Taxi Upfront Pricing Pilot Begins

Taxi Upfront Pricing Pilot Begins
By

The Taxi Upfront Fare Pilot Program began on November 9, 2022!

In September 2021, the SFMTA Board authorized the creation of a one-year Taxi Upfront Fare Pilot Program. The pilot will give taxi customers the ability to book a taxi trip through a taxi e-hail app and pay a flat-rate, upfront fare. It will also allow customers to request a taxi through approved third-party apps.

Our hope is that the pilot benefits taxi users by providing them with upfront information about their fares, relieving meter anxiety, and allowing customers to price shop for similar on-demand services. We believe this will bring taxi services in line with what customers expect on similar services. We also believe it will increase business for the local taxi industry, especially the drivers. A successful pilot would increase overall taxi trips, encourage more people to become taxi drivers, and maintain or improve taxi services for all passengers.

Beginning November 9, taxi customers have the ability to book a taxi trip through three approved taxi E-hail apps: Arro, Flywheel, and YoTaxi*. The approved E-hail apps will give taxi customers the option of choosing an upfront fare through the app, or they may choose to request a cab through traditional phone dispatch or street hail and simply pay for the trip based on the taximeter amount. The upfront fare offered to taxi customers will closely match the cost to the customer of a fare based on the Taximeter rate.

The pilot program will also allow customers to request or to be matched with a taxi through third-party apps. Uber is the first third-party app to participate in the pilot, which will lay the groundwork for other apps (including Muni Mobile) to refer trips to local taxis. Trips originated from a third-Party app will offer upfront fares that are not based on Taximeter rates.

The Upfront Fare Pilot allows two types of trips:

Taxi Pilot Trips:

Originate with a customer ride request through an approved taxi E-Hail app
Dispatched by a taxi E-Hail app
Provided by a permitted San Francisco taxi driver in a permitted SF taxi vehicle
Upfront fare is based on the estimated taximeter amount

Third-Party Pilot Trips:

Originate with a customer ride request through a third-party app
Provided by a permitted San Francisco taxi driver in a permitted SF taxi vehicle
Upfront fare is not required to be based on the estimated taximeter amount

Requesting a Taxi through a permitted Taxi E-Hail App

Taxi customers may request taxi rides through three permitted apps: Arro, Flywheel, and YoTaxi*.

To request a ride, customers can open the app of their choice and input a payment method. After inputting a payment method, customers can request a ride within the app and will be provided with an upfront fare based on the estimated taximeter amount.

Upon completion of the trip, the payment will be processed by the E-Hail app. No separate payment to the driver will be needed at the end of the trip.

*Currently, Arro and Flywheel are approved, while YoTaxi is eligible to participate and is conditionally approved.

Receiving a Taxi through Uber

Third-party pilot trips will allow San Francisco taxicabs to be matched with Uber customers. Currently, Flywheel is the only Taxi E-Hail App approved to provide Third-party trips.

Customers can request a ride through Uber as normal, but in some instances may be matched with a taxi. Customers will still receive an upfront fare, but the fare will not be based on the estimated taximeter amount. Uber customers will always be notified if they’re matched with a taxi, and if they prefer, can choose to get re-matched.

Upon completion of the trip, the payment will be processed by Uber. No separate payment to the driver will be needed at the end of the trip.

SF Paratransit Customers

Currently, both YoTaxi and Arro are unable to book paratransit customers as a part of this pilot, and Flywheel will only provide a fare estimate. SFMTA plans on working with the Taxi E-Hail apps to allow for this in the future.

SF Paratransit riders can continue to request rides through the regular process.

Next Steps and Comments

The SFMTA will report quarterly on the results of the pilot to the taxi industry, our board, and to other stakeholders. We will be having quarterly taxi outreach meetings about this pilot and other topics affecting the industry.

If you have comments about the pilot, we are taking written feedback.

