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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_117502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/Muni-bus-e1383854574750.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-117502\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/Muni-bus-e1383854574750.jpg\" alt=\"A Muni trolley bus rolls on the system's No. 6-Parnassus route. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"380\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Muni trolley bus rolls on the system’s No. 6-Parnassus route. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED) \u003ccite>(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco transportation officials confirmed Monday that they’ve reached a tentative agreement in a contract dispute with Muni bus and rail operators that led to the partial shutdown of the city’s transit system earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin said after a closed session of the agency’s board that former Mayor Willie Brown mediated the pact at the request of Mayor Ed Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do believe it wouldn’t have happened without him,” Reiskin said of Brown’s role in brokering the new contract. The union will vote on the agreement next week. If it approves the deal, the MTA board of directors will vote on the pact July 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No details of the agreement were immediately available, but \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/muni-operators-reach-tentative-labor-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the major dispute between the two sides \u003c/a>centered on future pension payments that union members will make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An agreement reached in early May, and later rejected by the rank and file of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, called for workers to begin paying 7.5 percent in pension contributions for which the city has been responsible. In exchange, union members would get a 5.05 percent wage increase to offset the the new pension payment. They’d also get a raise of 3 percent in the first year of the two-year contract, and a cost of living increase of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in the second year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union officials said an analysis of the deal, done after they had initially agreed to the pact,showed that members would actually have less take-home pay despite their higher gross wages, which could have reached $33 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dispute led Local 250-A members to reject the contract with a 96 percent “no” vote. That decision was followed by \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/01/san-francisco-muni-operators-may-stage-monday-sick-out\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a three-day sickout in early June\u003c/a> that crippled Muni service.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_117502\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/Muni-bus-e1383854574750.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-117502\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2013/11/Muni-bus-e1383854574750.jpg\" alt=\"A Muni trolley bus rolls on the system's No. 6-Parnassus route. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"380\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Muni trolley bus rolls on the system’s No. 6-Parnassus route. (Deborah Svoboda/KQED) \u003ccite>(Deborah Svoboda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco transportation officials confirmed Monday that they’ve reached a tentative agreement in a contract dispute with Muni bus and rail operators that led to the partial shutdown of the city’s transit system earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin said after a closed session of the agency’s board that former Mayor Willie Brown mediated the pact at the request of Mayor Ed Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do believe it wouldn’t have happened without him,” Reiskin said of Brown’s role in brokering the new contract. The union will vote on the agreement next week. If it approves the deal, the MTA board of directors will vote on the pact July 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No details of the agreement were immediately available, but \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/muni-operators-reach-tentative-labor-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the major dispute between the two sides \u003c/a>centered on future pension payments that union members will make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An agreement reached in early May, and later rejected by the rank and file of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, called for workers to begin paying 7.5 percent in pension contributions for which the city has been responsible. In exchange, union members would get a 5.05 percent wage increase to offset the the new pension payment. They’d also get a raise of 3 percent in the first year of the two-year contract, and a cost of living increase of 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in the second year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Isabel Angell, Dan Brekke and Bryan Goebel \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139364\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139364\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6/27/14 7:20 pm:\u003c/strong> The union representing Muni operators said late Friday it reached a tentative agreement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. However, a Muni spokesman would not confirm a deal was struck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union issued this press release Friday evening:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cdiv style=\"color: #222222\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 250-A, representing San Francisco MUNI operators, announced today that union negotiators have reached a tentative labor agreement with the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority (SFMTA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\"Thanks to strong support of our membership and hard work at the negotiating table, we have reached a new tentative agreement,\" said Eric Williams, President of TWU Local 250-A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Details of the new agreement will be presented to union members at a special membership meeting this coming Monday, June 30. The proposed three-year contract is subject to ratification by union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\"Our members are committed to providing quality transit in San Francisco,\" said Williams. \"And we continue to believe that best way to resolve labor-management concerns is through fair and balanced collective bargaining.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA board has scheduled \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/calendar/meetings/board-directors-special-meeting-june-30-2014\">a special meeting\u003c/a> for Monday at 11 a.m. that includes options to approve or reject a tentative agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story 6/17/14:\u003c/strong> Muni and its union bus and rail operators remain at an impasse in their contract dispute — with the union insisting that it wants to reopen bargaining on an already-mediated two-year agreement and agency officials saying they have only limited power to renegotiate the pact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The battle centers on a mediated agreement that includes a pension payment \"swap\": Workers would pick up a pension contribution equivalent to 7.5 percent of the salary that's now paid by the city. In exchange, they'd get a 5.05 percent salary increase to cover the new payment. The agreement also includes a 3 percent pay increase in the contract's first year and a cost-of-living increase in the second year that would range from 2.25 to 3.25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transport Workers Union Local 250-A President Eric Williams says local officials initially agreed to the pension swap when it was mediated in early May. But \u003ca href=\"http://www.twusf.org/Portals/21/250-Altrrel.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">in a letter over the weekend to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin\u003c/a>, Williams said a certified public accountant's later analysis of the swap showed it would result in a \"net wage cut\" for bus and train operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams says the CPA's analysis led Local 250-A officials to back away from recommending the contract to members, who then rejected the agreement on May 30 with 96 percent voting \"no.\" The vote was a prelude to a three-day sickout that paralyzed most Muni service. The two sides have made no apparent progress in resolving the dispute the job action ended nearly two weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA officials have said their hands are tied by City Charter language that bars further negotiations once an agreement has been mediated and voted on. At that point, they say, the City Charter requires the agency to proceed to impasse arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Williams' letter to Reiskin argues that since the SFMTA made \"misrepresentations\" about the pension swap and thus failed to live up to a City Charter requirement for good-faith bargaining. Because of that, Williams wrote, the two sides should get back to bargaining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The agency wants to get to mediation-slash-arbitration,\" Williams said Monday. \"We aren't there yet. We feel we should be sitting back down at the table, letting them clarify the issues surrounding the pensions.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni officials say the bus and rail operators are the only city employees not making pension contributions and insist that needs to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said the union is open to a pension agreement, but it needs to be \"an even swap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The members of Local 250-A have not received a wage increase for over four years,\" Williams said. \"We don't have a problem with paying our own pension. But just like they did every other union — police, fire and everybody else — they gave them an even swap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agency spokesman Paul Rose says the mediated agreement is open for discussion, and possible changes, through June 30. That's the final day in the city's current fiscal year and the last day the Board of Supervisors and mayor can agree to spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At this point,\" Rose said, \"we're doing everything we can to make sure that we can avoid another sickout and make sure that our operators have good and fair wage increases.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said union leadership had no part in organizing the earlier sickout and said operators staged the action out of frustration with their treatment by the city. As to the prospect of another sickout, Williams said, \"We would just have to see. I will be surprised just like everyone else.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Isabel Angell, Dan Brekke and Bryan Goebel \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139364\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-scr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139364\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6/27/14 7:20 pm:\u003c/strong> The union representing Muni operators said late Friday it reached a tentative agreement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. However, a Muni spokesman would not confirm a deal was struck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union issued this press release Friday evening:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cdiv style=\"color: #222222\">\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 250-A, representing San Francisco MUNI operators, announced today that union negotiators have reached a tentative labor agreement with the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority (SFMTA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\"Thanks to strong support of our membership and hard work at the negotiating table, we have reached a new tentative agreement,\" said Eric Williams, President of TWU Local 250-A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">Details of the new agreement will be presented to union members at a special membership meeting this coming Monday, June 30. The proposed three-year contract is subject to ratification by union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p2\">\"Our members are committed to providing quality transit in San Francisco,\" said Williams. \"And we continue to believe that best way to resolve labor-management concerns is through fair and balanced collective bargaining.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA board has scheduled \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/calendar/meetings/board-directors-special-meeting-june-30-2014\">a special meeting\u003c/a> for Monday at 11 a.m. that includes options to approve or reject a tentative agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story 6/17/14:\u003c/strong> Muni and its union bus and rail operators remain at an impasse in their contract dispute — with the union insisting that it wants to reopen bargaining on an already-mediated two-year agreement and agency officials saying they have only limited power to renegotiate the pact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The battle centers on a mediated agreement that includes a pension payment \"swap\": Workers would pick up a pension contribution equivalent to 7.5 percent of the salary that's now paid by the city. In exchange, they'd get a 5.05 percent salary increase to cover the new payment. The agreement also includes a 3 percent pay increase in the contract's first year and a cost-of-living increase in the second year that would range from 2.25 to 3.25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transport Workers Union Local 250-A President Eric Williams says local officials initially agreed to the pension swap when it was mediated in early May. But \u003ca href=\"http://www.twusf.org/Portals/21/250-Altrrel.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">in a letter over the weekend to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin\u003c/a>, Williams said a certified public accountant's later analysis of the swap showed it would result in a \"net wage cut\" for bus and train operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams says the CPA's analysis led Local 250-A officials to back away from recommending the contract to members, who then rejected the agreement on May 30 with 96 percent voting \"no.\" The vote was a prelude to a three-day sickout that paralyzed most Muni service. The two sides have made no apparent progress in resolving the dispute the job action ended nearly two weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA officials have said their hands are tied by City Charter language that bars further negotiations once an agreement has been mediated and voted on. At that point, they say, the City Charter requires the agency to proceed to impasse arbitration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Williams' letter to Reiskin argues that since the SFMTA made \"misrepresentations\" about the pension swap and thus failed to live up to a City Charter requirement for good-faith bargaining. Because of that, Williams wrote, the two sides should get back to bargaining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The agency wants to get to mediation-slash-arbitration,\" Williams said Monday. \"We aren't there yet. We feel we should be sitting back down at the table, letting them clarify the issues surrounding the pensions.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni officials say the bus and rail operators are the only city employees not making pension contributions and insist that needs to change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said the union is open to a pension agreement, but it needs to be \"an even swap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The members of Local 250-A have not received a wage increase for over four years,\" Williams said. \"We don't have a problem with paying our own pension. But just like they did every other union — police, fire and everybody else — they gave them an even swap.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agency spokesman Paul Rose says the mediated agreement is open for discussion, and possible changes, through June 30. That's the final day in the city's current fiscal year and the last day the Board of Supervisors and mayor can agree to spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"At this point,\" Rose said, \"we're doing everything we can to make sure that we can avoid another sickout and make sure that our operators have good and fair wage increases.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said union leadership had no part in organizing the earlier sickout and said operators staged the action out of frustration with their treatment by the city. As to the prospect of another sickout, Williams said, \"We would just have to see. I will be surprised just like everyone else.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "What's MonkeyParking Really Selling? ",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Lisa Pickoff-White and Dan Brekke\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_140445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS4734_8018354805_34f007d510_k-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-140445\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS4734_8018354805_34f007d510_k-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Who owns these spots? (Panchenks/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MonkeyParking says it's not selling these parking spaces, just information about when they're available. (Panchenks/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Note: Post updated Saturday, June 28. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/san-francisco-monkeyparking-cease-and-desist/\" target=\"_blank\">it's not a complete surprise\u003c/a> that MonkeyParking, the smartphone app that appears to facilitate buying and selling of public parking spaces, \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/06/26/monkeyparking-tells-sf-its-not-going-to-kill-its-parking-app/\" target=\"_blank\">is now telling the city of San Francisco\u003c/a>, \"Whoa — that's not what we're doing at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'It’s like a prostitute saying she’s not selling sex — she’s only selling information about her willingness to have sex with you.'\u003ccite>— Matt Dorsey,\u003cbr>\nCity attorney's spokesman\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>City Attorney Dennis Herrera told the Rome-based firm the other day that the app violates an ordinance that forbids renting, leasing or selling street or sidewalk space. Herrera gave the company until July 11 to shut down. MonkeyParking has responded with \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparkingapp.strikingly.com/\">an online declaration\u003c/a> that it's not about to cease operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"MonkeyParking is an innovative social sharing app that lets registered users communicate with each other when a parking spot becomes available,\" the statement says. \"Users have the opportunity to be paid for the information communicated based on whether or not the communication successfully identifies a parking spot that is available. MP is not in the business of selling or auctioning parking spots.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MonkeyParking statement also decries the way the city is trampling on fundamental freedoms:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The shared economy trades on information, not on goods or services or other commodities. We are very surprised that the City of San Francisco, which prides itself of being a liberal and tolerating city, does not see that their cease and desist letter is an open violation of free speech, contrary to the First Amendment of the US Constitution (“I have the right to tell people if I am about to leave a parking spot and they have the right to pay me for such information”).\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Herrera spokesman Matt Dorsey told \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/06/26/monkeyparking-tells-sf-its-not-going-to-kill-its-parking-app/\" target=\"_blank\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that's \"wildly inventive verbal gymnastics.