UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar drivers break rules a lot at SF International Airport.

The San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance (SFTWA), SF Yellow Cab, and Luxor Cab held a press conference Wednesday on the front steps of City Hall, to sound a warning about the renewal of San Francisco airport permits for Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), including UberX, Lyft, and Sidecar.  The current permit expires August 31, 2015.  

The conference included a short video (above) which captures TNC drivers violating airport rules.  TNC drivers are required to wait in a holding lot until they are pinged, but many of them troll the terminals or sit at the pick up curbs instead.  That gives them an advantage over other drivers, increases congestions, and facilitates unlawful pickups.

Here's the press conference.

Medical Marijuana Users Won't Be Protected From SFMTA's New Drug Testing for Taxi Drivers. (FULL AUDIO RECORDING) By John Han.

(Below is the full, unedited audio recording of Thursday's informational hearing on San Francisco's taxi drug testing program.)

(Click on arrow above to listen to unedited audio of Thursday's informational session provided by Bill Kerekes and Barbara Conway, of Energetic Corporation.)

San Francisco taxi drivers using prescribed medical marijuana will have to go to drug rehabilitation, and then stop smoking or ingesting medical marijuana once they've tested positive for pot, under the SFMTA's recently proposed taxi drug test program.  

The program, which would be mandatory, is expected to go before the MTA Board on September 15, 2015, according to Jarvis Murray, enforcement and legal affairs manager of SFMTA .  If approved on that day, October 15 would be the official day of implementation, and the SFMTA would work to make sure the program is fully operational by the end of the year, Murray says. 

The program would likely be contracted to Energetix Corporation, a New York based company that administers drug testing. Bill Kerekes, president of Energetix Corporation, and Barbara Conway, a local consultant, held an informational hearing in San Francisco on Thursday, giving an overview of the program.

(KQED - The California Report) "Farmers' New Insurance For California Uber and Lyft Drivers"

A Lyft driver navigates through Potrero Hill in San Francisco. (Sara Bloomberg/KQED)

By Jon BrooksMAY 29, 2015
Never mind the state regulations, the sky-high valuations and the fact that a character on a recent “Veep” mentioned catching an Uber. Maybe an indication that any concept has entered the fabric of mainstream American society is that you can get it insured.
Uber Communications Director Eva Behrend didn’t say that exactly,  yesterday —  the first day that all transportation network company drivers in the state could purchase insurance for the commercial activities going on in their vehicles. But she hinted at broad acceptance of the ride-service model when she said, “We believe this is another way that people are recognizing that ride-sharing is part of California’s economy.”
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