Bad Time Peak Time Permits. By Jane Bolig.

Photo by John Han.

Jane Bolig is president of De Soto Cab.

San Francisco is unique. Even our taxi laws are unique. In other cities companies can own medallions. Here, even the suggestion of company medallions is heresy. You might as well ask a Baptist preacher to kiss the pope’s ring. You don’t do it.  

You just DON’T.

Yet, because of our unique, driver-medallion-only law, all the cabs are out all the time; sometimes there are too many, sometimes too few. With no ability to respond to wildly up-and-down customer demand, we have both a peak time problem AND a down time problem. To address, if not fix it, we are discussing just one part of the problem: peak times.

So, let’s forget the obvious solution for both peak and down times: company medallions. It will upset too many people, so just forget it. Let’s think realistically.

Realistically, SFMTA won’t consider any solution that doesn’t make money…for itself. Perhaps that is why SFMTA has proposed—to itself—a solution that makes money for SFMTA and gives it control without apparent responsibility: franchise peak time medallions. The city would rent peak time medallions to “qualifying” companies for three years or so. If the company was a good company, if it spoke only when spoken to, chewed with its mouth closed, happily complied with SFMTA’s every regulatory whim, maybe—maybe—its leases would be renewed for another three years.

Maybe not.

Meanwhile, SFMTA would have money to plug its deficits, paint more bicycle lanes, hire enforcers to ticket drivers when passengers exit onto bike lanes, and—oh, so much more!

If you think SFMTA should not just regulate but dominate the cab industry; if you love the idea of pouring money into an organization that takes more and more and gives less and less, you must love franchise medallions. If you are SFMTA, and imagine that you can dig your fingers ever more deeply into the cab industry pie without getting your fingers burned, you’re delighted.

Wait a minute, “burned,” how could MTA get burned?

First, think, “permits, not medallions.” That’s what Chris Hayashi keeps telling us: franchise peak time permits would be owned by the city, so they would be permits, not medallions. Next, consider this possibility: One of the franchise peak time permit cabs plows into a school bus. Whom do the parents sue, the cab company? Certainly. What about the owner of the franchise peak time permit? That’s you, SFMTA. Think the parents will come after you, too? You betcha’!

“Oh, come on, Bolig. That’ll never happen.”

Oh, but it does. Cabs on the whole have much better driving records than other cars, but cabs are on the street more often, and eventually one of them has a catastrophic accident. It’s horrible and tragic, and we all try to prevent it, but, sadly, it happens.

“Not to SFMTA! Our regulations will be so effective that there’s NEVER a big accident.” Yeah, right. Just like with your busses.

There will be accidents, both big and little. And you, SFMTA, with your deep pockets, must be prepared to dig deep when litigants come calling.

There may be a lot of money to be made from leasing franchise peak time permits. But there’s a lot of risk, too.

SFMTA doesn’t need the risk and our industry doesn’t need franchise permits. There are better ideas that can benefit our passengers and our industry AND make money for SFMTA.

(Publisher's Note:  Here's a link to the SF Examiner's article by Will Reisman regarding the City's plan for  peak time medallions.  It's in the middle section of the piece.)