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let’s be honest,\" Dorsey told the Chron. \"It’s like a prostitute saying she’s not selling sex — she’s only selling information about her willingness to have sex with you. It’s semantic hair-splitting, and it’s absurd.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MonkeyParking's statement also appears to fly in the face of the way it has pitched its service, both on its website and in its app. Just a couple of days ago, a sample app screen on the MonkeyParking site included this dialogue: \"John will pay $10 for your current parking spot. Are you in?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sure sounds like a parking spot, not just the information about it, is up for sale. We note that the sample screen displayed on MonkeyParking's site has changed in the last 48 hours. It now says, \"Maggie will pay $10 to find a parking spot. Can you help her?\" (And yes, that sounds like Maggie is willing to pay \u003ca href=\"http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=7323\" target=\"_blank\">a sawbuck\u003c/a> just to have someone tell her where she can find parking.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_140491\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/monkeyparking5.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-140491\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/monkeyparking5-360x640.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the MonkeyParking app, informing users they can make $150 a month by selling on-street parking spots. \" width=\"315\" height=\"560\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of the MonkeyParking app, informing users they can make $150 a month by selling on-street parking spots.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The MonkeyParking app, as downloaded from the iTunes App Store Friday afternoon, seems more explicit about what you're buying and selling. A setup screen says, \"Make up to $150/month by selling your on-street parking spots.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another screen in the app describes the MonkeyParking process:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Whenever you park your car, publish your parking spot.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Get notified about drivers willing to pay for it.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Leave your spot to a driver and get paid for the effort.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Similarly, MonkeyParking's sample screens in the App Store say the program allows you to \"broadcast your price for a parking spot,\" \"request a parking spot\" and \"let the highest bidder park at your place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though we don't claim to be doctors of jurisprudence or Nobel economics laureates, MonkeyParking's pitch doesn't seem real subtle: While the app furnishes information about parking, what users are paying for, and getting paid for, is concrete real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update:\u003c/strong> Saturday morning (June 28), we got an email from MonkeyParking CEO Paolo Dobrowolny, based in Rome, responding to our questions about the wording on the MonkeyParking site and app. He says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Regarding your statements on our initial pitch, I can confirm we recently worked on the wording on our website (and on our app) to clarify what is our business model. We used a lot of very controversial and straightforward communication messages in the last months. That was a marketing strategy (and it worked!) but we are now focusing more on our value proposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process behind the app and the mission to get rid of circling the block are still the same since the very first version of MonkeyParking.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Lisa Pickoff-White and Dan Brekke\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_140445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS4734_8018354805_34f007d510_k-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-140445\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS4734_8018354805_34f007d510_k-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Who owns these spots? (Panchenks/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MonkeyParking says it's not selling these parking spaces, just information about when they're available. (Panchenks/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Note: Post updated Saturday, June 28. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/san-francisco-monkeyparking-cease-and-desist/\" target=\"_blank\">it's not a complete surprise\u003c/a> that MonkeyParking, the smartphone app that appears to facilitate buying and selling of public parking spaces, \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/06/26/monkeyparking-tells-sf-its-not-going-to-kill-its-parking-app/\" target=\"_blank\">is now telling the city of San Francisco\u003c/a>, \"Whoa — that's not what we're doing at all.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">'It’s like a prostitute saying she’s not selling sex — she’s only selling information about her willingness to have sex with you.'\u003ccite>— Matt Dorsey,\u003cbr>\nCity attorney's spokesman\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>City Attorney Dennis Herrera told the Rome-based firm the other day that the app violates an ordinance that forbids renting, leasing or selling street or sidewalk space. Herrera gave the company until July 11 to shut down. MonkeyParking has responded with \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparkingapp.strikingly.com/\">an online declaration\u003c/a> that it's not about to cease operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"MonkeyParking is an innovative social sharing app that lets registered users communicate with each other when a parking spot becomes available,\" the statement says. \"Users have the opportunity to be paid for the information communicated based on whether or not the communication successfully identifies a parking spot that is available. MP is not in the business of selling or auctioning parking spots.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The MonkeyParking statement also decries the way the city is trampling on fundamental freedoms:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>The shared economy trades on information, not on goods or services or other commodities. We are very surprised that the City of San Francisco, which prides itself of being a liberal and tolerating city, does not see that their cease and desist letter is an open violation of free speech, contrary to the First Amendment of the US Constitution (“I have the right to tell people if I am about to leave a parking spot and they have the right to pay me for such information”).\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Herrera spokesman Matt Dorsey told \u003ca href=\"http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2014/06/26/monkeyparking-tells-sf-its-not-going-to-kill-its-parking-app/\" target=\"_blank\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that's \"wildly inventive verbal gymnastics.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let’s be honest,\" Dorsey told the Chron. \"It’s like a prostitute saying she’s not selling sex — she’s only selling information about her willingness to have sex with you. It’s semantic hair-splitting, and it’s absurd.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MonkeyParking's statement also appears to fly in the face of the way it has pitched its service, both on its website and in its app. Just a couple of days ago, a sample app screen on the MonkeyParking site included this dialogue: \"John will pay $10 for your current parking spot. Are you in?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sure sounds like a parking spot, not just the information about it, is up for sale. We note that the sample screen displayed on MonkeyParking's site has changed in the last 48 hours. It now says, \"Maggie will pay $10 to find a parking spot. Can you help her?\" (And yes, that sounds like Maggie is willing to pay \u003ca href=\"http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=7323\" target=\"_blank\">a sawbuck\u003c/a> just to have someone tell her where she can find parking.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_140491\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 315px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/monkeyparking5.png\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-140491\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/monkeyparking5-360x640.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the MonkeyParking app, informing users they can make $150 a month by selling on-street parking spots. \" width=\"315\" height=\"560\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screenshot of the MonkeyParking app, informing users they can make $150 a month by selling on-street parking spots.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The MonkeyParking app, as downloaded from the iTunes App Store Friday afternoon, seems more explicit about what you're buying and selling. A setup screen says, \"Make up to $150/month by selling your on-street parking spots.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another screen in the app describes the MonkeyParking process:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Whenever you park your car, publish your parking spot.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Get notified about drivers willing to pay for it.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Leave your spot to a driver and get paid for the effort.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Similarly, MonkeyParking's sample screens in the App Store say the program allows you to \"broadcast your price for a parking spot,\" \"request a parking spot\" and \"let the highest bidder park at your place.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though we don't claim to be doctors of jurisprudence or Nobel economics laureates, MonkeyParking's pitch doesn't seem real subtle: While the app furnishes information about parking, what users are paying for, and getting paid for, is concrete real estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update:\u003c/strong> Saturday morning (June 28), we got an email from MonkeyParking CEO Paolo Dobrowolny, based in Rome, responding to our questions about the wording on the MonkeyParking site and app. He says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Regarding your statements on our initial pitch, I can confirm we recently worked on the wording on our website (and on our app) to clarify what is our business model. We used a lot of very controversial and straightforward communication messages in the last months. That was a marketing strategy (and it worked!) but we are now focusing more on our value proposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The process behind the app and the mission to get rid of circling the block are still the same since the very first version of MonkeyParking.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "News Pix: Lincecum No-Hitter, World Cup Fever and Public Art on Market Street",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/world-cup-3.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-140301\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/world-cup-3-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"World Cup at Civic Center Plaza\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nBay Area soccer fans played hooky from work for a couple of hours Thursday morning so they could be in San Francisco’s Civic Center to \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/26/world-cup-usa-germany-san-francisco-civic-center/\" target=\"_blank\">watch a big-screen broadcast of the U.S. men’s soccer match\u003c/a> against Germany. Here, USA fans react after a missed opportunity near the end of the game. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/world-cup-2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-140297\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/world-cup-2-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"World Cup at Civic Center Plaza\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nThe vast majority of the crowd was cheering on the American side, but \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/26/world-cup-usa-germany-san-francisco-civic-center/\" target=\"_blank\">supporters of the German team also turned out\u003c/a> in large numbers. Matthias Kellersohn and Sascha Gissler were visiting San Francisco from Germany for a business trip, and they caught the game before heading to the airport to fly home. Both were pleased with the game’s outcome, but said they were still disappointed in the German team’s performance and the overall quality of play. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/lincecum-no-hitter.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-140242\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/lincecum-no-hitter.jpg\" alt=\"lincecum-no-hitter\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nSan Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum celebrates with catcher Hector Sanchez after \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/25/lincecum-no-hitter-giants-padres/\" target=\"_blank\">Lincecum threw his second career no-hitter \u003c/a>on Wednesday, June 25. The Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0. (Jason O. Watson/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS11076_photo-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-140349\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS11076_photo-lpr-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"Let There Be\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nA \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/let-there-be-illuminate-the-arts-mid-market\" target=\"_blank\">new public art piece debuted June 26\u003c/a> on San Francisco's Market Street. It's called \"Let There Be\" and, for the moment at least, it features a series of photographs by Bay Area artists projected onto the east wall of the recently renovated home of Zendesk. Ben Davis designed the project and says this new piece is a way to celebrate the neighborhood's past, present and hoped-for future.(Cy Musiker/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/GoldenGate.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-140404\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/GoldenGate-640x449.jpg\" alt=\"Golden Gate Bridge To Seek Corporate Sponsorship\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nA plan to build \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/24/funding-nearly-lined-up-for-golden-gate-suicide-barrier/\" target=\"_blank\">suicide prevention nets on the Golden Gate Bridge\u003c/a> got the green light this week. The bridge's board of directors voted on Friday, June 27, to fund the $76 million \"physical suicide deterrent system.\" Since the bridge opened in 1937, some 1,600 people have jumped to their deaths. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/half-a-bridge.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-140405\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/half-a-bridge-640x450.jpg\" alt=\"half a bridge\" width=\"640\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\nDemolition on the original eastern span of the Bay Bridge is underway, starting with the 600-foot suspended span of the cantilever truss section. This is just a really cool photo. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"slug": "the-share-for-pay-economy-just-grabbed-your-parking-space",
"title": "The Sharing Economy Just Grabbed Your Parking Spot",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/MonkeyParking.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-140202\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/MonkeyParking.jpg\" alt=\"MonkeyParking\" width=\"296\" height=\"297\">\u003c/a>Earlier this week, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent a letter to a group of young guys working mostly, it seems, in Rome. The guys in question have developed an app called \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparking.strikingly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MonkeyParking\u003c/a> that, in essence, allows drivers who have been lucky enough to find a parking space on the car-choked streets of San Francisco to sell that spot to other drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera’s letter said you can’t do that — a city ordinance forbids it:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>San Francisco Police Code Section 63(b) specifically prohibits the buying and selling of public street parking spaces. The San Francisco Police Code provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to enter into a lease, rental agreement or contract of any kind, written or oral, with or without compensation, for the use of any street or sidewalk.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The city attorney added that another provision of the code could make parking app users liable to fines of up to $300.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paolo Dobrowolny, one of the Rome-based MonkeyParking guys and the firm’s CEO,\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2014/06/23/city-attorney-throws-monkey-wrench-parking-space-auction-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> told the San Francisco Bay Guardian\u003c/a> in response:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“As a general principle we believe that a new company providing value to people should be regulated and not banned,” Dobrowolny wrote in an email. “Regulation is fundamental in driving innovation, while banning is just stopping it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Herrera’s letter warned Dobrowolny that unless MonkeyParking shuts down by July 11, it will face legal action. The city attorney also served notice that two firms that have produced similar parking apps, Sweetch and ParkModo, will also be served with cease-and-desist demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”a1a943f6ea820e35bb2990e9bf1302d7″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll see what happens next, but it seems like we’ve seen this movie before: Some new company, announcing it’s the advance guard of “the sharing economy,” appears in town with a great idea. It introduces a brilliant app-based service that will disrupt a musty, old, inefficient marketplace to the benefit of humankind in general. Sure, there might be a small fee involved, and our beneficent entrepreneurs might rake off a percentage for themselves, but it will be worth the cost for the rest of us. Our lives will be so much better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then someone comes along to spoil the party — some agent of the regulatory state wielding a book of antiquated laws and rules and a stack of cease-and-desist orders. The share-for-pay services say, “We’ll think about it.” Then they get to work lobbying the public, lawmakers and regulators to make them see how wrong the existing rules are, how punitive they are to the spirit of innovation and individual empowerment the companies say they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is pretty much the story for Airbnb, which has \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/item/window-into-airbnb-s-hidden-impact-on-s-f-30110.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transformed the short-term rental market in San Francisco\u003c/a> and elsewhere. It has grown into a worldwide business \u003ca href=\"http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/19/uber-and-airbnbs-incredible-growth-in-4-charts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said to be valued at $10 billion\u003c/a> even though its rentals are illegal in many cities. That includes San Francisco, which \u003cspan style=\"color: #000000\">bans renting residential spaces for fewer than 30 days. \u003c/span>Airbnb, which \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Activists-seek-to-get-anti-Airbnb-measure-on-5571321.php#/0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could be the target\u003c/a> of a San Francisco ballot measure seeking to rein it in, has tried to salve municipal feelings here and elsewhere by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/04/18/304564169/airbnb-to-start-charging-hotel-taxes-in-a-handful-of-cities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agreeing to collect hotel taxes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulatory saga of ride-service companies, such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, follows much the same arc. When the California Public Utilities Commission told the companies in 2012 \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/03851232-DD84-47C1-B134-D90C8D15D3B7/0/CeaseandDesistLetters.