San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance Report on AB 650 et al.

Hello – passing on the new that's fit to print from the SFTWA.

 Yesterday, the Board of Supervisors passed Supervisor Aaron Peskin's Resolution urging the State Legislature to amend or oppose AB 650, which would transfer taxi regulation everywhere but San Francisco to the California Public Utilities Commission.  The vote was 9-2, with Supervisors Scott Wiener and Malia Cohen voting "no".

It puts the city on record as opposing the bill unless it is amended to provide for county regulation of taxis.  Thanks to everyone who contacted the Supervisors to urge them to support the resolution.

Also yesterday, the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee voted to approve the bill (AB 650).  This was expected, but it still has a long ways to go.  Its next hearing is in August, at the Senate Appropriations Committee.  The city's position should help our chances there.
A wild card has been thrown into the equation with an announcement Monday that Governor Brown and some state legislators had reached a deal to move transportation regulation from the CPUC to the California State Transportation Agency, which includes the DMV and the Highway Patrol.  But the details of the deal are not clear, and there appears to be some disagreement between legislators and the governor about whether the CSTA would take over all transportation regulation, or if it would only be in charge of permits and enforcement, while the CPUC would continue to make the rules for transportation providers.

In any event, SFTWA remains opposed to AB 650 unless it is amended to provide for taxi regulation by counties.  Deregulating taxi fares, allowing companies to self-regulate in other areas and opening the door to practically anyone who wants to put a cab on the street are bad ideas, and they could someday spread to San Francisco.   

San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance.

A Conversation with Desoto President Hansu Kim

I was about to publish an interview that I'd had with Desoto Cab President Hansu Kim awhile back when local journalist's came out with the story that Kim was thinking of turning Desoto into a sedan service – one writer said that it might happen in as little as 90 days.

Mr. Kim denied that he said he intended to convert to a sedan service in  "90 days." Only that he could convert in 90 days if he had to. But has "no intention doing so."

What he was doing was giving an "if" scenario.

"What I'm saying is that the taxi business as we know it will not be in existence in 18 months 'IF' the industry continues to be deregulated as it is."

"I don't believe that the taxi business will ever disappear but it could be that full service, dispatch-centric companies will no longer be in business as they are today."

"My feeling is that in a deregulated environment, it would be a race to the bottom."

Aside from usual sensationalism and inaccuracies that one has come to expect from the local media on the subject of  taxis, the coverage of Kim's statements lack context and understanding of what deregulation of faux taxi services like Uber x really means. What Kim and the other cab companies are spending money on is public safety.

Uber and the rest are endangering the public by cutting corners. To use a metaphor from the construction business I grew up in, what they are doing (not carrying proper insurance, not fingerprinting drivers, not guaranteeing the safety of passengers or pedestrians) is the moral equivalent of pouring sand into the foundation of a building in order to save money on concrete.