Published November 10, 2022 at 06:39AM
https://ift.tt/w83GKPr

Comments

New top story from Time: All 53 People Aboard Indonesia Submarine Declared Dead After Vessel’s Wreckage Found

https://ift.tt/3ezrzg5 ANYUWANGI, Indonesia — Indonesia’s military on Sunday officially said all 53 crew members from a submarine that sank and broke apart last week are dead, and that search teams had located the vessel’s wreckage on the ocean floor. The grim announcement comes a day after Indonesia said the submarine was considered sunk, not merely missing , but did not explicitly say whether the crew was dead. Officials had also said the KRI Nanggala 402’s oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday, three days after vessel went missing off the resort island of Bali. “We received underwater pictures that are confirmed as the parts of the submarine, including its rear vertical rudder, anchors, outer pressure body, embossed dive rudder and other ship parts,” military chief Hadi Tjahjanto told reporters in Bali on Sunday. “With this authentic evidence, we can declare that KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk and all the crew members are dead,” Tjahjanto said. An underwater ro...

FOX NEWS: Canine influenza outbreak: What dog owners need to know A canine influenza outbreak in Los Angeles is drawing up concern among pet owners on the West Coast.

Canine influenza outbreak: What dog owners need to know A canine influenza outbreak in Los Angeles is drawing up concern among pet owners on the West Coast. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3nTXOuM

New top story from Time: RushTok Is a Mesmerizing Viral Trend. It Also Amplifies Sororities’ Problems With Racism

https://ift.tt/3iZ1hHp While what goes into the curation of every TikTok user’s For You page remains a mystery , one thing has become clear—content from University of Alabama students vying for a spot at the school’s sororities has dominated the app over the last week. This trend, dubbed “RushTok” by TikTok netizens, started when sorority hopefuls began making videos of themselves and what they were wearing for “Bama Rush,” University of Alabama’s Greek recruitment week. The formula for a RushTok video is simple yet mesmerizing: state the rush day and the activity, and then name the brand of every item of clothing and accessory you’re sporting. Typical Bama Rush TikTok videos share common characteristics, including a bevy of blondes with Southern accents, hashtags of the school’s call, “Roll Tide,” and a widespread affinity for brands like Michael Kors, Shein, Steve Madden and Kendra Scott. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the vide...

New top story from Time: House Progressives Say They’re ‘Holding the Line’ to Preserve Democratic Agenda

https://ift.tt/3ukZsZm After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that she may push through the bipartisan infrastructure bill ahead of the Democrats’ larger social spending package, some House progressives say they are sticking with their original position: they won’t support the first bill unless they also get a vote on the second. The infrastructure bill is a bipartisan plan to improve the country’s aging roads and bridges, while the Build Back Better spending bill is an ambitious social funding package that includes once-in-a-generation investments in childcare, home care, education and climate change mitigation. Facing a slim margin in the House and a 50-50 Senate, Democrats had planned to advance both bills at once to appease the moderate and progressive wings of the party, betting the fate of Joe Biden’s domestic agenda on the bills’ joint success. But now that plan is falling apart . [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “We are a yes on the President’s agenda, a yes o...

New top story from Time: Jeff Bezos Protests After NASA Gives $2.9 Billion Lunar Lander Contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX

https://ift.tt/3exqV2s Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin filed a protest against NASA’s decision to award Elon Musk’s SpaceX a $2.9 billion award to develop a human-lander system to return astronauts to the moon. Blue Origin called on the U.S. Government Accountability Office to stay NASA’s deal with SpaceX and correct “errors” in the procurement process, according to the protest. Absent those problems, Blue Origin claimed that NASA would also have selected its proposal, which was submitted by a team that included Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Draper, an engineering and avionics firm. “NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute,” Blue Origin said Monday in a statement accompanying the challenge to NASA’s decision. “Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the moon.” The p...