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they were breaking the law\u003c/a> by carrying passengers without the required state permits, the companies simply shrugged and told the CPUC, “You just don’t get what we do.” Although the firms were hit with fines of $20,000 each for flouting the law, eventually the CPUC adopted a set of rules that has allowed them to operate pretty much as they please. Uber is valued at $17 billion, though \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/17/2014/Uber-Lyft-Insurance-crack-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in California\u003c/a> (and \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/19/2014/uber-lyft-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">elsewhere\u003c/a>) it and the other ride companies remain under scrutiny by regulators and lawmakers over a variety of issues, including whether they provide sufficient insurance coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, will MonkeyParking and its cousins survive? Will they convince regulators that they’ve figured out a way of making the on-street parking market more rational and efficient?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one big difference between Airbnb and the Ubers of the world and MonkeyParking and its ilk: When it comes to facilitating a temporary apartment rental or a ride in someone’s car, those pay-to-share services are dealing with access to private property. Yes, state and local governments long ago decided the public has an interest in regulating how that property is used in some circumstances. But still, when you rent your place on Airbnb or put a pink mustache on your car to take strangers from Point A to Point B, you’re using \u003cem>your\u003c/em> house and \u003cem>your\u003c/em> car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the new parking apps are attempting to traffic in public property — something paid for, built and maintained by public taxes and fees. It’s my property, and yours too, and everyone, in theory, enjoys equal access. Honestly, it seems more than a little presumptuous to think you can grant a select group of drivers the privilege to buy and sell the public’s street parking. Not all drivers have a smartphone that would enable them to access such a service, and not all have the same ability to pay under such a scheme — depending on the app, drivers would pay between $5 and $20 on each space or bid for it in an auction. One other detail: It’s against state law and recklessly unsafe to be fiddling with smartphone apps while operating a car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But of course, parking’s a mess in San Francisco. People in our oh-so-highly-innovative, environmentally conscious region really like driving and are willing to put up with 17 kinds of hell to keep doing it, including circling the block time after time to find that elusive free parking space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you listen to ParkModo founder Daniel Shifrin, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201406250930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a guest on KQED’s \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> on Wednesday\u003c/a>, his service is all about reducing the negative environmental, safety and economic impacts of that endless circling. He said city officials “categorically don’t understand what this business is” and reminded the audience, “I’m the gentleman who founded Zipcar in San Francisco. I’m personally responsible for removing more cars from the streets of San Francisco and more carbon emissions and congestion than anybody in this city ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said ParkModo, which doesn’t appear to have a working website as of Wednesday afternoon, “is not trying to privatize public parking spots at all.” Instead, he said, the company is simply facilitating an exchange of information, for a fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you know when I am leaving a spot, and you’re privy to that information, then you can easily go to that location and avoid the parking search,” Shifrin said. The fee users pay is simply an incentive for drivers to participate in a solution to an inefficient parking market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Goldman, a Santa Clara University law professor and co-director of the school’s High Tech Law Institute, said in an interview with KQED’s Mina Kim that MonkeyParking and similar apps are “a logical extension of the sharing economy. … In the end, I think the underlying problem is too few parking spots, too many cars in San Francisco. I do think we’re going to see constant innovation in that area, where people are going to try to find fixes to the problem because the supply-and-demand imbalance is just overwhelming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re looking for a more down-to-earth take on where “sharing” parking spaces for pay might lead, a \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> listener named Christine had this thought. A longtime resident of North Beach, she recounted a confrontation with a driver who pulled a gun during a dispute over a parking space in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will be incandescent with rage when someone comes in and snakes a spot” using one of the apps, she predicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the full \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> segment:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/156011571&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "The Sharing Economy Just Grabbed Your Parking Spot | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/MonkeyParking.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-140202\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/MonkeyParking.jpg\" alt=\"MonkeyParking\" width=\"296\" height=\"297\">\u003c/a>Earlier this week, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent a letter to a group of young guys working mostly, it seems, in Rome. The guys in question have developed an app called \u003ca href=\"http://monkeyparking.strikingly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MonkeyParking\u003c/a> that, in essence, allows drivers who have been lucky enough to find a parking space on the car-choked streets of San Francisco to sell that spot to other drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herrera’s letter said you can’t do that — a city ordinance forbids it:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>San Francisco Police Code Section 63(b) specifically prohibits the buying and selling of public street parking spaces. The San Francisco Police Code provides: “It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to enter into a lease, rental agreement or contract of any kind, written or oral, with or without compensation, for the use of any street or sidewalk.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The city attorney added that another provision of the code could make parking app users liable to fines of up to $300.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paolo Dobrowolny, one of the Rome-based MonkeyParking guys and the firm’s CEO,\u003ca href=\"http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2014/06/23/city-attorney-throws-monkey-wrench-parking-space-auction-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> told the San Francisco Bay Guardian\u003c/a> in response:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>“As a general principle we believe that a new company providing value to people should be regulated and not banned,” Dobrowolny wrote in an email. “Regulation is fundamental in driving innovation, while banning is just stopping it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Herrera’s letter warned Dobrowolny that unless MonkeyParking shuts down by July 11, it will face legal action. The city attorney also served notice that two firms that have produced similar parking apps, Sweetch and ParkModo, will also be served with cease-and-desist demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll see what happens next, but it seems like we’ve seen this movie before: Some new company, announcing it’s the advance guard of “the sharing economy,” appears in town with a great idea. It introduces a brilliant app-based service that will disrupt a musty, old, inefficient marketplace to the benefit of humankind in general. Sure, there might be a small fee involved, and our beneficent entrepreneurs might rake off a percentage for themselves, but it will be worth the cost for the rest of us. Our lives will be so much better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then someone comes along to spoil the party — some agent of the regulatory state wielding a book of antiquated laws and rules and a stack of cease-and-desist orders. The share-for-pay services say, “We’ll think about it.” Then they get to work lobbying the public, lawmakers and regulators to make them see how wrong the existing rules are, how punitive they are to the spirit of innovation and individual empowerment the companies say they represent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is pretty much the story for Airbnb, which has \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/item/window-into-airbnb-s-hidden-impact-on-s-f-30110.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transformed the short-term rental market in San Francisco\u003c/a> and elsewhere. It has grown into a worldwide business \u003ca href=\"http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/19/uber-and-airbnbs-incredible-growth-in-4-charts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said to be valued at $10 billion\u003c/a> even though its rentals are illegal in many cities. That includes San Francisco, which \u003cspan style=\"color: #000000\">bans renting residential spaces for fewer than 30 days. \u003c/span>Airbnb, which \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Activists-seek-to-get-anti-Airbnb-measure-on-5571321.php#/0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could be the target\u003c/a> of a San Francisco ballot measure seeking to rein it in, has tried to salve municipal feelings here and elsewhere by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/04/18/304564169/airbnb-to-start-charging-hotel-taxes-in-a-handful-of-cities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agreeing to collect hotel taxes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulatory saga of ride-service companies, such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, follows much the same arc. When the California Public Utilities Commission told the companies in 2012 \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/03851232-DD84-47C1-B134-D90C8D15D3B7/0/CeaseandDesistLetters.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they were breaking the law\u003c/a> by carrying passengers without the required state permits, the companies simply shrugged and told the CPUC, “You just don’t get what we do.” Although the firms were hit with fines of $20,000 each for flouting the law, eventually the CPUC adopted a set of rules that has allowed them to operate pretty much as they please. Uber is valued at $17 billion, though \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/17/2014/Uber-Lyft-Insurance-crack-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in California\u003c/a> (and \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/19/2014/uber-lyft-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">elsewhere\u003c/a>) it and the other ride companies remain under scrutiny by regulators and lawmakers over a variety of issues, including whether they provide sufficient insurance coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, will MonkeyParking and its cousins survive? Will they convince regulators that they’ve figured out a way of making the on-street parking market more rational and efficient?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s one big difference between Airbnb and the Ubers of the world and MonkeyParking and its ilk: When it comes to facilitating a temporary apartment rental or a ride in someone’s car, those pay-to-share services are dealing with access to private property. Yes, state and local governments long ago decided the public has an interest in regulating how that property is used in some circumstances. But still, when you rent your place on Airbnb or put a pink mustache on your car to take strangers from Point A to Point B, you’re using \u003cem>your\u003c/em> house and \u003cem>your\u003c/em> car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, the new parking apps are attempting to traffic in public property — something paid for, built and maintained by public taxes and fees. It’s my property, and yours too, and everyone, in theory, enjoys equal access. Honestly, it seems more than a little presumptuous to think you can grant a select group of drivers the privilege to buy and sell the public’s street parking. Not all drivers have a smartphone that would enable them to access such a service, and not all have the same ability to pay under such a scheme — depending on the app, drivers would pay between $5 and $20 on each space or bid for it in an auction. One other detail: It’s against state law and recklessly unsafe to be fiddling with smartphone apps while operating a car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But of course, parking’s a mess in San Francisco. People in our oh-so-highly-innovative, environmentally conscious region really like driving and are willing to put up with 17 kinds of hell to keep doing it, including circling the block time after time to find that elusive free parking space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you listen to ParkModo founder Daniel Shifrin, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201406250930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a guest on KQED’s \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> on Wednesday\u003c/a>, his service is all about reducing the negative environmental, safety and economic impacts of that endless circling. He said city officials “categorically don’t understand what this business is” and reminded the audience, “I’m the gentleman who founded Zipcar in San Francisco. I’m personally responsible for removing more cars from the streets of San Francisco and more carbon emissions and congestion than anybody in this city ever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said ParkModo, which doesn’t appear to have a working website as of Wednesday afternoon, “is not trying to privatize public parking spots at all.” Instead, he said, the company is simply facilitating an exchange of information, for a fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you know when I am leaving a spot, and you’re privy to that information, then you can easily go to that location and avoid the parking search,” Shifrin said. The fee users pay is simply an incentive for drivers to participate in a solution to an inefficient parking market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eric Goldman, a Santa Clara University law professor and co-director of the school’s High Tech Law Institute, said in an interview with KQED’s Mina Kim that MonkeyParking and similar apps are “a logical extension of the sharing economy. … In the end, I think the underlying problem is too few parking spots, too many cars in San Francisco. I do think we’re going to see constant innovation in that area, where people are going to try to find fixes to the problem because the supply-and-demand imbalance is just overwhelming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re looking for a more down-to-earth take on where “sharing” parking spaces for pay might lead, a \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> listener named Christine had this thought. A longtime resident of North Beach, she recounted a confrontation with a driver who pulled a gun during a dispute over a parking space in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will be incandescent with rage when someone comes in and snakes a spot” using one of the apps, she predicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the full \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em> segment:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joan Lowy and Martha Mendoza\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/RS5446_asianasfocrash20130706-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-127607\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/RS5446_asianasfocrash20130706-lpr-640x409.jpg\" alt=\"(Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"409\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 is seen on the runway at San Francisco International Airport after crash landing on July 6, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:20 a.m.: \u003c/strong>The latest AP writethrough on the National Transportation Safety Board's findings in last year's Asiana Airlines crash at SFO:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WASHINGTON — Pilot mismanagement and confusion caused Asiana Flight 214 to crash at San Francisco International Airport last July, federal accident investigators concluded Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Transportation Safety Board said there was confusion over whether one of the airliner's key controls was maintaining speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also cited the complexity of the Boeing 777's autothrottle and pilot training by the South Korea-based airline as contributing to the crash, which killed three passengers and injured more than 200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plane, with 307 people on board, was too low and too slow during the landing attempt. Its tail struck a seawall and was ripped off. The rest of the plane went spinning and sliding down the runway. The crash was the only fatal passenger airline accident in the U.S. in the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the vote, Chris Hart, the NTSB's acting chairman, said that increasingly complex automated aircraft controls designed to improve safety are instead creating new opportunities for error.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Asiana flight crew \"over-relied on automated systems that they did not fully understand,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the other issues raised by the investigation are some that long have concerned aviation officials, including hesitancy by some pilots to abort a landing when things go awry or to challenge a captain's actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The irony of the accident is that it occurred at all. Three experienced pilots were in the cockpit on July 6, 2013. The plane, a Boeing 777, had one of the industry's best safety records. And weather conditions that day were near-perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the wide-bodied jetliner with 307 people on board was too low and too slow during the landing. It struck a seawall just short of the runway, ripping off the tail and sending the rest of the plane spinning and skidding down the runway. When the shattered plane came to rest, a fire erupted.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> The irony of the accident is that it occurred at all, as three experienced pilots were in the cockpit. \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Despite the violence of the crash, only three people were killed — Chinese teens seated in the back who may not have been wearing their seat belts and were thrown from the plane. One of the teenage girls survived the crash but was run over by two rescue vehicles in the chaos afterward. Nearly 200 people were injured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In documents made public by the safety board, Asiana acknowledged the likely cause of the accident was the crew's failure to monitor and maintain the plane's airspeed, and its failure to abort the landing when in trouble. The South Korea-based airline said the pilot and co-pilot reasonably believed the automatic throttle would keep the plane flying fast enough to land safely, when in fact the auto throttle was effectively shut off after the pilot idled it to correct an unexplained climb earlier in the landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asiana said the plane should have been designed so that the autothrottle would maintain the proper speed after the pilot put it in \"hold mode.