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Kickbacks to Doormen
Are Focus of Taxi Caravan

Over 100 cab drivers took two hours from their shifts Nov. 3 to participate in a noisy and spirited protest against management-condoned collusion between drivers of limousines and doormen at major San Francisco hotels.
United Taxicab Workers organized the caravan of cabs, which targeted the steering of hotel guests into limousines and luxury sedans in return for kickbacks.
Limo drivers typically pay doormen $10 for rides to San Francisco International Airport, according to knowledgeable taxi drivers. UTW charges that this practice is corrupt and illegal. State law forbids limousines from providing taxi services and requires them to pick up exclusively by prearrangement.
UTW estimates that cab drivers are losing millions of dollars a year owing to passenger steering at hotels.
The public is also paying more than it should for the same service taxis provide. While doormen often tell passengers that the limo ride “costs the same as a taxi,” limos usually charge $5 to $10 more to go to the airport.
The protest gained momentum as it went along. After circling City Hall, drivers wound their way through the downtown, passing some of the hotels where the worst abuses take place. They ended up at the Hyatt Regency, which drivers selected as the very worst in an informal UTW survey. Horns blared for half and hour as an unbroken line of cabs streamed past the hotel.
The protesters demanded implementation and enforcement of new provisions of state law increasing penalties for illegal operations and allowing the city to regulate limo waybill inspections. They also asked the city to outlaw the kickbacks.
UTW has asked for meetings with the “Dirty Dozen” hotels to discuss the issue of steering. If the situation doesn’t improve dramatically, more protests will occur.