New top story from Time: Why It’s Crucial to Talk to Kids About Gender Pronouns

https://ift.tt/3fKr8kO It’s only been a week since Katherine Locke’s newest book was published, and they’ve already received messages from parents of trans and nonbinary children saying how much it spoke to them. The book, What Are Your Words? , tells the story of a kid named Ari, who is gender fluid and nonbinary and tries out different pronouns depending on how they feel on different days. Aimed at readers aged 4 to 8, the book follows Ari and his nonbinary uncle Lior as they try to figure out what words fit them. “I certainly didn’t grow up talking about pronouns that weren’t she/her, he/him, and I didn’t know how to have these conversations either,” says Locke, who released their first picture book last November and has previously written novels for young adults and adults. “It’s been really gratifying to see people embrace the book and its concepts.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] With colorful illustrations by Anne Passchier, the book emphasizes that pronouns are...

New top story from Time: There’s Nothing Stopping Democrats from Going it Alone on Infrastructure — Except Democrats

https://ift.tt/3vfOIKY This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. If Democrats wanted to pass a straight, party-line infrastructure plan with a price tag reaching into 13 digits, they could. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrested a green-light from the Senate’s rules maven in February that would let Democrats jam a massive spending plan through a budgeting loophole. And, assuming every Democrat holds the line and Vice President Kamala Harris is available that day, Democrats have the votes to spend the $2 trillion on roads, airports, schools and the Internet that President Joe Biden has outlined. Republicans can whine and attack, but they can’t stop it without Democratic help. Democrats, however, aren’t willing to go that route — at least not yet. The specifics differ among camps but the overriding desire here is the same: Democrats want to stay in power, and the bl...

New top story from Time: What We Fear in the Wake of the Texas Abortion Law

https://ift.tt/3EYEVi1 On Sept. 1, Texas enacted an extreme law that effectively ended abortion care in the state. Since then, clinics in states on the western and northern borders have seen a dramatic increase in patient visits and calls from abortion funds. But here in the Gulf region, not much has changed. And that might be the most alarming news of all. There is no region more crippled by abortion restrictions than the Deep South. Across the more than 800 miles along the Gulf Coast between the eastern edge of Texas and the end of the Florida panhandle, there are fewer than a dozen abortion clinics, and Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama require a waiting period of 24 or 48 hours between in-person visits to the clinic. That means a traveling patient must either make multiple trips or find the resources for some combination of housing, food, child care and time off work, in addition to paying for the abortion. Most abortion patients come from low-income households, and st...

New top story from Time: From Cruella to Maleficent to the Joker: Is It Time to Retire the Villain Origin Story?

https://ift.tt/2RQX0ed Even if the slogan “fair and balanced” has been retired by the conservative news network that used it for years, the damage caused by its shifty logic endures: There are two equally valid sides to every story. Every warped viewpoint must be weighed seriously for any grain of truth it might contain. If you shout loudly enough, down is actually up. We’re now stuck with this legacy, and it’s so ingrained that it shows up even in the most unlikely places. In particular, you’ll find it in the villain origin story, a long-simmering trend that exploded with Todd Phillips ’ 2019 Batman-nemesis apologia Joker . This month, Craig Gillespie’s Cruella hops on the backstory bandwagon. Cruella devises a biography for the 101 Dalmatians villainess Cruella de Vil, she of the spotted fur coat and duotone hairdo (who, though she’s now most famous as a Disney creation, was the invention of English writer Dodie Smith, who described her vividly in the delightful 19...

New top story from Time: How Liberal White America Turned Its Back on James Baldwin in the 1960s

https://ift.tt/2QBsNzv In discussions about race relations today, the works of James Baldwin continue to speak to the present, even decades after they were written. So it is worth remembering that, at the very height of his influence, Baldwin experienced the same frustration that some Black activists, particularly on campus, feel about white liberals today: their refusal to acknowledge their complicity in the regime of white supremacy. In Baldwin’s case, the liberal backlash was widespread, and effectively marginalized him for a time. The very first piece on the front page of the very first issue of The New York Review of Books , Feb. 1, 1963, was a review of Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time by F. W. Dupee of the Columbia English department. Dupee (a former Communist Party organizer) took exception to Baldwin’s apocalyptic tone. “Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?” Baldwin had written. The answer, Dupee wrote, is that “[s]ince you have no other, yes; and t...

My precise view

Search This Blog