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boeing had been warned about the problem by U.S. and European aviation regulators. Asiana urged the safety board to recommend that the aircraft maker be required to include an audible warning to alert pilots when the throttle changes to a setting in which it no longer is maintaining speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Asiana has a point,\" said John Cox, a former airline pilot and aviation safety consultant, \"but this is not the first time it has happened. Any of these highly automated airplanes have these conditions that require special training and pilot awareness. ... This is something that has been known for many years and trained for many years.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/155890838&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boeing told the board there was nothing wrong with the plane, and the crash was caused by the failure of the pilots to maintain speed and to abort the landing when the approach had become unstable, as required by their company's policies. An unstable approach occurs when a plane's speed or rate of descent is too fast or to slow, or the plane isn't properly aligned for landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Captain Lee Kang Kuk, 45, a veteran pilot who was new to the 777, was flying the plane. Because an airport navigational aid that helps planes land wasn't working that day, Kuk was flying a visual approach that involves lining up the jet for landing by looking through the windshield and using numerous other cues, rather than relying on a radio-based system called a glide-slope that guides aircraft to the runway. A training captain was sitting next to him in the right seat watching his performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kuk told transportation accident investigators that he did not immediately move to abort the landing after it became unstable because he felt only the instructor pilot had that authority. Cockpit culture, in which the senior captain is viewed as supreme, was identified as a factor in several South Korean airliner crashes in the 1980s and '90s. Afterward, procedures and hierarchies were overhauled in Korea and elsewhere, including the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joan Lowy and Martha Mendoza\u003cbr>\nAssociated Press\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_127607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/RS5446_asianasfocrash20130706-lpr.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-127607\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/02/RS5446_asianasfocrash20130706-lpr-640x409.jpg\" alt=\"(Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"409\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 is seen on the runway at San Francisco International Airport after crash landing on July 6, 2013. (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:20 a.m.: \u003c/strong>The latest AP writethrough on the National Transportation Safety Board's findings in last year's Asiana Airlines crash at SFO:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WASHINGTON — Pilot mismanagement and confusion caused Asiana Flight 214 to crash at San Francisco International Airport last July, federal accident investigators concluded Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Transportation Safety Board said there was confusion over whether one of the airliner's key controls was maintaining speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also cited the complexity of the Boeing 777's autothrottle and pilot training by the South Korea-based airline as contributing to the crash, which killed three passengers and injured more than 200.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plane, with 307 people on board, was too low and too slow during the landing attempt. Its tail struck a seawall and was ripped off. The rest of the plane went spinning and sliding down the runway. The crash was the only fatal passenger airline accident in the U.S. in the last five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the vote, Chris Hart, the NTSB's acting chairman, said that increasingly complex automated aircraft controls designed to improve safety are instead creating new opportunities for error.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Asiana flight crew \"over-relied on automated systems that they did not fully understand,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the other issues raised by the investigation are some that long have concerned aviation officials, including hesitancy by some pilots to abort a landing when things go awry or to challenge a captain's actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The irony of the accident is that it occurred at all. Three experienced pilots were in the cockpit on July 6, 2013. The plane, a Boeing 777, had one of the industry's best safety records. And weather conditions that day were near-perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the wide-bodied jetliner with 307 people on board was too low and too slow during the landing. It struck a seawall just short of the runway, ripping off the tail and sending the rest of the plane spinning and skidding down the runway. When the shattered plane came to rest, a fire erupted.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\"> The irony of the accident is that it occurred at all, as three experienced pilots were in the cockpit. \u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Despite the violence of the crash, only three people were killed — Chinese teens seated in the back who may not have been wearing their seat belts and were thrown from the plane. One of the teenage girls survived the crash but was run over by two rescue vehicles in the chaos afterward. Nearly 200 people were injured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In documents made public by the safety board, Asiana acknowledged the likely cause of the accident was the crew's failure to monitor and maintain the plane's airspeed, and its failure to abort the landing when in trouble. The South Korea-based airline said the pilot and co-pilot reasonably believed the automatic throttle would keep the plane flying fast enough to land safely, when in fact the auto throttle was effectively shut off after the pilot idled it to correct an unexplained climb earlier in the landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asiana said the plane should have been designed so that the autothrottle would maintain the proper speed after the pilot put it in \"hold mode.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boeing had been warned about the problem by U.S. and European aviation regulators. Asiana urged the safety board to recommend that the aircraft maker be required to include an audible warning to alert pilots when the throttle changes to a setting in which it no longer is maintaining speed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Asiana has a point,\" said John Cox, a former airline pilot and aviation safety consultant, \"but this is not the first time it has happened. Any of these highly automated airplanes have these conditions that require special training and pilot awareness. ... This is something that has been known for many years and trained for many years.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/155890838&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boeing told the board there was nothing wrong with the plane, and the crash was caused by the failure of the pilots to maintain speed and to abort the landing when the approach had become unstable, as required by their company's policies. An unstable approach occurs when a plane's speed or rate of descent is too fast or to slow, or the plane isn't properly aligned for landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Captain Lee Kang Kuk, 45, a veteran pilot who was new to the 777, was flying the plane. Because an airport navigational aid that helps planes land wasn't working that day, Kuk was flying a visual approach that involves lining up the jet for landing by looking through the windshield and using numerous other cues, rather than relying on a radio-based system called a glide-slope that guides aircraft to the runway. A training captain was sitting next to him in the right seat watching his performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kuk told transportation accident investigators that he did not immediately move to abort the landing after it became unstable because he felt only the instructor pilot had that authority. Cockpit culture, in which the senior captain is viewed as supreme, was identified as a factor in several South Korean airliner crashes in the 1980s and '90s. Afterward, procedures and hierarchies were overhauled in Korea and elsewhere, including the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/05/28/the-good-news-about-working-in-the-bay-area-for-some-wages-are-very-high/rs8537_img_9782-scr-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-137366\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-137366\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED) \u003ccite>(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has tentatively approved a list of stops for its tech shuttle bus pilot program following a packed public hearing at City Hall Friday that drew complaints from residents concerned about the loss of parking and the impacts on their neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re just ramrodding this through and it’s wrong-minded and short-sighted,” said Lisa Awbrey, who lives near two Muni stops in the Panhandle where public buses would share curb space with private shuttles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA approved an 18-month pilot \u003ca href=\"http://sfmta.com/fr/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\">commuter shuttle program\u003c/a> in January, and earlier this month said it identified 115 stops where the shuttles would share space with Muni buses. It originally called for 200 stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to select locations where, based on our best information, we could accommodate the shuttle activity and minimize impact on Muni and other users,” said Carli Paine of the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At nine locations, where Muni stops are too busy, some parking would be removed to \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/12/are-sfmtas-proposed-shuttle-stops-enough-to-end-muni-conflicts/\">provide white zones\u003c/a> exclusively for shuttles. Three parking spaces would be permanently eliminated and 30 spaces used during peak hours, or about .01 percent of all on-street spaces in the city, according to the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gus Hernandez of the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association is worried about one of the white zone stops proposed on Hayes Street at Steiner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our concern is that it’s going to cause more congestion and traffic in the neighborhood, as well as removal of parking on the north side,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrian Covert of the Bay Area Council was among the few speakers at the public hearing who testified in favor of the shuttle program, saying it’s a vital link in the transportation system, and that the loss of parking would be minimal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Three permanent parking spaces overall are going to be eliminated to provide for shuttle space for 17,000 San Francisco residents. I think that’s a pretty good deal,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Activists who contend the tech shuttles, often called “Google buses,” have helped fuel gentrification\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/san-francisco-activists-and-seiu-sue-city-over-google-bus-plan\"> have filed a lawsuit\u003c/a> against the city, demanding an environmental review. A settlement conference is scheduled for next week, said Sara Shortt, director of the Housing Rights Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she supports the white zones, Shortt said the city needs to get more creative about how it manages the shuttles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there are better solutions, like having a tech hub in one specific space. I think they can stretch themselves further. I do think not using the Muni stops is an absolute improvement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighty eight stops were approved at the hearing by a traffic engineering panel. SFMTA officials said they were still reviewing a small number of additional stops that would be considered at a July 11th public hearing. The list of stops is then expected to go before the SFMTA Board for final approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shuttle pilot is scheduled to start August 1st, a month later than anticipated.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_137366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/05/28/the-good-news-about-working-in-the-bay-area-for-some-wages-are-very-high/rs8537_img_9782-scr-2/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-137366\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-137366\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/05/RS8537_IMG_9782-scr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED) \u003ccite>(Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has tentatively approved a list of stops for its tech shuttle bus pilot program following a packed public hearing at City Hall Friday that drew complaints from residents concerned about the loss of parking and the impacts on their neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re just ramrodding this through and it’s wrong-minded and short-sighted,” said Lisa Awbrey, who lives near two Muni stops in the Panhandle where public buses would share curb space with private shuttles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA approved an 18-month pilot \u003ca href=\"http://sfmta.com/fr/projects-planning/projects/commuter-shuttles-policy-and-pilot-program\">commuter shuttle program\u003c/a> in January, and earlier this month said it identified 115 stops where the shuttles would share space with Muni buses. It originally called for 200 stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to select locations where, based on our best information, we could accommodate the shuttle activity and minimize impact on Muni and other users,” said Carli Paine of the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At nine locations, where Muni stops are too busy, some parking would be removed to \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/12/are-sfmtas-proposed-shuttle-stops-enough-to-end-muni-conflicts/\">provide white zones\u003c/a> exclusively for shuttles. Three parking spaces would be permanently eliminated and 30 spaces used during peak hours, or about .01 percent of all on-street spaces in the city, according to the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gus Hernandez of the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association is worried about one of the white zone stops proposed on Hayes Street at Steiner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our concern is that it’s going to cause more congestion and traffic in the neighborhood, as well as removal of parking on the north side,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adrian Covert of the Bay Area Council was among the few speakers at the public hearing who testified in favor of the shuttle program, saying it’s a vital link in the transportation system, and that the loss of parking would be minimal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Three permanent parking spaces overall are going to be eliminated to provide for shuttle space for 17,000 San Francisco residents. I think that’s a pretty good deal,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Activists who contend the tech shuttles, often called “Google buses,” have helped fuel gentrification\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/san-francisco-activists-and-seiu-sue-city-over-google-bus-plan\"> have filed a lawsuit\u003c/a> against the city, demanding an environmental review. A settlement conference is scheduled for next week, said Sara Shortt, director of the Housing Rights Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she supports the white zones, Shortt said the city needs to get more creative about how it manages the shuttles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there are better solutions, like having a tech hub in one specific space. I think they can stretch themselves further. I do think not using the Muni stops is an absolute improvement,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eighty eight stops were approved at the hearing by a traffic engineering panel. SFMTA officials said they were still reviewing a small number of additional stops that would be considered at a July 11th public hearing. The list of stops is then expected to go before the SFMTA Board for final approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shuttle pilot is scheduled to start August 1st, a month later than anticipated.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Around the U.S., Taxis, Regulators, Insurers Having Fits Over Uber and Lyft",
"title": "Around the U.S., Taxis, Regulators, Insurers Having Fits Over Uber and Lyft",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_118106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-118106\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/uber.jpg\" alt=\"Local regulators have been unsuccessful in gaining access to TNCs excess liability insurance policies. (Adam Fagen/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber car. (Adam Fagen/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber has been so successful in supplanting taxis that fear and loathing of the San Francisco-based company united cab drivers across Europe last week — even amid the nationalistic fervor of the World Cup. Tens of thousands of drivers in London, Paris and Berlin, among other cities, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-10/uber-protests-spread-across-europe-as-taxi-app-backlash-grows.html\" target=\"_blank\">snarled traffic in some of the densest thoroughfares on the continent\u003c/a>, all in protest of the company that in varying degrees has eaten their dejeuner, almuerzo and lunch in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/cities\" target=\"_blank\">128 cities\u003c/a> around the world in which it has set up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/19/2014/uber-lyft-regulations#updates\">Click here for city-by-city Uber and Lyft updates\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And what a feast it’s been. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar\" target=\"_blank\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You’re worth more than Whole Foods, you’re worth more than Tiffany and company,” a CNBC anchor breathlessly informed Uber CEO Travis Kalanick during an \u003ca href=\"http://nyti.ms/1xl7GNP\" target=\"_blank\">interview after the announcement\u003c/a>. Kalanick replied that Uber is actually undervalued. (\u003ca href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/uber-isnt-worth-17-billion/\" target=\"_blank\">Others\u003c/a>, meanwhile, think the $18.2 billion number is \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnbc.com/id/101762832\" target=\"_blank\">way too big\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locally, Uber has become a major employer in San Francisco. The company says it has 500 people working at its headquarters in the city. That's in addition to all the drivers now earning a living by connecting with passengers through Uber's app. One group not seeing the benefits of this expansion: taxi companies and the drivers who have yet to switch over to Uber or Lyft, a smaller yet growing rival also based in San Francisco. The city's taxi business is off so much that the owner of DeSoto Cab Co., Hansu Kim, said this month that the industry's survival is threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say the taxi industry may not survive 18 months or so, I’m seeing a situation where those who drove a taxicab in the past are now taking their personal cars and acting like a cab on their own,” \u003ca href=\"http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/06/06/san-francisco-desoto-taxi-cab-company-ceo-industry-may-not-survive-the-next-18-months-uber-lyft-sidecar-rideshare/\" target=\"_blank\">he told KPIX\u003c/a>.