Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Board committee forwards plan to transfer Taxi Commission oversight to SFMTA amid driver concerns
Loading...
Summary
The committee heard an SFMTA presentation on merging the Taxi Commission into the SFMTA, including a proposed March 1 operative date and plans to appoint a director of Taxi and Accessible Services; many drivers urged more transparency, fuller representation on advisory bodies and publication of a formal transfer plan.
The Government Audit & Oversight Committee on Monday considered an ordinance to amend the Police Code to transfer the powers and duties of the Taxicab Commission to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and to set an operative date. Chair Aaron Peskin noted a non‑substantive amendment changing the operative date to March 1, 2009.
Executive Director Nathaniel Ford and Deborah Johnson (chief of staff and director of administration, SFMTA) presented a merger timeline and a summary of recommendations from a taxi-industry advisory group convened to ease the transition. Johnson said a nationwide search for a director of Taxi and Accessible Services is in its final stages and the agency expects to have a candidate under consideration by mid-December. Recommendations from the advisory group covered discipline procedures, permit issuance and revocation, regulatory transition with a gap period for continuity, formation of a permanent taxi advisory council appointed by the SFMTA board, paratransit coordination and communications during the transition.
Numerous rank-and-file drivers and driver-representatives used the public-comment period to press for greater transparency and representation. Speakers, including Neil Lawrence and Bud Hazlekorn of drivers’ organizations, said the MTA had not published a formal transfer plan, argued that drivers remain without health or other benefits in many cases, and contended the advisory committee as proposed could underrepresent drivers relative to medallion holders and companies. Peter Witt and others described long-term grievances with the Taxi Commission and called for accountability and better driver representation.
Ford and Johnson said the SFMTA plans an administrative merger first (oversight and management functions), with substantive policy and regulatory changes to be vetted through the permanent advisory group; Ford said the agency has tried to be deliberate and inclusive and that some administrative support (finance, enforcement) can be brought to the taxi industry immediately. Board members discussed timing and public notice; Chair Peskin proposed forwarding the item on the normal schedule so the Board would receive materials on Nov. 25. The committee adopted the amendment and forwarded the item to the full Board with recommendation as amended for a Nov. 25 hearing.
The committee did not adopt final regulatory changes at this meeting; the SFMTA said additional rulemaking and advisory-group work will continue between now and the proposed March implementation.
