Shall City law be amended to authorize issuance of restricted taxicab permits in the names of one or more persons, and to set a full-time driving or operating requirement for permit-holders at 800 hours per year?
This ordinance would amend San Francisco's taxi ordinance to allow the Taxi Commission to issue a single permit to two or more persons and to issue restricted permits such as wheelchair-accessible taxis, peak use period permits, restricted neighborhood permits, and fleet permits. It would also amend the ordinance to require that the owner of a taxi permit operate (not drive) a taxi for a certain number of
hours each year.
Should the proposed ordinance be adopted, in my opinion, it would have little or no impact on the City's General Fund, but it would likely increase the level of administrative and enforcement costs required of the City's fee-supported taxi regulation efforts.
- Summary of Arguments FOR Proposition M:
- This proposition would give the Taxi Commission the power to improve taxi service in the City's neighborhoods by issuing more permits and restricted permits for neighborhood taxis and peak hours.
Proposition M would allow the Taxi Commission to issue permits for wheelchair-accessible taxis, thus providing a vital service for disabled residents-and protecting the City against lawsuits.
This proposition, like current law, would prohibit transfer or sale of taxi permits and would prohibit issuing a taxi permit to a corporation, company, or partnership.
The current permit holders do not
want new permits issued, because it would cut into their business. This proposition would make it more difficult to protest issuance of new taxi permits.
- Summary of Arguments AGAINST Proposition M:
- This proposition would do nothing to improve taxi service in the City. The two major problems with taxi service are lack of a central dispatch system, and too few regular taxi permits. This proposition would not address either problem.
This proposition is not necessary. Current law allows the Taxi Commission to issue permits for wheelchair-accessible taxis, and the Commission has issued some permits for them already.
This proposition would remove the requirement that a holder of a taxi permit actually be a taxi driver. A taxi "operator" could be anyone -- for instance, someone who simply applies for a taxi permit and then leases it to a taxi company.
The true intent of this proposition is to transfer taxi permits, and the income that goes with them, from individual drivers to taxi companies.
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