[contextly_sidebar id=\"9d82bd6a2861e18413921054fbc2998c\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet for all the rapid success of Uber and Lyft, which the state of California calls transportation network companies, or TNCs, there is also a growing resistance to their operations by regulators and insurers across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the California Department of Insurance and Public Utilities Commission, which regulates TNCs, have sided with the insurance industry's assessment that current cheaper excess coverage the companies offer to protect drivers and passengers is based on a fictional belief that a driver's personal insurer will tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every other business in California has to have insurance to cover their activities,\" said Mark Sektnan, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies. \"Why is this business any different?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the utilities commission and the state Legislature are now \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/17/2014/Uber-Lyft-Insurance-crack-down\" target=\"_blank\">considering proposals to toughen TNC insurance requirements\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you'll see in our roundup below, California is far from the only state where Uber and Lyft are coming under regulatory, legislative or legal pressure. The novelty of a business model that has encouraged thousands of everyday drivers to hit the road in their own vehicles in quest of paying passengers has taken the system of transportation oversight, developed over decades, by almost complete surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This has resulted in a fair amount of confusion and conflict, including lawsuits, protests, fines and threats. What is also notable is the willingness by Uber and Lyft to openly defy local authorities who have determined the companies are operating illegally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it all shakes out will determine just how large this innovative industry becomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulatory overhang is obviously something investors and (Uber) need to be mindful of,\" said Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights, which tracks high-growth private companies. \"It seems, at least to date, they’ve figured out ways to operate in markets they’ve wanted to in compliance with these issues, or they’re paying fines with the view that this legislation will be overturned or public outcry will make it go away. Obviously, investors feel that way too. But Uber does have regulatory risks.\"\u003ca name=\"updates\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are what various media are reporting about the road wars around the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Albuquerque\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/blog/morning-edition/2014/06/prc-keeps-meter-running-on-ridesharing-hearing.html\" target=\"_blank\">PRC Keeps Meter Running on Ridesharing Hearing\u003c/a> (Albuquerque Business First): The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Wednesday decided not to immediately hear a case relating to letting the ridesharing service Uber operate in New Mexico. At the PRC hearing, the commission also heard testimony about the similar service, Lyft, said Commissioner Valerie Espinoza. Both services started operating in Albuquerque in late April. The two services contend that they’re not taxi cab services, and as such shouldn’t have to abide by the same laws as taxi cabs. But, the services are similar enough that the PRC has launched investigations into both. Some have questions about the services’ legality, said Commissioner Karen Montoya on Wednesday. The issues will be put on next Wednesday’s PRC agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ann Arbor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://annarborchronicle.com/2014/05/25/taxicab-board-considers-rates-drivers/\" target=\"_blank\">Taxicab Board Considers Rates, Drivers\u003c/a> (Ann Arbor Chronicle): Two topics addressed by the board at its April 23, 2014 meeting received additional conversation this month. First, the board discussed the possibility of deregulating taxicab fares, or setting them at a much higher maximum. The board also continued discussing whether to recommend that the city council enact an ordinance to regulate all drivers for hire – taxicab drivers, limo drivers, as well as those who drive for Uber and Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Austin\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-06-13/uber-stakes-its-austin-claim/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber stakes Its Austin Claim\u003c/a> (Austin Chronicle): ... Both Lyft and Uber have indicated repeatedly that they're excited to be working with the city on bringing TNCs to Austin, but the two companies' arrivals run in direct contrast to requests from the City Council, which has essentially asked for a bit more time – perhaps even seven months – to figure the whole TNC system out, during which time TNCs are not allowed to take payment for rides. The city, meanwhile, has received informal accusations of entrapment from Lyft, which claims that city staffers have engaged in sting operations to nab violators. In one case, Lyft alleges, a staffer \"purposely left cash behind.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Baltimore\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/06/09/uber-appeals-april-psc-ruling/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber appeals Public Service Commission Ruling\u003c/a> (Technical.ly): Uber has appealed an April Maryland Public Service Commission ruling that classified it as a common carrier, company officials announced Monday. In the \u003ca href=\"http://webapp.psc.state.md.us/Intranet/Maillog/submit_new.cfm?MaillogPath=155796&DirPath=C:%5CCasenum%5CAdmin%20Filings%5C110000-159999%5C155796&maillognum=155796\" target=\"_blank\">appeal\u003c/a>, filed Friday, Uber officials claim that Uber is not a public service company and the commission does not have the authority to regulate it. It contends that Uber owns no vehicles used to transport passengers and does not itself transport passengers for money. ... Uber, which \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/05/23/uber-annapolis-launch/\" target=\"_blank\">launched service in Annapolis\u003c/a> in May, entered the Baltimore market last year. A bill \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/03/11/uber-ridesharing-case-9325/\" target=\"_blank\">that would have exempted\u003c/a> Uber and competitor Lyft from common carrier regulations \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/04/09/bill-exempt-uber-lyft-common-carrier-status-fails-pass/\" target=\"_blank\">failed to pass\u003c/a> in the 2014 General Assembly session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Uber launched a \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/06/19/uber-driver-video-psc-appeal/\" target=\"_blank\">PR push\u003c/a> following its appeal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Boston\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2014/05/22/boston-taxi-drivers-hold-rally-shut-down-uber/5fLnhOEWls556Cmg6zyaAL/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Taxi Drivers Hold Rally to Shut Down Uber \u003c/a>(Boston.com): The Boston Taxi Driver’s Association held a “rolling rally” at Uber’s Boston headquarters this afternoon in order to compel city officials to shut down the app until its drivers can be regulated. The demonstration took place at 186 South Street in Boston’s Leather District from 2 to 3 p.m. The organization represents more than 1,400 cab drivers and is arguing that an unregulated taxi service like Uber poses a serious public safety threat because drivers are not vetted by the city before they are allowed to pick up fares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cambridge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2014/06/17/cambridge-licensing-board-signals-willingness-work-with-uber/iOtCaBhI96178xsQmbj8KL/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Cambridge Licensing Board Signals Willingness to Work With Uber\u003c/a> (Boston.com): Uber users, as well as some opponents of the popular ride-calling service, showed up in droves in Cambridge Tuesday night to clash over proposed regulations that Uber said would cause it to cease operations in the city. But by the time the meeting started, some of the tension between the city and the company that had built early this week appeared to have simmered. The proposed regulations would have required companies offering services like Uber’s, and drivers for those companies, to become licensed with the city. It also would have not allowed technology not approved by the city — like Uber’s and its competitor Lyft’s — to be used in any livery service, would have set a minimum price for any ride at $50, and would have banned other elements of Uber’s business model. The commission did not vote on the proposed regulations. It had said there would not be a vote at the meeting earlier in the day. During the meeting, License Commission chair Andrea Spears Jackson said those proposed rules “would not be passed,” and predicted that multiple additional hearings would follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chicago\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/new-ridesharing-rules-okd-taxi-industry-upset-emanuels-plan/wed-05282014-1122am\" target=\"_blank\">New ridesharing rules OK'd; taxi industry upset by Emanuel's plan\u003c/a> (Chicago Sun-Times): A divided City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to fill the regulatory vacuum that has allowed ridesharing companies to siphon business from taxicabs amid warnings that it’s so weak as to render costly taxi medallions “worthless.” The ridesharing industry, whose investors include the mayor’s brother, was pleased with the ordinance approved by a 34-10 vote. The taxicab industry, its City Council allies and a union representing cabdrivers was not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A local municipal workers union \u003ca href=\"http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/emanuels-taxi-reforms-cost-average-cabdriver-7500-study/wed-06112014-1237pm\" target=\"_blank\">says Emanuel's plan costs the average cab driver $7,500\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connecticut\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/uber-lyft-face-racketeering-lawsuit-by-connecticut-cab-groups.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber, Lyft Accused of Racketeering in Connecticut Suit\u003c/a> (Bloomberg): Ride-sharing services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. were accused of racketeering in a lawsuit by Connecticut taxi and livery firms, which said the companies “prey parasitically” on established services. The services, operating without proper licenses, “cut corners illegally” and undermine “critical safety provisions of Connecticut taxi and livery laws,” the taxi companies said in a complaint filed yesterday in New Haven federal court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Denver\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25907057/colorado-first-authorize-lyft-and-ubers-ridesharing-services\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado first to authorize Lyft and Uber's ridesharing services\u003c/a> (Denver Post): Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday signed into law \u003ca href=\"http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25661374/colorado-likely-first-legislatively-authorize-ride-share-services\" target=\"_blank\">a bill that officially authorizes ride-sharing services\u003c/a>, making Colorado the first state to legislatively embrace disruptive transportation offerings from upstarts such as Uber Technologies and Lyft. ... He called for Colorado regulators to review rules placed on taxis and limos, questioning whether they're still appropriate or necessary with the advent of so-called transportation network companies like Lyft and Uber. Throughout the legislative process, taxi officials had argued ride-sharing companies have unfair advantages because they don't face similar regulations as cabbies, such as rate, coverage area and insurance requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hampton Roads, Va.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/uber-says-it-will-operate-despite-dmv-s-cease-and/article_216140ee-eda3-11e3-8d40-0017a43b2370.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber says it will operate despite DMV's 'cease and desist' order\u003c/a> (Hampton Roads Daily Press): The car ride services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. said Friday that they plan to operate as usual in the state, despite cease-and-desist letters from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV on Thursday ordered Uber and Lyft, taxilike service companies, to stop operating in Virginia in violation of state law and said unauthorized drivers could face penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Houston\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/nuts-and-bolts/2014/06/uber-and-lyft-still-in-limbo-in-houston.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft still in limbo in Houston\u003c/a> (Houston Business Journal): The Houston City Council delayed a vote until July 30 on regulations for the vehicles-for-hire industry, keeping UberTechnologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.'s legal status in Houston in limbo. Council member Mike Laster proposed an initial delay of 60 days, saying, \"I believe this cake is not fully baked.\" The delay was then reduced to 45 days. ... The vote is now scheduled for July 30, or until a consensus is met by all the stakeholders involved in negotiations. Several council members, including C.O. “Brad” Bradford, didn’t feel the delay was necessary and asked for the vote to take place sooner rather than later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kansas City\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2014/06/16/kansas-city-mayor-uber-legal.html\" target=\"_blank\">James: Uber is now legal in Kansas City\u003c/a> (Kansas City Business Journal): Uber Technologies Inc. is now operating inside the law in Kansas City. Late on Saturday night, Mayor \u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/search/results?q=Sly%20James\" target=\"_blank\">Sly James\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MayorSlyJames/status/478061431426793473\" target=\"_blank\">tweeted\u003c/a> that the San Francisco-based ride-sharing company is now operating \"legally and in compliance\" in the city. Joni Wickham, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office, said the Mayor's tweet was in reference to the fact that Uber is not charging for their services. Until they charge for their services, they are legally operating. She said that Uber is working with city staff to to go through the process to get a permit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Las Vegas\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/traffic-transportation/nevada-officials-warn-about-insurance-ride-sharing-programs\" title=\"Nevada officials warn about insurance in ride sharing programs\" target=\"_blank\">Nevada officials warn about insurance in ride sharing programs\u003c/a> (Las Vegas Review Journal):\u003cbr>\nThe state’s Division of Insurance is warning the public that it could be at risk when accepting a ride with a ride-sharing company. The Nevada Division of Insurance issued a release suggesting that people confirm that a driver has commercial car insurance before accepting a ride with companies such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. San Francisco-based Uber is looking to enter the Las Vegas market and has advertised for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The announcement came less than two weeks after managers of Southern Nevada's largest taxi group \u003ca href=\"http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/las-vegas-cab-company-makes-uber-threat\" target=\"_blank\">posted a memorandum to employees\u003c/a>, warning them of the consequences of going to work for a mobile application rideshare company, according to the Review Journal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Los Angeles\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/06/10/councilmembers-taxi-drivers-to-protest-ridesharing-apps-like-uber-at-city-hall/\" target=\"_blank\">Councilmembers, Taxi Drivers Protest Ridesharing Apps At City Hall\u003c/a> (CBS Los Angeles): Hundreds of taxicab drivers descended on the steps of City Hall Tuesday morning to protest popular ridesharing apps. The drivers were joined by councilmembers Paul Koretz and Gil Cedillo to protest unregulated and unrestricted taxi apps such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Demonstrators said drivers of so-called “bandit cabs” do not have to pass background checks using fingerprints or have their vehicles inspected for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Milwaukee\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/milwaukee-aldermen-to-consider-transforming-taxi-landscape-b99294012z1-263652731.html\" target=\"_blank\">Milwaukee Common Council panel backs taxi proposal\u003c/a> (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): By a 3-0 vote, members of the city's Public Works Committee on Wednesday sent to the Common Council a proposed ordinance that revamps the way taxis operate in Milwaukee. In addition to doing away with a cap on the number of taxicab permits, the proposal also makes room for new technology-based smartphone apps such as Uber and Lyft in which riders are matched with drivers. Those new services have been operating for months in the city, though council members say they are currently operating in violation of current ordinances .... After (Uber and Lyft) began offering rides, some council members...pivoted and began to push for an unfettered free enterprise system for public passenger vehicles. They have since been joined by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Steve Baas, MMAC's vice president for governmental affairs, said the pro-business group favored wider transportation options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miami\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/10/usa-florida-taxis-idUSL2N0OQ25M20140610\" target=\"_blank\">Authorities clamp down on ride-sharing services in Miami\u003c/a> (Reuters): Miami-Dade County officials have refused to license drivers for Lyft and Uber, a similar service, arguing the driver-owned vehicles should comply with the same regulations as taxi companies. Lyft and Uber, however, argue they are different, describing themselves as technology companies that provide mobile applications connecting private drivers with passenger. ... Lyft and Uber launched in Miami last month despite the risk of heavy fines and after an unsuccessful two-year lobbying effort to persuade Miami lawmakers to change the regulations. Since then, the county has impounded three cars and fined eight drivers as much as $2,000, according to Raul Gonzalez, an official with Miami-Dade County's regulatory and economic resources department. Police in Miami have posed as riders and then issued fines to the drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Minneapolis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/05/despite_commerce_department_warning_jacob_frey_says_uberlyft_ordinance_still_on_its_way.php\" target=\"_blank\">Despite Commerce Department warning, Jacob Frey says Uber/Lyft ordinance still on its way\u003c/a> (Minneapolis City Pages): A few weeks ago, the Minnesota Commerce Department issued a warning to folks considering using so-called \"transportation network companies\" like Lyft or Uber. \"The Commerce Department wants Minnesotans to know that there may be gaps in auto insurance coverage for both the drivers and passengers using TNCs,\" the department said in a statement. \"There may not be coverage for an accident because most personal auto insurance policies contain exclusions when drivers use their personal cars for a commercial (business) purpose. For example, if you participate in a regular, non-business car pool, you would be covered. If you charge passengers a fee, you may not be covered if you get into an accident. ... But Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis City Council member who is taking the lead in drawing up an ordinance to regulate currently unregulated TNC companies doesn't think the Commerce Department's warning is a big deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nashville\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://nashvillepublicradio.org/blog/2014/06/13/ridesharing-services-like-lyft-uber-will-face-new-regulations-end-summer/\">Ridesharing Services Like Lyft and Uber Will Face New Regulations By End of Summer\u003c/a> (Nashville Public Radio): Popular ridesharing services like Lyft and Uber may soon be coming under new regulations. Billy Fields, who leads the city’s Transportation and Licensing Commission, said companies like Lyft and Uber are considered “drivers for hire,” not taxis. And under that title, they need to have a permit and be working for a licensed company. Under Nashville’s current law, Lyft and Uber are technically illegal. ... Metro Police could not say how many tickets have been issued to drivers. By the end of the summer, Fields said he will go in front of Metro Council to ask that a new law be written. It’ll require that rideshare companies have special licenses, inspections and the same insurance taxi drivers are required to have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Jersey\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnbc.com/id/101732424\" target=\"_blank\">Uber a risky ride for passengers, states warn\u003c/a> (CNBC): Uber is under siege. It's not from a rival company, such as Lyft or Sidecar, because they may be in the same boat. It's from states that are warning passengers they may not be covered by insurance if the driver has an accident. New Jersey last week became the 14th state along with the District of Columbia to issue warnings about the risks of using ride-shares such as Uber, Lyft or Sidecar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Orleans \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fox8live.com/story/25779114/could-uber-be-headed-toward-new-orleans\" target=\"_blank\">Could Uber be headed toward New Orleans?