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Board approves taxi enforcement ordinance with amendments requiring SFMTA reporting
Summary
Supervisors passed amendments to a transportation and police code ordinance aimed at curbing illegal taxi operations and moved to require quarterly SFMTA reports tracking taxi-service improvements; the board approved the ordinance with the negotiated amendments.
San Francisco ' The Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance amending local transportation and police codes to add enforcement tools aimed at illegal taxi operations and to move some violations from the police code to the transportation code. Supervisors also approved amendments requiring the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to provide quarterly reports to the Board on progress increasing and improving taxi service.
President David Chu and Supervisor Mark Farrell joined Supervisor Scott Wiener and other colleagues in shaping the measure. The primary sponsor framed the bill as a modest effort to give the SFMTA additional enforcement tools to curb illegal cabs, while acknowledging that enforcement alone will not solve service shortfalls.
Supervisor Wiener proposed two changes that the board adopted: first, to remove a hard-coded penalty sentence for certain violations that referenced a specific fine schedule and a cross-reference to the California Public Utilities Code; and second, to add a new section requiring the SFMTA, beginning April 1, 2011, to report quarterly to the Board of Supervisors on quantitative measures of taxi service performance and on progress reducing non-permitted taxi service.
Wiener said he supported the amendments because penalties alone would not address the core problem ' insufficient legal supply and customer service ' and because a reporting requirement would give the board data to track agency performance. "Beginning 04/01/2011, the SFMTA shall report quarterly to the Board of Supervisors on SFMTA's progress increasing and improving taxi service in San Francisco," Wiener said, summarizing the amendment.
The board took the amendments and approved the ordinance on first reading. The city attorney prepared written amendment text for the public record during the meeting; supervisors agreed to continue deliberation until the city attorney's printed language was available in the clerk's file and then to proceed. No roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript for the amendment vote; the chair announced the motion carried without objection.
Supporters and critics agreed a broader set of reforms is needed to improve taxi service citywide. The board's action combines enforcement authority with new reporting obligations for the SFMTA, intended to provide regular data to the board and the public on taxi availability and the agency's efforts to reduce non-permitted service.
