{"id":593,"date":"2011-10-10T12:44:12","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T17:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/?p=593"},"modified":"2011-10-10T18:05:25","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T23:05:25","slug":"can-you-get-a-taxi-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/10\/can-you-get-a-taxi-in-san-francisco.html","title":{"rendered":"Can you get a taxi in San Francisco?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"2e5142c0289a1f785cf2dcce097231a4\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0;\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-6725039255769208\";\r\n\/* Reno Hotels Leaderboard *\/\r\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"0584775893\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 728;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 90;\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Fact<\/strong>:  The average wait time for a taxi in San Francisco is approximately ten minutes, <em>however over half of cabs never arrive<\/em>. (Source:  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/cms\/rtaxi\/documents\/2005TaxiAvailabilityStudy.pdf\">SFMTA<\/a>)  During weekend nights, only 25% of cabs that are dispatched arrive at all.  <\/p>\n<p>San Francisco has a multiple <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxitownsf.com\/p\/share-your-cab-experience.html\">issues<\/a> in its taxi \/ cab industry that will make it difficult at many times for you to call for a cab and get it in a reasonable amount of time.\u00a0\u00a0 Numerous complaints are found across the internet that stem from the business model of taxis in San Francisco<a href=\"http:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/taxi-san-francisco.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/taxi-san-francisco.jpg\" alt=\"San Francisco Taxis\" title=\"\" width=\"425\" height=\"282\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-596\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/taxi-san-francisco.jpg 425w, https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/taxi-san-francisco-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is a fixed \/ limited supply of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sftodo.com\/taxi_san_francisco.html\">taxis in San Francisco<\/a>, limited by license or \u201cmedallions\u201d sold by the City to the taxi cab companies.\u00a0 This limits the supply.<\/li>\n<li>Demand for cabs is \u201cspiky\u201d, it varies wildly depending on the time of day and weather.<\/li>\n<li>Cab companies are actually in a business model of serving cab drivers \u2013 who they rent to\u2014not taxi customers.\u00a0 Unlike a pizza business, taking care of the customer doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The taxi company needs to keep its drivers filled with fares and running, to maximize their daily \u201crental\u201d price of the cab to the drivers.<\/li>\n<li>You will find the dispatch phone operators to be particularly poor.\u00a0 You can be placed on hold for a long time, hung up on, or be promised a cab that never arrives.\u00a0 If you are in a busy area, you should try waiting for the cab outside, it\u2019s often a more efficient route.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/car-service-san-francisco.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/car-service-san-francisco.jpg\" alt=\"San Francisco Car Service\" title=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"283\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/car-service-san-francisco.jpg 420w, https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/car-service-san-francisco-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nBecause of the issues of limited supply and wildly varying demand for taxis in San Francisco, a number of both legal and illegal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sftodo.com\/limousine_san_francisco.html\">car services<\/a> have sprung up to meet the demand.\u00a0 Although private car services are at often higher prices, they offer excellent service and accountability to their customers.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great example of how the free market solves the business issue of the taxi industry by developing a market-based higher level of service.\u00a0\u00a0 The popular iPhone \/ Android app, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uber.com\/\">Uber<\/a> is known for its ability to obtain car service with your smartphone and avoid conversations with busy dispatch operators.\u00a0 There are numerous stories of great, efficient service with both Uber and private car services.<\/p>\n<p>If you need a taxi in San Francisco, don\u2019t expect prompt or great service.\u00a0 There is just too many people calling for cabs in the 49 square mile city, and too few cabs to serve them.\u00a0 If you have the money, consider a private car service to get the service or timeliness you need to make an appointment.<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fact: The average wait time for a taxi in San Francisco is approximately ten minutes, however over half of cabs never arrive. (Source: SFMTA) During weekend nights, only 25% of cabs that are dispatched arrive at all. San Francisco has a multiple issues in its taxi \/ cab industry that will make it difficult at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,16],"tags":[221,35,32],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":602,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sftodo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}