\u003c/a>: (WVUE): Ryan Kelly, a writer for New Orleans CityBusiness, explains, \"UberBLACK is a luxury black car sedan service that has a little bit higher fares than a taxi and that's what they're trying to bring in right now.\" With the tap of a finger, users can order an Uber car to take them wherever they please. Just last week, the New Orleans City Council introduced an ordinance that would govern how the system worked, if brought here. Riders would pay a minimum of $25 for sedans and $35 for SUV's. But Uber cars don't have meters and don't really have any cap on how much they can charge riders. In many other places, the company also has UberX which is more comparable to a taxi service. \"Uber has a history of introducing the UberBLACK service in cities and then eventually following with UberX,\" said Kelly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New York\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-02/while-uber-thrives-in-new-york-its-competitors-battle-regulators\" target=\"_blank\">While Uber Thrives in New York, Its Competitors Lobby Regulators\u003c/a> (BusinessWeek):\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\"> Lyft would love to operate in New York City, but city regulations prohibit the startup’s version of a taxi service, in which nonprofessionals use private vehicles to shuttle passengers....While Lyft tries to figure out a way in, Uber is gaining significant traction with New Yorkers. Lyft has a tougher time because its service is considerably different from the activity the TLC is used to regulating. For all the hype, Uber in New York is basically a black-car service with a tech twist. Lyft, on the other hand, wants looser regulations for its drivers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Orlando\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-06-18/news/os-uber-orlando-clash-20140618_1_uber-drivers-uberx-taxi-rules\" target=\"_blank\">Uber will talk taxi rules with Orlando City Hall\u003c/a> (Orlando Sentinel): Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is taking a diplomatic approach with Uber, the next-gen taxi service the city says is breaking its cars-for-hire laws. The San Francisco-based company has requested a meeting with the mayor, two weeks after it launched in Orlando with no advance notice to City Hall. The planned meeting heads off — at least for now — the city's plan to begin enforcing its taxi regulations against Uber drivers. \"Uber reached out to us, which I see as a positive thing,\" Dyer said Wednesday. \"We're an aggressively technology-centric city, and Uber is the new thing right now, with a new way of doing things.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pittsburgh\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/06/17/Peduto-wants-PUC-to/stories/201406170163\" target=\"_blank\">Lyft, Uber have no plans to leave state despite enforcement\u003c/a> (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette): Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto reiterated his support for Lyft and Uber on Tuesday, even as the state scheduled hearings to decide whether to issue cease-and-desist orders against the ride-sharing companies. Mr. Peduto sent a letter to the leadership of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to express his “disappointment” with the agency's actions against the San Francisco ride-share companies. The PUC’s enforcement bureau is seeking to prevent both companies from operating in Pennsylvania. ... Although PUC chairman Robert Powelson has expressed his support for Lyft and Uber in the past, the PUC’s investigation and enforcement arm issued citations to 23 ride-share drivers in March and April, and has proposed additional daily fines of $1,000 per day against each company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Antonio\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/ridesharing-company-offering-free-rides-amid-controversy-4589.shtml#.U6MOQo1dWSM\" target=\"_blank\">Ride-Sharing Company Offering Free Rides Amid Controversy\u003c/a> (FOX 29): The ride sharing company \"Uber\" is trying to win over fans, but the San Antonio Police Department is warning drivers to beware. Uber is teaming up with Crown Royal to offer free rides to people 21 or older Wednesday during the Spurs celebration who download the Uber app and enter the promo code: ReignOn. \"We know people are going to be out enjoying the festivities and parades, and we want people to have a safe and free ride and a designated driver,” said Will Zinsmeister with Uber San Antonio. ... However, that's not necessarily how the City of San Antonio sees it. Uber is operating in violation of the city's taxi cab ordinance, which states drivers must be licensed and regulated by the city in order for money to be exchanged for services. ... Yellow cab, along with other taxi companies, filed a lawsuit against Uber and ride-sharing company “Lyft” saying they are operating illegally in San Antonio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Santa Barbara\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.independent.com/news/2014/jun/02/cabbies-take-uber-drivers-task/\" target=\"_blank\">Cabbies Take Uber Drivers to Task\u003c/a> (Santa Barbara Independent): Disgruntled taxi drivers gathered outside City Hall last Friday afternoon to argue companies like Uber and Lyft are violating Santa Barbara law. Congregating on the sidewalk and holding signs above their heads, several cabbies contended the drivers hailed by taxi apps get an unfair advantage because they are not bound by the same regulations that the 68 taxi companies here must adhere to. Murmurs from frustrated taxi drivers have circulated since Uber landed in town last fall — Lyft launched a couple of months ago — but Friday marked the first coordinated protest, as cab drivers claimed their revenue has since dropped by 60 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Seattle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-legalizes-uber-lyft-caps/\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle mayor reaches deal to legalize Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, without driver limits\u003c/a> (GeekWire): After more than one year of City Council meetings, protests and debate, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray today announced an agreement between the major industry players, the taxi industry and city officials that will let app-based transportation services such as Lyft, Sidecar and UberX keep operating without any limit on the number of drivers that can be on the street at any given time. That’s a big change from the original ordinance that was approved by the City Council in March, which set a maximum of 150 active drivers per company — a decision that left the ride-sharing companies unhappy. ... The agreement still needs to be approved by the Seattle City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>St. Louis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/biznext/2014/06/lyft-still-can-t-do-business-in-st-louis-judge.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lyft still can't do business in St. Louis, judge rules\u003c/a> (St. Louis Business Journal): The temporary restraining order against Lyft in St. Louis has been extended, meaning the peer-to-peer ride sharing app won’t be able to do business until a St. Louis circuit court judge makes an official ruling at a later date. ... Lyft opened for business in St. Louis in mid-April. Just a few days later, it was handed a temporary restraining order prohibiting it from doing business in the city or county. The Metropolitan Taxicab Commission maintains Lyft should fall under its regulations. Lyft says its business model excludes it from those regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tampa\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/regulatory-agency-seeks-help-in-crackdown-against-uber-lyft/2183977\" target=\"_blank\">Regulatory agency seeks help in crackdown against Uber, Lyft\u003c/a> (Tampa Bay Times): In its crackdown on the increasingly popular but unregulated Uber and Lyft ride-sharing programs, the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission agreed Wednesday to ask other law enforcement agencies for help. The two outfits have operated in Tampa for several months now, causing friction with the transportation commission and the taxi and limousine industries, which say the companies are in violation of state laws and local regulations. Uber and Lyft don't carry the proper insurance and aren't certified, they say. ... So far, PTC inspectors have fined 12 drivers and issued 44 tickets that come with fines ranging from $100 to $500.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_118106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-118106\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/11/uber.jpg\" alt=\"Local regulators have been unsuccessful in gaining access to TNCs excess liability insurance policies. (Adam Fagen/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Uber car. (Adam Fagen/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber has been so successful in supplanting taxis that fear and loathing of the San Francisco-based company united cab drivers across Europe last week — even amid the nationalistic fervor of the World Cup. Tens of thousands of drivers in London, Paris and Berlin, among other cities, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-10/uber-protests-spread-across-europe-as-taxi-app-backlash-grows.html\" target=\"_blank\">snarled traffic in some of the densest thoroughfares on the continent\u003c/a>, all in protest of the company that in varying degrees has eaten their dejeuner, almuerzo and lunch in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.uber.com/cities\" target=\"_blank\">128 cities\u003c/a> around the world in which it has set up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/19/2014/uber-lyft-regulations#updates\">Click here for city-by-city Uber and Lyft updates\u003c/a>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>And what a feast it’s been. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar\" target=\"_blank\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"You’re worth more than Whole Foods, you’re worth more than Tiffany and company,” a CNBC anchor breathlessly informed Uber CEO Travis Kalanick during an \u003ca href=\"http://nyti.ms/1xl7GNP\" target=\"_blank\">interview after the announcement\u003c/a>. Kalanick replied that Uber is actually undervalued. (\u003ca href=\"http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/uber-isnt-worth-17-billion/\" target=\"_blank\">Others\u003c/a>, meanwhile, think the $18.2 billion number is \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnbc.com/id/101762832\" target=\"_blank\">way too big\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Locally, Uber has become a major employer in San Francisco. The company says it has 500 people working at its headquarters in the city. That's in addition to all the drivers now earning a living by connecting with passengers through Uber's app. One group not seeing the benefits of this expansion: taxi companies and the drivers who have yet to switch over to Uber or Lyft, a smaller yet growing rival also based in San Francisco. The city's taxi business is off so much that the owner of DeSoto Cab Co., Hansu Kim, said this month that the industry's survival is threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say the taxi industry may not survive 18 months or so, I’m seeing a situation where those who drove a taxicab in the past are now taking their personal cars and acting like a cab on their own,” \u003ca href=\"http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/06/06/san-francisco-desoto-taxi-cab-company-ceo-industry-may-not-survive-the-next-18-months-uber-lyft-sidecar-rideshare/\" target=\"_blank\">he told KPIX\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet for all the rapid success of Uber and Lyft, which the state of California calls transportation network companies, or TNCs, there is also a growing resistance to their operations by regulators and insurers across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the California Department of Insurance and Public Utilities Commission, which regulates TNCs, have sided with the insurance industry's assessment that current cheaper excess coverage the companies offer to protect drivers and passengers is based on a fictional belief that a driver's personal insurer will tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every other business in California has to have insurance to cover their activities,\" said Mark Sektnan, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies. \"Why is this business any different?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the utilities commission and the state Legislature are now \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/06/17/2014/Uber-Lyft-Insurance-crack-down\" target=\"_blank\">considering proposals to toughen TNC insurance requirements\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you'll see in our roundup below, California is far from the only state where Uber and Lyft are coming under regulatory, legislative or legal pressure. The novelty of a business model that has encouraged thousands of everyday drivers to hit the road in their own vehicles in quest of paying passengers has taken the system of transportation oversight, developed over decades, by almost complete surprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This has resulted in a fair amount of confusion and conflict, including lawsuits, protests, fines and threats. What is also notable is the willingness by Uber and Lyft to openly defy local authorities who have determined the companies are operating illegally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it all shakes out will determine just how large this innovative industry becomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulatory overhang is obviously something investors and (Uber) need to be mindful of,\" said Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights, which tracks high-growth private companies. \"It seems, at least to date, they’ve figured out ways to operate in markets they’ve wanted to in compliance with these issues, or they’re paying fines with the view that this legislation will be overturned or public outcry will make it go away. Obviously, investors feel that way too. But Uber does have regulatory risks.\"\u003ca name=\"updates\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are what various media are reporting about the road wars around the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Albuquerque\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/blog/morning-edition/2014/06/prc-keeps-meter-running-on-ridesharing-hearing.html\" target=\"_blank\">PRC Keeps Meter Running on Ridesharing Hearing\u003c/a> (Albuquerque Business First): The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Wednesday decided not to immediately hear a case relating to letting the ridesharing service Uber operate in New Mexico. At the PRC hearing, the commission also heard testimony about the similar service, Lyft, said Commissioner Valerie Espinoza. Both services started operating in Albuquerque in late April. The two services contend that they’re not taxi cab services, and as such shouldn’t have to abide by the same laws as taxi cabs. But, the services are similar enough that the PRC has launched investigations into both. Some have questions about the services’ legality, said Commissioner Karen Montoya on Wednesday. The issues will be put on next Wednesday’s PRC agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ann Arbor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://annarborchronicle.com/2014/05/25/taxicab-board-considers-rates-drivers/\" target=\"_blank\">Taxicab Board Considers Rates, Drivers\u003c/a> (Ann Arbor Chronicle): Two topics addressed by the board at its April 23, 2014 meeting received additional conversation this month. First, the board discussed the possibility of deregulating taxicab fares, or setting them at a much higher maximum. The board also continued discussing whether to recommend that the city council enact an ordinance to regulate all drivers for hire – taxicab drivers, limo drivers, as well as those who drive for Uber and Lyft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Austin\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-06-13/uber-stakes-its-austin-claim/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber stakes Its Austin Claim\u003c/a> (Austin Chronicle): ... Both Lyft and Uber have indicated repeatedly that they're excited to be working with the city on bringing TNCs to Austin, but the two companies' arrivals run in direct contrast to requests from the City Council, which has essentially asked for a bit more time – perhaps even seven months – to figure the whole TNC system out, during which time TNCs are not allowed to take payment for rides. The city, meanwhile, has received informal accusations of entrapment from Lyft, which claims that city staffers have engaged in sting operations to nab violators. In one case, Lyft alleges, a staffer \"purposely left cash behind.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Baltimore\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/06/09/uber-appeals-april-psc-ruling/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber appeals Public Service Commission Ruling\u003c/a> (Technical.ly): Uber has appealed an April Maryland Public Service Commission ruling that classified it as a common carrier, company officials announced Monday. In the \u003ca href=\"http://webapp.psc.state.md.us/Intranet/Maillog/submit_new.cfm?MaillogPath=155796&DirPath=C:%5CCasenum%5CAdmin%20Filings%5C110000-159999%5C155796&maillognum=155796\" target=\"_blank\">appeal\u003c/a>, filed Friday, Uber officials claim that Uber is not a public service company and the commission does not have the authority to regulate it. It contends that Uber owns no vehicles used to transport passengers and does not itself transport passengers for money. ... Uber, which \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/05/23/uber-annapolis-launch/\" target=\"_blank\">launched service in Annapolis\u003c/a> in May, entered the Baltimore market last year. A bill \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/03/11/uber-ridesharing-case-9325/\" target=\"_blank\">that would have exempted\u003c/a> Uber and competitor Lyft from common carrier regulations \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/04/09/bill-exempt-uber-lyft-common-carrier-status-fails-pass/\" target=\"_blank\">failed to pass\u003c/a> in the 2014 General Assembly session.