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United To Win
The Quarterly Newsletter of the United Taxicab Workers
Sponsored by Communications Workers of America, Local 9410
Volume XXIV Number 1 Winter 2011
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).
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Door-to-Door Shuttles to Share
Curb Space at Terminals with Taxis
At the same time SFO management was trying to convince the Airport Commission to approve the elimination of the short line, they
announced plans to relocate pick-up zones for door-to-door shuttles from the upstairs departures level to the downstairs level.
Under the plan, shuttles will share the outer curb with cabs. The change will take place at all terminals when Terminal 2, housing
American Airlines and Virgin America, re-opens in mid-April.
Management says cabs will not lose any curb space under the new arrangement. But drivers are concerned that the vans will take a
good share of taxi customers.
The airport has never been able to move cabs efficiently from the taxi holding lots to the terminals. People are likely to opt for
shuttles when no taxis are on the line, even though there may be hundreds in the lot.
To PCOs, Cab Drivers
Are Low-Hanging Fruit
Facing an unexpected shortfall in parking violation revenues, the MTA has sent its three-wheeled patrols on a ticketing binge — and taxi
drivers are paying a heavy price.
The number of tickets issued to cab drivers by parking control officers (PCOs) has skyrocketed in the past couple of months, according to
cab company sources. Many of these are drive-away tickets sent directly to companies because the driver has moved the cab before the PCO
has finished writing the ticket.
Ticketing has been heavy at the Caltrain station, along the Embarcadero, and in bike lanes all over town.
On portions of Market Street, newly segregated bike lanes have forced drivers to drop off in busy traffic lanes. The passenger — who may
be disabled — has to cross a busy bike lane to get to the sidewalk.
Discussions are underway between the MTA and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to seek solutions to this problem. One suggestion would
allow cabs to enter the bike lane at the start of the block, pick up or drop off along the curb, and exit at the end.
MTA staff has also drafted a proposed training bulletin for PCOs, instructing them not to ticket cab drivers who are loading or unloading
passengers in red, blue or bus zones and other prohibited stopping areas. According to the draft, drivers would also be allowed to pick up
or drop off at the curb during street cleaning hours.
Got a Parking Ticket
while picking up or dropping off in a
bus zone, blue zone, bike lane or traffic lane?
Want to fight it? UTW can help. Call
864-8294.
Judge Won’t Force MTA
to Issue Withheld Medallions
to Waiting List
A Superior Court judge has refused to order the MTA to issue to drivers on the waiting list medallions it has
been holding in reserve for purposes of sale. The judge ruled against a group of cab drivers who are suing the
agency and the city to stop medallion sales.
Judge Charlotte Walter Woolard’s decision came despite the fact that the medallions in question should
have been re-issued before the sales program began. She said she was compelled to follow current law rather than
the law in effect when the medallions were first withheld.
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‘Open Taxi Access’ System
Would Allow Passengers to
Flag Cabs Electronically
Flagging a taxi remotely through technology that directly links smart phone users to nearby cabs is already a reality in San Francisco
and elsewhere. But the concept will advance another step if the MTA approves Open Taxi Access (OTA), a system under development by UpStart
Mobile, the company that runs the Cabulous system currently in use in many San Francisco cabs.
OTA is an online service that would be made available to all cab companies and cab drivers in San Francisco. Passengers could flag...
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DeSoto Agrees to Be Sold
DeSoto Cab’s shareholders have agreed to sell a majority interest in the company to taxi industry consultant and lobbyist Hansu Kim and
former president of the Board of Supervisors Matt Gonzalez. The two are partners in a public relations and consulting firm, Gonzalez and
Kim. Athan Rebelos, currently Green Cab’s general manager, is slated to assume the same position at DeSoto.
Meter rates have increased by only 25 cents a ride since January 2003. The gate cap has gone up twice during that time, from $83.50 a
shift to $96.50 for conventional-fuel cabs and $104 for low-emissions taxis.
Once the reports are finished, the MTA’s Board of Directors is expected to hold hearings on their recommendations. The board has
expressed an interest in peak-time cabs.
MTA Staff Wants Peak Time Permits to Be Leased to Cab Companies
Peak-time permits — long discussed as a more driver-friendly alternative to full-time medallions — may soon be approved, if
MTA staff has its way. But in another assault on what remains of the Prop K system, under the staff proposal the permits would go to taxi
companies, not cab drivers.
Christiane Hayashi, head of the Taxi Section, put forward the idea in a recent memo to the MTA Board of Directors. According to the memo,
the permits would be issued for a term of three to five years.
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MTA Approves Electronic
Waybills Among
Other Rules Changes
Starting June 30, all San Francisco taxicabs will be required to generate waybills electronically, relieving drivers of the need to keep
paper records of their trips. The requirement is one of a number of rules changes approved by the MTA Board of Directors Feb. 1.
The new rules restrict internet-based access to waybill data to the driver, the color scheme and the MTA. But some drivers are concerned
about how and by whom the information may be used.
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SFO Taxi Pick-Ups
Pick Up in 2010
The number of taxi pick-ups at SFO in 2010 increased by 14.8 percent over 2009, but still remains almost 10 percent below the level of
pick-ups in 2000. There are about 200 more cabs on the streets now than a decade ago, so the loss of rides per cab has been even more
severe than the numbers indicate.
click here to finish article
Problems at SFO?
Contact the on-duty shift manager at:
(650) 821-2700
or
(650) 821-2704
SFMTA meetings can be viewed live in SF on SFGTV, Channel 26. To view current or previous meetings online, go to
sfgov.org/sfgtv.
UNITED TO WIN is published quarterly by United Taxicab Workers. UTW is sponsored by Communications Workers of America,
AFL-CIO. Mailing address: 2940 16th Street #314, San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone: (415) 864-8294. Fax: 864-8295.
Email: utw8294@energy-net.org Website: www.utw.us. We welcome the submission of letters, photos
and articles to be considered for publication. Printer: Accurate Printing, 760 Bryant St., S.F. 94107. Editor: Mark Gruberg.
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