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Committee forwards taxi code cleanup to full board after MTA presentation
Summary
The Land Use and Transportation Committee unanimously forwarded an ordinance to consolidate taxi and for‑hire rules under the SFMTA in the transportation code, align penalties, authorize subpoenas for administrative enforcement, and add misdemeanors for nonfunctioning taximeters and withholding waybills.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee voted unanimously to forward to the full Board an ordinance that moves long‑standing taxi regulations from the Police Code into the Transportation Code and updates enforcement tools, SFMTA staff said.
Supervisor Scott Wiener, the ordinance author, described the measure as largely a cleanup to reflect that regulation of motor vehicles for hire has shifted to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. "This legislation is...really more of a clean up and reorganization," Wiener said during the committee meeting.
Kate Torren, identified as SFMTA deputy director for taxis and accessible services, told supervisors the ordinance would repeal Police Code Article 16 and bring taxi rules under Transportation Code Article 11. Torren said the proposal would allow the MTA to subpoena witnesses, documents and records in administrative proceedings and would align civil penalties so that an administrative first offense would be $2,500 and the second offense $5,000, compared with a current police fine of up to $1,000 and an administrative penalty of $5,000.
The ordinance would also make it a misdemeanor to operate a taxi on the street without a functioning taximeter and a misdemeanor for a limousine holder to refuse to produce a waybill to an SFMTA investigator or police officer. Torren described a waybill as "a piece of paper or electronic" record that shows a trip was prearranged and distinguishes prearranged limousine or TNC trips from street hails.
During questions, Supervisor Jane Kim asked whether the ordinance's definition of "motor vehicle for hire" would affect Transportation Network Company vehicles (TNCs) and CPUC‑regulated limousines. Torren said the language mirrors prior code provisions and that certain enforcement provisions—such as requesting a waybill to determine whether a street hail occurred—could apply to vehicles not normally regulated by the MTA when the conduct at issue is a street hail.
Mark Gruberg of the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance urged the city to exercise regulatory authority over TNCs more broadly but supported the MTA’s technical approach to this ordinance. He asked that the taximeter misdemeanor include a knowledge requirement so drivers are not criminally punished for inadvertent meter errors.
After public comment, Supervisor Wiener moved and Supervisor Kim seconded that the committee forward the ordinance to the Board with a positive recommendation; the motion passed without objection. The committee record shows the item will appear on a subsequent Board of Supervisors agenda.