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Uber launched a \u003ca href=\"http://technical.ly/baltimore/2014/06/19/uber-driver-video-psc-appeal/\" target=\"_blank\">PR push\u003c/a> following its appeal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Boston\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2014/05/22/boston-taxi-drivers-hold-rally-shut-down-uber/5fLnhOEWls556Cmg6zyaAL/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Boston Taxi Drivers Hold Rally to Shut Down Uber \u003c/a>(Boston.com): The Boston Taxi Driver’s Association held a “rolling rally” at Uber’s Boston headquarters this afternoon in order to compel city officials to shut down the app until its drivers can be regulated. The demonstration took place at 186 South Street in Boston’s Leather District from 2 to 3 p.m. The organization represents more than 1,400 cab drivers and is arguing that an unregulated taxi service like Uber poses a serious public safety threat because drivers are not vetted by the city before they are allowed to pick up fares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cambridge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2014/06/17/cambridge-licensing-board-signals-willingness-work-with-uber/iOtCaBhI96178xsQmbj8KL/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Cambridge Licensing Board Signals Willingness to Work With Uber\u003c/a> (Boston.com): Uber users, as well as some opponents of the popular ride-calling service, showed up in droves in Cambridge Tuesday night to clash over proposed regulations that Uber said would cause it to cease operations in the city. But by the time the meeting started, some of the tension between the city and the company that had built early this week appeared to have simmered. The proposed regulations would have required companies offering services like Uber’s, and drivers for those companies, to become licensed with the city. It also would have not allowed technology not approved by the city — like Uber’s and its competitor Lyft’s — to be used in any livery service, would have set a minimum price for any ride at $50, and would have banned other elements of Uber’s business model. The commission did not vote on the proposed regulations. It had said there would not be a vote at the meeting earlier in the day. During the meeting, License Commission chair Andrea Spears Jackson said those proposed rules “would not be passed,” and predicted that multiple additional hearings would follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chicago\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/new-ridesharing-rules-okd-taxi-industry-upset-emanuels-plan/wed-05282014-1122am\" target=\"_blank\">New ridesharing rules OK'd; taxi industry upset by Emanuel's plan\u003c/a> (Chicago Sun-Times): A divided City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to fill the regulatory vacuum that has allowed ridesharing companies to siphon business from taxicabs amid warnings that it’s so weak as to render costly taxi medallions “worthless.” The ridesharing industry, whose investors include the mayor’s brother, was pleased with the ordinance approved by a 34-10 vote. The taxicab industry, its City Council allies and a union representing cabdrivers was not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A local municipal workers union \u003ca href=\"http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/emanuels-taxi-reforms-cost-average-cabdriver-7500-study/wed-06112014-1237pm\" target=\"_blank\">says Emanuel's plan costs the average cab driver $7,500\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connecticut\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/uber-lyft-face-racketeering-lawsuit-by-connecticut-cab-groups.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber, Lyft Accused of Racketeering in Connecticut Suit\u003c/a> (Bloomberg): Ride-sharing services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. were accused of racketeering in a lawsuit by Connecticut taxi and livery firms, which said the companies “prey parasitically” on established services. The services, operating without proper licenses, “cut corners illegally” and undermine “critical safety provisions of Connecticut taxi and livery laws,” the taxi companies said in a complaint filed yesterday in New Haven federal court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Denver\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25907057/colorado-first-authorize-lyft-and-ubers-ridesharing-services\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado first to authorize Lyft and Uber's ridesharing services\u003c/a> (Denver Post): Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday signed into law \u003ca href=\"http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_25661374/colorado-likely-first-legislatively-authorize-ride-share-services\" target=\"_blank\">a bill that officially authorizes ride-sharing services\u003c/a>, making Colorado the first state to legislatively embrace disruptive transportation offerings from upstarts such as Uber Technologies and Lyft. ... He called for Colorado regulators to review rules placed on taxis and limos, questioning whether they're still appropriate or necessary with the advent of so-called transportation network companies like Lyft and Uber. Throughout the legislative process, taxi officials had argued ride-sharing companies have unfair advantages because they don't face similar regulations as cabbies, such as rate, coverage area and insurance requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hampton Roads, Va.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/uber-says-it-will-operate-despite-dmv-s-cease-and/article_216140ee-eda3-11e3-8d40-0017a43b2370.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber says it will operate despite DMV's 'cease and desist' order\u003c/a> (Hampton Roads Daily Press): The car ride services Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. said Friday that they plan to operate as usual in the state, despite cease-and-desist letters from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV on Thursday ordered Uber and Lyft, taxilike service companies, to stop operating in Virginia in violation of state law and said unauthorized drivers could face penalties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Houston\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/nuts-and-bolts/2014/06/uber-and-lyft-still-in-limbo-in-houston.html\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft still in limbo in Houston\u003c/a> (Houston Business Journal): The Houston City Council delayed a vote until July 30 on regulations for the vehicles-for-hire industry, keeping UberTechnologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.'s legal status in Houston in limbo. Council member Mike Laster proposed an initial delay of 60 days, saying, \"I believe this cake is not fully baked.\" The delay was then reduced to 45 days. ... The vote is now scheduled for July 30, or until a consensus is met by all the stakeholders involved in negotiations. Several council members, including C.O. “Brad” Bradford, didn’t feel the delay was necessary and asked for the vote to take place sooner rather than later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kansas City\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2014/06/16/kansas-city-mayor-uber-legal.html\" target=\"_blank\">James: Uber is now legal in Kansas City\u003c/a> (Kansas City Business Journal): Uber Technologies Inc. is now operating inside the law in Kansas City. Late on Saturday night, Mayor \u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/search/results?q=Sly%20James\" target=\"_blank\">Sly James\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MayorSlyJames/status/478061431426793473\" target=\"_blank\">tweeted\u003c/a> that the San Francisco-based ride-sharing company is now operating \"legally and in compliance\" in the city. Joni Wickham, a spokeswoman for the mayor's office, said the Mayor's tweet was in reference to the fact that Uber is not charging for their services. Until they charge for their services, they are legally operating. She said that Uber is working with city staff to to go through the process to get a permit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Las Vegas\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/traffic-transportation/nevada-officials-warn-about-insurance-ride-sharing-programs\" title=\"Nevada officials warn about insurance in ride sharing programs\" target=\"_blank\">Nevada officials warn about insurance in ride sharing programs\u003c/a> (Las Vegas Review Journal):\u003cbr>\nThe state’s Division of Insurance is warning the public that it could be at risk when accepting a ride with a ride-sharing company. The Nevada Division of Insurance issued a release suggesting that people confirm that a driver has commercial car insurance before accepting a ride with companies such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. San Francisco-based Uber is looking to enter the Las Vegas market and has advertised for drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The announcement came less than two weeks after managers of Southern Nevada's largest taxi group \u003ca href=\"http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/las-vegas-cab-company-makes-uber-threat\" target=\"_blank\">posted a memorandum to employees\u003c/a>, warning them of the consequences of going to work for a mobile application rideshare company, according to the Review Journal.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Los Angeles\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/06/10/councilmembers-taxi-drivers-to-protest-ridesharing-apps-like-uber-at-city-hall/\" target=\"_blank\">Councilmembers, Taxi Drivers Protest Ridesharing Apps At City Hall\u003c/a> (CBS Los Angeles): Hundreds of taxicab drivers descended on the steps of City Hall Tuesday morning to protest popular ridesharing apps. The drivers were joined by councilmembers Paul Koretz and Gil Cedillo to protest unregulated and unrestricted taxi apps such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Demonstrators said drivers of so-called “bandit cabs” do not have to pass background checks using fingerprints or have their vehicles inspected for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Milwaukee\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/milwaukee-aldermen-to-consider-transforming-taxi-landscape-b99294012z1-263652731.html\" target=\"_blank\">Milwaukee Common Council panel backs taxi proposal\u003c/a> (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): By a 3-0 vote, members of the city's Public Works Committee on Wednesday sent to the Common Council a proposed ordinance that revamps the way taxis operate in Milwaukee. In addition to doing away with a cap on the number of taxicab permits, the proposal also makes room for new technology-based smartphone apps such as Uber and Lyft in which riders are matched with drivers. Those new services have been operating for months in the city, though council members say they are currently operating in violation of current ordinances .... After (Uber and Lyft) began offering rides, some council members...pivoted and began to push for an unfettered free enterprise system for public passenger vehicles. They have since been joined by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. Steve Baas, MMAC's vice president for governmental affairs, said the pro-business group favored wider transportation options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Miami\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/10/usa-florida-taxis-idUSL2N0OQ25M20140610\" target=\"_blank\">Authorities clamp down on ride-sharing services in Miami\u003c/a> (Reuters): Miami-Dade County officials have refused to license drivers for Lyft and Uber, a similar service, arguing the driver-owned vehicles should comply with the same regulations as taxi companies. Lyft and Uber, however, argue they are different, describing themselves as technology companies that provide mobile applications connecting private drivers with passenger. ... Lyft and Uber launched in Miami last month despite the risk of heavy fines and after an unsuccessful two-year lobbying effort to persuade Miami lawmakers to change the regulations. Since then, the county has impounded three cars and fined eight drivers as much as $2,000, according to Raul Gonzalez, an official with Miami-Dade County's regulatory and economic resources department. Police in Miami have posed as riders and then issued fines to the drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Minneapolis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/05/despite_commerce_department_warning_jacob_frey_says_uberlyft_ordinance_still_on_its_way.php\" target=\"_blank\">Despite Commerce Department warning, Jacob Frey says Uber/Lyft ordinance still on its way\u003c/a> (Minneapolis City Pages): A few weeks ago, the Minnesota Commerce Department issued a warning to folks considering using so-called \"transportation network companies\" like Lyft or Uber. \"The Commerce Department wants Minnesotans to know that there may be gaps in auto insurance coverage for both the drivers and passengers using TNCs,\" the department said in a statement. \"There may not be coverage for an accident because most personal auto insurance policies contain exclusions when drivers use their personal cars for a commercial (business) purpose. For example, if you participate in a regular, non-business car pool, you would be covered. If you charge passengers a fee, you may not be covered if you get into an accident. ... But Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis City Council member who is taking the lead in drawing up an ordinance to regulate currently unregulated TNC companies doesn't think the Commerce Department's warning is a big deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nashville\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://nashvillepublicradio.org/blog/2014/06/13/ridesharing-services-like-lyft-uber-will-face-new-regulations-end-summer/\">Ridesharing Services Like Lyft and Uber Will Face New Regulations By End of Summer\u003c/a> (Nashville Public Radio): Popular ridesharing services like Lyft and Uber may soon be coming under new regulations. Billy Fields, who leads the city’s Transportation and Licensing Commission, said companies like Lyft and Uber are considered “drivers for hire,” not taxis. And under that title, they need to have a permit and be working for a licensed company. Under Nashville’s current law, Lyft and Uber are technically illegal. ... Metro Police could not say how many tickets have been issued to drivers. By the end of the summer, Fields said he will go in front of Metro Council to ask that a new law be written. It’ll require that rideshare companies have special licenses, inspections and the same insurance taxi drivers are required to have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Jersey\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cnbc.com/id/101732424\" target=\"_blank\">Uber a risky ride for passengers, states warn\u003c/a> (CNBC): Uber is under siege. It's not from a rival company, such as Lyft or Sidecar, because they may be in the same boat. It's from states that are warning passengers they may not be covered by insurance if the driver has an accident. New Jersey last week became the 14th state along with the District of Columbia to issue warnings about the risks of using ride-shares such as Uber, Lyft or Sidecar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New Orleans \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.fox8live.com/story/25779114/could-uber-be-headed-toward-new-orleans\" target=\"_blank\">Could Uber be headed toward New Orleans?\u003c/a>: (WVUE): Ryan Kelly, a writer for New Orleans CityBusiness, explains, \"UberBLACK is a luxury black car sedan service that has a little bit higher fares than a taxi and that's what they're trying to bring in right now.\" With the tap of a finger, users can order an Uber car to take them wherever they please. Just last week, the New Orleans City Council introduced an ordinance that would govern how the system worked, if brought here. Riders would pay a minimum of $25 for sedans and $35 for SUV's. But Uber cars don't have meters and don't really have any cap on how much they can charge riders. In many other places, the company also has UberX which is more comparable to a taxi service. \"Uber has a history of introducing the UberBLACK service in cities and then eventually following with UberX,\" said Kelly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>New York\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-02/while-uber-thrives-in-new-york-its-competitors-battle-regulators\" target=\"_blank\">While Uber Thrives in New York, Its Competitors Lobby Regulators\u003c/a> (BusinessWeek):\u003cspan style=\"color: #222222\"> Lyft would love to operate in New York City, but city regulations prohibit the startup’s version of a taxi service, in which nonprofessionals use private vehicles to shuttle passengers....While Lyft tries to figure out a way in, Uber is gaining significant traction with New Yorkers. Lyft has a tougher time because its service is considerably different from the activity the TLC is used to regulating. For all the hype, Uber in New York is basically a black-car service with a tech twist. Lyft, on the other hand, wants looser regulations for its drivers. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Orlando\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-06-18/news/os-uber-orlando-clash-20140618_1_uber-drivers-uberx-taxi-rules\" target=\"_blank\">Uber will talk taxi rules with Orlando City Hall\u003c/a> (Orlando Sentinel): Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is taking a diplomatic approach with Uber, the next-gen taxi service the city says is breaking its cars-for-hire laws. The San Francisco-based company has requested a meeting with the mayor, two weeks after it launched in Orlando with no advance notice to City Hall. The planned meeting heads off — at least for now — the city's plan to begin enforcing its taxi regulations against Uber drivers. \"Uber reached out to us, which I see as a positive thing,\" Dyer said Wednesday. \"We're an aggressively technology-centric city, and Uber is the new thing right now, with a new way of doing things.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pittsburgh\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/06/17/Peduto-wants-PUC-to/stories/201406170163\" target=\"_blank\">Lyft, Uber have no plans to leave state despite enforcement\u003c/a> (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette): Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto reiterated his support for Lyft and Uber on Tuesday, even as the state scheduled hearings to decide whether to issue cease-and-desist orders against the ride-sharing companies. Mr. Peduto sent a letter to the leadership of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to express his “disappointment” with the agency's actions against the San Francisco ride-share companies. The PUC’s enforcement bureau is seeking to prevent both companies from operating in Pennsylvania. ... Although PUC chairman Robert Powelson has expressed his support for Lyft and Uber in the past, the PUC’s investigation and enforcement arm issued citations to 23 ride-share drivers in March and April, and has proposed additional daily fines of $1,000 per day against each company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>San Antonio\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/ridesharing-company-offering-free-rides-amid-controversy-4589.shtml#.U6MOQo1dWSM\" target=\"_blank\">Ride-Sharing Company Offering Free Rides Amid Controversy\u003c/a> (FOX 29): The ride sharing company \"Uber\" is trying to win over fans, but the San Antonio Police Department is warning drivers to beware. Uber is teaming up with Crown Royal to offer free rides to people 21 or older Wednesday during the Spurs celebration who download the Uber app and enter the promo code: ReignOn. \"We know people are going to be out enjoying the festivities and parades, and we want people to have a safe and free ride and a designated driver,” said Will Zinsmeister with Uber San Antonio. ... However, that's not necessarily how the City of San Antonio sees it. Uber is operating in violation of the city's taxi cab ordinance, which states drivers must be licensed and regulated by the city in order for money to be exchanged for services. ... Yellow cab, along with other taxi companies, filed a lawsuit against Uber and ride-sharing company “Lyft” saying they are operating illegally in San Antonio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Santa Barbara\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.independent.com/news/2014/jun/02/cabbies-take-uber-drivers-task/\" target=\"_blank\">Cabbies Take Uber Drivers to Task\u003c/a> (Santa Barbara Independent): Disgruntled taxi drivers gathered outside City Hall last Friday afternoon to argue companies like Uber and Lyft are violating Santa Barbara law. Congregating on the sidewalk and holding signs above their heads, several cabbies contended the drivers hailed by taxi apps get an unfair advantage because they are not bound by the same regulations that the 68 taxi companies here must adhere to. Murmurs from frustrated taxi drivers have circulated since Uber landed in town last fall — Lyft launched a couple of months ago — but Friday marked the first coordinated protest, as cab drivers claimed their revenue has since dropped by 60 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Seattle\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-legalizes-uber-lyft-caps/\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle mayor reaches deal to legalize Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, without driver limits\u003c/a> (GeekWire): After more than one year of City Council meetings, protests and debate, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray today announced an agreement between the major industry players, the taxi industry and city officials that will let app-based transportation services such as Lyft, Sidecar and UberX keep operating without any limit on the number of drivers that can be on the street at any given time. That’s a big change from the original ordinance that was approved by the City Council in March, which set a maximum of 150 active drivers per company — a decision that left the ride-sharing companies unhappy. ... The agreement still needs to be approved by the Seattle City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>St. Louis\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/biznext/2014/06/lyft-still-can-t-do-business-in-st-louis-judge.html\" target=\"_blank\">Lyft still can't do business in St. Louis, judge rules\u003c/a> (St. Louis Business Journal): The temporary restraining order against Lyft in St. Louis has been extended, meaning the peer-to-peer ride sharing app won’t be able to do business until a St. Louis circuit court judge makes an official ruling at a later date. ... Lyft opened for business in St. Louis in mid-April. Just a few days later, it was handed a temporary restraining order prohibiting it from doing business in the city or county. The Metropolitan Taxicab Commission maintains Lyft should fall under its regulations. Lyft says its business model excludes it from those regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tampa\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/regulatory-agency-seeks-help-in-crackdown-against-uber-lyft/2183977\" target=\"_blank\">Regulatory agency seeks help in crackdown against Uber, Lyft\u003c/a> (Tampa Bay Times): In its crackdown on the increasingly popular but unregulated Uber and Lyft ride-sharing programs, the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission agreed Wednesday to ask other law enforcement agencies for help. The two outfits have operated in Tampa for several months now, causing friction with the transportation commission and the taxi and limousine industries, which say the companies are in violation of state laws and local regulations. Uber and Lyft don't carry the proper insurance and aren't certified, they say. ... So far, PTC inspectors have fined 12 drivers and issued 44 tickets that come with fines ranging from $100 to $500.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Once Friendly Territory, California Looks to Toughen Rules for Uber, Lyft",
