others eligible who would have been disqualified under the old law.
click here to read this article

Luxor Drops
Credit Card Charges
Luxor Cab has stopped charging drivers for credit card transactions processed by the company after United Taxicab Workers complained to the Taxi Commission about the practice.
The company was not charging its gates-and-gas drivers for processing credit charges, but was imposing a five percent surcharge on drivers of other cabs using the company’s color scheme.
After UTW’s complaint, the commission’s Acting Executive Director, Jordanna Thigpen, talked with Luxor management, which agreed to discontinue the practice.

Bay Cab Fined, Agrees to Provide
Workers’ Comp for All its Cabs
The Taxi Commission has upheld a hearing officer’s decision fining Bay Cab $1,425 for rules violations and requiring the company to obtain workers’ compensation coverage for all its drivers within 60 days.
Bay’s attorney, David Green, argued that the company shouldn’t have to provide workers’ comp under California law, but that it would comply with the decision nonetheless.
Bay is the second company that has agreed to provide workers’ comp on all its cabs after a hearing officer’s decision. Regents Cab made the same pledge earlier this year.