Supervisors hear SFO and SFMTA on new airport medallion pickup rules as drivers press for buybacks

The Land Use and Transportation Committee convened a broad hearing on the impact of San Francisco International Airport’s revised rules for taxi medallion pickups, receiving operational briefings from airport and SFMTA staff and hours of public comment from taxi drivers and industry advocates seeking relief.

Eva Chong, SFO’s director of airport services (speaking on behalf of Director Sattero), told the committee that airport congestion on inbound roadways prompted the airport to move TNC pickups into the domestic parking garage beginning June 6 to reduce curbside backups. Chong described three operational goals: maintain a minimum inbound average speed of 15 mph, divert a target share of TNC pickups into the garage during peak hours (SFO had targeted 35%–45%), and reduce backups beyond the international and domestic terminals. She said the initial diversion was roughly 21%, short of the goal; SFO staff said curbside congestion fell but evening garage congestion and driver education remain issues to address.

Kate Torren, SFMTA director of Taxis and Accessible Services, reviewed the agency’s medallion‑reform timeline and three policy goals for the SFO rules: support purchase medallion holders, bring taxi supply back into the city, and increase wheelchair‑accessible ramp taxi trips. Torren presented the three‑month (Feb–Apr 2019) results SFMTA used for its 90‑day report: a 27% reduction in wait times for purchase medallion holders at SFO, a 136% increase in originating trips for purchase medallion holders compared with the same months in 2018, and a 41% rise in monthly fare revenue for purchase medallion holders out of SFO. Torren cautioned that SFMTA had not yet met its goal to increase taxi trips in the city proper and that success will require industry participation and tools such as a virtual queue. She also reported 73 foreclosed medallions had returned to service under an agreement with the credit union and Yellow Cab.

Supervisors pressed SFO and SFMTA on open questions: how to accelerate the taxi virtual queue (SFO estimated roughly eight months if fast‑tracked), the legal limits of restricting TNCs at an airport in another county, how many taxi trips have shifted from BART to TNCs, and whether continued medallion sales undercut efforts to raise medallion values. SFO staff said a blanket ban on TNC pickups would be legally fraught and that enforcement would be difficult without cooperation from San Mateo County.

Public comment dominated the meeting. Dozens of medallion owners and drivers described financial distress, foreclosure risk and inability to refinance loans taken to buy medallions for $125,000–$250,000; many urged the city or the MTA to conduct a medallion buyback or provide another remedy. Speakers cited a 16% decline in taxi trips in the city noted in the SFMTA materials, alleged that proceeds from the medallion‑sale program flowed to earlier sellers, and asked for an accounting and relief for current purchasers.

Kate Torren responded in public session that a full buyback at original purchase prices would cost approximately $161 million, and she reiterated that much of the medallion‑sale proceeds were paid into the sector (her presentation cited about $110 million) while the MTA received about $63 million. Torren said the agency is pursuing a range of measures — fees reductions already enacted, ramp taxi incentives, pilot programs for auditable city‑employee taxi trips, and development of a taxi virtual queue — and asked for industry partnership to implement app‑based and dispatch changes.

The committee did not vote on a buyback; members discussed creative alternatives, partial relief and financing models that would not require the Board to commit the entire buyback amount at once. Chair Aaron Peskin closed the hearing subject to continuation at his call for further follow‑up, additional data and potential next steps with SFMTA and SFO.