Stop the Uberfication of SF Taxis!

By Sue Vaughan

This past April, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors quietly approved an alarming proposal: a pilot program that opens the door to an Uber takeover of the San Francisco taxi industry.

What does this mean?

On April 5, 2022, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) approved a deal with Uber that would allow the company to dispatch city cabs through its app. SFMTA has historically supported and provided a regulated fleet of city taxicabs, but this could all change if Uber steps in.

Why should environmentalists oppose Uber taking over the SF taxi industry?

Since 2010, all taxis that operate in San Francisco have been regulated by the SFMTA. The SFMTA has a charter-mandated power to set fares in a public process. To date, San Francisco has one of the greenest cab fleets in the nation – all cabs are either hybrids or run on compressed natural gas. Taxis are an integral part of our city’s public transportation. They’re how many people get around!

But the deal that the SFMTA approved on April 5 is the beginning of the deregulation and privatization of transit. The deal permits Uber to start dispatching participating cabs through its Uber app and requires the SFMTA to give up its charter-mandated power to set taximeter fares for those cabs. Uber will determine the fares. Those fares could be lower than regulated taximeter fares – or they could surge.

To determine how this will affect San Francisco, consider Uber’s business model. In February of 2022, the corporation declared that its goal is to have every taxi in the world on its app by 2025.

There have been numerous cases against this corporate giant since its inception. As such, the Sierra Club has opposed some of Uber’s lobbies including the November 2020 ballot measure, Proposition 22, which proposed turning drivers into gig workers, stripping them of their benefits. Most concerningly for environmentalists, Uber floods city streets with polluting cars that congest roadways, and it undersells its product in order to lure passengers away from public transportation. In fact, Uber's 2019 IPO explicitly lists transit riders as targets for its marketing, showing little regard for our climate emergency.

Nonetheless, Uber has been financially troubled, never quite leaping into solvency. It has relied on investments to stay afloat. But the company lost drivers during the pandemic – and now it is looking for lifelines.

This taxi pilot program (called “Third Party Dispatch”) is that lifeline for Uber – in the form of a government handout.

Ostensibly, the program is about giving passengers an “upfront” cost for the total ride ahead of booking a cab in order to eliminate meter anxiety. But the SFMTA already approved a similar program in September 2021 for taxi apps. Despite this, the SFMTA approved the additional pilot program in April that gives Uber access to fleets of cabs and trained drivers with none of the liabilities of ownership or employer status. Now, Uber will be able to utilize certain red, transit-only lanes and public bus stops – because taxi cabs are allowed to use most red lanes and drop off in bus stops. Essentially, the program empowers Uber to further impose on our public transit.

Additionally, the SFMTA designated this giveaway to Uber as “not a project” so that there would be no requirement for an environmental evaluation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Had the proposal been subject to CEQA, members of the public could have appealed the approval. 

Neither did the SFMTA properly vet this proposal – it did not go before numerous citizen advisory councils prior to adoption, including the SFMTA Citizens' Advisory Council (CAC) and the Mayor’s Disability Council. People with disabilities and those without smartphones who rely on cabs will now find themselves in competition with Uber's passengers for cabs. (On July 7, 2022, after the SFMTA had already approved the deal with Uber in April, the SFMTA CAC came out in opposition.)

In late June, even the SF Planning Department issued a report ringing alarm bells about this type of transit. It stated:

Clearly, this pilot program does not represent increased government oversight of companies like Uber and Lyft, which continue to spend big bucks on lobbying. In fact, Uber is perhaps the least regulated entity in the transportation sector. This could pose severe challenges for our city, including increased pollution and economic disparity, decreased safety, and exhibits blatant disregard for our current climate emergency!

So what can I do to help?

Fortunately, there are many ways you can make your voice heard! San Francisco’s District 1 supervisor, Connie Chan, has authored a resolution in opposition, urging the SFMTA to stop this pilot. That resolution will likely be heard by members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee (GAO) on September 29. You can stand up against a corporate takeover of our San Francisco taxis by contacting the GAO in support of Supervisor Chan’s resolution.
 
To make your voice heard, you can give public testimony in support of Supervisor Connie Chan’s resolution. You can appear in person, call, or send an email.

1. At this time, the GAO meeting date is probably September 29th.  You can find the schedule and agenda here.
2. You can send an email to the GAO committee via the clerk, at alisa.somera@sfgov.org. Make sure to reference File Number 220886 (this is the Board's identification code for Supervisor Chan’s resolution).
3. Email or CC the SFMTA and Director Jeffrey Tumlin, the SFMTA CAC, and Mayor London Breed: mtaboard@sfgov.org, jeffrey.tumlin@sfgov.org, cac@sfgov.org,  mayorlondonbreed@sfgov.org

Below is a customizable email template for you to copy and paste to show your support.