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Board Votes to Raise Gate Cap

$5 Increase Would Apply to All Cabs,
With $12.50 for Hybrids and CNG's;
Overcharges Retroactively Approved

The Board of Supervisors voted Feb. 12 to allow cab companies to raise gates by $5-$12.50 a shift, with no change in meter rates. If the board passes the measure a second time on Feb. 26 and Mayor Gavin Newsom signs it into law, the higher gates could be in place by April.

Under the legislation, cabs newly placed in service after July 1 will have to be approved by the Taxi Commission under guidelines intended to move the industry to “low emission” vehicles. The Department of the Environment will prepare a “Green Vehicle Guide” listing qualifying vehicles.

Gas-electric hybrids that meet certain emissions standards and the compressed natural gas (CNG) version of the Ford Crown Victoria are expected to qualify as “low emission” under the guidelines, which seek to achieve a 20 percent reduction in fleet greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2012.

The gate cap for cabs that qualify as “low emission” would increase by $12.50 a shift, to an average of $104. The cap for other cabs would go up $5, to an average of $96.50.

The legislation also attempts to retroactively approve gate overcharges that took place between September 2004 and October 2006. According to the City Controller and City Attorney, the cap dropped from $91.50 to $85 a shift during that period, on account of the fact that the city did not enact a taxi driver health care plan or a long-term lease cap. But most major companies continued to charge $91.50 or higher during that period.

United Taxicab Workers has brought a class-action lawsuit on behalf of drivers at Yellow, Luxor and Arrow Cab to recover the overcharges. UTW believes this attempt to take away the right to compensation for past overcharges is illegal, but if it holds up, it could cost drivers thousands of dollars they are now owed.

Another section of legislation eliminates from the Police Code a provision committing the city to enacting a health care plan for cab drivers. The main sponsor of the legislation is Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier. She originally proposed a gate cap increase of $18.50 a shift for all cabs at so-called “full-service” companies, but she had the measure sent back to committee when it became apparent that she did not have the votes to pass it in that form.

The legislation came back to the board after President Aaron Peskin took a hand in redrafting it to include the low emission vehicle provisions, which were championed by Taxi Commission President and Yellow Cab driver Paul Gillespie. Gillespie’s support for the legislation gave it a big boost at the board.

The initial vote to approve the measure was 6-5. Voting in favor were Alioto-Pier, Peskin, Gerardo Sandoval, Sean Elsbernd, Carmen Chu and Jake McGoldrick. Voting against were Tom Ammiano, Chris Daly, Sophie Maxwell, Ross Mirkirimi and Bevan Dufty.

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Winter 2008 Issue

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