San Francisco Taxi Driver Robbed Again April 22nd, 2011

Once again a San Francisco Taxi Driver robbed on April 22 nd around 3:00 a.m. by another entitled person who felt like he did not have to pay for his fare. The fare totaled 16.15 not to mention the time spent trying to get the police to come to the scene, which never occurred because there were higher priority calls.

Here is what happened the passenger called around 3:00 a.m. to National Cab Company requesting a cab at 190 Bradford (Courtland and Bradford) in San Francisco Potrero Hill neighborhood. I got to the call and a man came out in his 30's looked kind of shady and said he wanted to go to 3rd and Folsom. When we got to 3rd and Folsom the man did not have enough money to pay the fare, so I told him I accept credit cards. He gave me a temporary credit card that was declined by the processing system from Verifone. The fancy system that the SFMTA and the cab companies have set up for the drivers that charges us 5 percent for each transaction. The passenger than made a call to his girlfriend who lives at 3rd and Folsom requesting her to bring money to the gate where he would meet her at the apartment complex. He told me he would be right back. I waited a few minutes and thought something was not right so I called the dispatcher Frank at National Cab Company who in turn called the customer while I was on the phone. The passenger who at that time was upstairs said he would have to pay by credit card but it is his girlfriends. The passenger already knew we take credit cards. I waited another ten minutes for the guy to return which he did not. Therefore stiffing me of my 16.00 for the fare. Most of the readers who read this would say big deal 16.00. In san Francisco Drivering a cab on slow nights that is about 25 percent of our take home pay. IT IS A BIG DEAL. The dispatcher than gave me the passengers telephone number so I called several times and got no answer. It was clear to me at this time I was robbed.

I then phoned the San Francisco Police Department for assistance. I was told there was a lot of activity going on in the Ingleside area and that it would be awhile. I asked the police dispatcher if I should go to the Ingleside station and it might be more quick. She agreed so on I go to the Ingleside police station where officer Frazier was behind the window. Officer Frazier said they were too busy to be able to take the police report and that they were understaffed this morning. What a comforting feeling in case there was something more serious that occurs like a shooting of a driver or another robbery. I was told I could come back at anytime to write up a report. NO POLICE REPORT WAS FILED TONIGHT BECAUSE OF UNDER STAFFING. This process took about 30 minutes to get no police report.

I guess the moral of this story is Taxi Drivers pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for permits per year to the city of San Francisco. In addition through our gates we pay the cab companies pay plenty to the city. What do the San Francisco Taxi Drivers get in return when there is a problem? Obviously not even a police report. Is it just me or is there something wrong with this picture. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of respect for our police department and the duty they serve to the community. All I ever wanted was my pay for driving this passenger to his location, and when that did not occur all I wanted was a police report which did not happen either. Somehow in all of this it is the drivers fault according to the dispatch window at National Cab Company who dispatched to me this call in the first place. Did you know that there us a city regulation that requires cab drivers in the city to take at least one dispatch call per hour if they are available. Drivers pay for a dispatch service when something goes wrong why is the fare lost the responsibility of the cab driver??