Friday, May 20, 2011

SFMTA Meeting of May 3, 2011

     The SFMTA meeting held on Tuesday is linked below. Under item # 7, the executive director's report, CEO Nat Ford begins mentioning taxi issues at 16:05 on the time bar. From 20:04 - 1:49:12, approximately 80 taxi drivers make one-minute speeches. Reportedly, honking taxis circled city hall for hours as part of the overall protest action.
     Most speakers objected to electronic waybills as an intrusion of privacy, while arguing that implementation of the new waybill system might cause re-classification of taxi drivers as employees, rather than independent contractors. Speakers argued against the 5% credit card processing fees, although some of the drivers indicated that a lower rate of 2 or 3 per cent might be reasonable.
     General public comment is at the end of the tape, from 3:24:40 - 3:35:21 and consists mainly of a few taxi drivers addressing other industry issues.