"title": "Once Friendly Territory, California Looks to Toughen Rules for Uber, Lyft",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126917\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/30/lyft-uberx-driver-safety/rs8866_uberx_3-lpr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126917\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126917\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/01/RS8866_UberX_3-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The California Public Utilities Commission requires Transportation Network Companies like UberX to display signage. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Jeremy Raff/KQED) \u003ccite>(Jeremy Raff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n February, when Lyft was battling to stave off regulations of ride-service companies in Seattle, company CEO John Zimmer \u003ca href=\"//www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-tech-community-ride-sharing/%E2%80%9D\">pointed to California as a shining example of a fruitful partnership between a disruptive tech industry and regulators.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California had a yearlong rule-making process with several steps,” he said in an interview about the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last year to sanction what it calls Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs. “And they were able to come out with something that put, in many cases, more strict standards on new companies like Lyft, yet preserved innovation and consumer choice. I think that’s a fantastic model.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Ride-service firms in a struggle with legislators and regulators over insurance and other issues.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But critics of companies like Lyft and TNC behemoth Uber were not so happy with the CPUC ruling. Taxi companies and their regulators led the charge: Despite a host of requirements the commission created as the cost of TNCs doing business in California, these were nowhere near the regulatory burden that taxis had to contend with in San Francisco and other cities, they said. The biggest complaint: The state was not saddling the Lyfts and Ubers with the same stringent insurance requirements that taxi firms must meet under local regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNC industry has portrayed these protests as the loud protectionist rumblings of an obsolete industry. But now, nine months after the commission’s decision paved the way for ride-service upstarts to purloin large chunks of cab business, the home state of the most prominent ride-service companies may be on the verge of levying significantly more rigorous insurance mandates, either through legislation, the regulatory process or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stern \u003ca href=\"//www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/216C7343-8740-40C3-BF60-2B57BF37F8A5/0/LettertoLoganGreenofLyft061014.pdf%E2%80%9D\">letter that CPUC President Michael Peevey sent\u003c/a> last week to UberX, Lyft and three other TNCs serves as a sign of just how precarious things have gotten for the industry in California. The letter threatened to revoke the companies' licenses unless they prevented drivers from operating at five California airports. Not only did TNCs fail to obtain the necessary permits to serve the airports, Peevey wrote, but the vast majority of drivers flaunted CPUC regulations by not displaying required insignias on their vehicles. In addition, some drivers could not provide proof of insurance, and on two occasions at San Francisco International, operated without a valid driver’s license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peevey expressed his \"personal disappointment and concern about this behavior.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber was less than contrite: \"We have spent countless hours with airport managers and their staff to help develop requirements that are aligned with CPUC regulations and embrace the spirit of ride-sharing,\" company spokeswoman Eva Behrend said in a statement. \"The tone of the majority of these conversations has been mutually respectful and productive. It's unfortunate the CPUC is not allowing the airport process they designed to proceed by allowing ride-sharing companies to continue working with California airport authorities on their permitting process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cstrong>Update June 17\u003c/strong>: A representative for Uber said at a state Senate committee hearing today that it needed to do a better job of informing drivers of the insignia requirements. But she also said drivers do not like to identify themselves as working for TNCs because of harassment from taxis. We have also heard this, especially from Lyft drivers, who frequently remove the trademark mustache from their cars for the same reason.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the airport kerfuffle could prove to be a mere skirmish compared to other regulatory battles brewing around an industry that has expanded globally with startling rapidity. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"//dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/%E2%80%9D\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacramento Takes a Whack\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee heard two bills intended to inject a stronger dose of regulation in the world of TNCs, especially around insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">[contextly_sidebar id=\"[contextly_sidebar id=\"04961c76f5ecb41f81c0c29378870f0c\"]\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNCs offer drivers $1 million in commercial liability insurance, the same requirement as what San Francisco taxis must carry. But TNC coverage is \u003cem>excess insurance\u003c/em>, ostensibly triggered only at the point where the personal policies of TNC drivers, using their own vehicle, after all, stop paying. The TNCs contend that drivers' personal policies should be the insurer of first resort. But both the insurance industry and the state Department of Insurance have now taken the position that this set-up is based on a fiction, contingent on the erroneous view that drivers’ personal insurers will be happy to or at least tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially for TNCs, an activity that has not been factored into the price of their policies. If it is a fiction, though, it's one that makes TNC insurance less expensive, because it assumes drivers’ own policies will pick up at least some of the liability cost for accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, another TNC, all insist drivers’ personal insurers have paid claims for accidents occurring during a paid ride. The insurance industry says that’s because the drivers’ insurer didn’t know the accident happened on a TNC call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurance industry is attempting to dismantle this two-tier TNC coverage by backing \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2293/id/1008847%E2%80%9D\">AB 2293\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord). The bill, which does not set specific coverage amounts, would require TNCs to advise drivers that their personal insurance may not provide coverage during TNC work. It would also force the companies to carry primary insurance, like taxis do, and defend drivers against lawsuits for loss or injury when providing TNC services. The bill would also extend the time that drivers are insured to when they have their apps open but have yet to accept a call, so called \"Period 1.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Uber called the bill “a back-room deal by insurance companies and trial attorneys to prematurely force the ridesharing industry to fit their special interests. The bill allows insurance companies to escape their liability for services they’ve already charged ratepayers, and helps trial attorneys work the system to ensure they get the largest payouts possible.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The energy committee forwarded AB 2293 to the Committee on Insurance. The bill does not contain specific amounts of required coverage, but that is where the debate appears to now lie. At the hearing, representatives for Lyft and Uber said they support a number of the bill's requirements: that their insurance be primary, that there be a written disclosure to drivers of TNC insurance limitations and that the period of coverage now extend from app on to app off. However, as an official analysis of the bill states, the TNCs contend that requiring $1 million in coverage for the period before a driver accepts a call would “kill their business model and service.” So the TNCs have proposed an amendment that would set a requirement of just up to $100,000 in insurance, which is what Uber and Lyft offer now for this period. Committee Chair Alex Padilla seemed to push the bill's sponsor, Susan Bonilla, to forward the bill with those requirements. But she said, \"I can’t abandon the reality that catastrophic things do happen and that $100,000 isn’t going to be enough ... What happens after that is exhausted?\" Bonilla did, however, say that she is \"committed\" to treating Period 1 with more flexibility than in the subsequent times a driver will have to covered. Interestingly enough, Kara Cross, General Counsel for the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said Uber told her in negotiations that they can't acknowledge that Period 1 is commercial activity, because that could come into play in the lawsuit against them by the family of Sofia Liu, the 6-year-old killed in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, by an UberX driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:34 p.m.\u003c/strong> Uber's Eva Behrend, in a response to Kara Cross's comment, said, \"That's patently false.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second bill, \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">AB 612\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Los Angeles), is backed by the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California and would legislate requirements closer to what local taxi companies labor under: mandatory drug and alcohol testing of drivers; closer monitoring of DMV records; mandatory criminal background checks; driver fingerprinting; and the banning of anyone convicted of a number of crimes, from burglary to credit card fraud to obstructing a peace officer. The bill also stipulates TNCs must have a preventive maintenance program for driver's vehicles, and that all vehicles involved in TNC work must be registered with the CPUC, with an official decal affixed to every bumper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A provision that would have required TNCs to cover vehicles around the clock was removed from the bill before the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, naturally, is not a fan, calling the proposed legislation “a flagrant attempt to stymie innovation and competition by an antiquated industry. It is an obvious play by the taxicab industry to kill competition and limit consumer choice ... “ Backers of the bill, the company said, wanted to \"make it impossible for companies like Uber to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Rouse, the president of TPAC and general manager of Yellow Cab in L.A., said the legislation is necessary to police companies that are plain out of control. He pointed to the violations at California airports as an example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is not a single jurisdiction, whether inside or outside the U.S., where the TNCs actually follow the letter of the law,” he said. “This is the new world order, where these companies just routinely, habitually thumb their nose at the law in every single city where they operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The committee voted to remove all but the drug and alcohol testing and background check provisions from AB 612. Representatives from San Francisco International Airport spoke in favor of the bill.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CPUC Puts the Hammer Down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TNCs are also under the gun from the \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M094/K268/94268677.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC's proposed modification\u003c/a> of its original TNC decision. These new regulations, if approved, could significantly increase the companies' insurance costs. The modified decision is scheduled to be heard on July 10 or after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal, released last Tuesday, makes no bones about clarifying the issue of whether drivers’ personal insurance would cover claims related to TNC accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A driver’s personal automobile policy is no way required to provide coverage or the duty to defend for TNC services,” the commission wrote. Reinforcing that stipulation, the commission states TNC policies “shall provide exclusive coverage, and assume all liability and the sole duty to defend, at dollar one,” which would prohibit the TNCs' reliance on excess insurance. The proposal does say that a driver’s insurance can be used to cover TNC accidents, but only if it is “specifically written for the purpose of covering transportation network services.” And those policies do not currently exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like AB 2293, the latest CPUC proposal also extends the time that drivers are insured to Period 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UberX driver who struck and killed Sofia Liu in San Francisco was reportedly in this interval between calls, so was not covered by Uber's policy, a limitation not widely known at the time. Subsequently, both \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/14/uber-lyft-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft announced they had closed this gap\u003c/a> by offering up to $100,000 in coverage for drivers in the app on-and-waiting time. However, this won’t be good enough under the CPUC’s proposal, which appears to simply extend the $1 million insurance requirement to this period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have also added $50,000 in collision insurance, and Uber offers $50,000 in comprehensive coverage (fire, theft and such). These are all contingent, however, on drivers having bought the same coverage on their personal auto policies. The CPUC’s proposal gives TNCs no such leeway, making collision and comprehensive mandatory regardless of a driver’s having purchased it on his own. Finally, the commission also wants to require $5,000 in coverage for medical payments related to injuries resulting from an accident. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is \u003ca href=\"//www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/06/12/uber-lyft-setback-insurance-chief-backs-proposal.html?page=3%E2%80%9D\">supporting the proposed CPUC changes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNC Arguments Against\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the CPUC first floated the expansion of the mandatory $1 million coverage to include Period 1, Uber argued it could spur drivers to “(keep) the app open at all times, regardless of the drivers’ intent to accept a request for transportation service … solely to obtain the benefit from the increased insurance.” Uber also speculated that drivers not engaged in TNC work might turn on the app “immediately following an accident in order to try to secure the potentially significant financial benefit of the higher limits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft had similar objections: “(A) TNC driver could forget to close the app and be considered to be ‘providing TNC services’ in the middle of the night when the car is parked on the street and the driver is sleeping, or when the vehicle is being driven by another household member, or when it is being used to transport a driver’s child to soccer practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kara Cross of the Personal Insurance Federation of California says TNCs can guard against drivers gaming the system this way by monitoring their acceptance rates, tracking who has the app on while not accepting rides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stuart Nelson, the president of Point West Insurance, a property and casualty insurance broker in Sacramento, says the CPUC’s mandatory collision coverage could invite fraud. “You could damage a car personally and then say it was damaged during a drive,” he says. “I could have this pre-existing damage and then claim it happened as an Uber driver, and Uber has to cover it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNCs Would Pay More\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson, Kara Cross, and Jerry Sullivan, who runs an insurance brokerage business, all say TNCs will pay more for insurance if the CPUC changes go through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People who write livery are prepared to write the kind of exposure these guys will have,” Sullivan said. “But it’s going to cost them 30 to 35 percent more than they are now.” He said that increase only takes into account the greater expense of extending the period of time drivers are covered — the TNCs might incur additional increases for the additional collision and comprehensive insurance. Nelson thinks requiring TNCs to offer one-size-fits-all collision coverage to every driver could be a significant extra cost, because “there’s no way to properly insure the risk. We won’t know if we’re insuring a 1974 Volkswagen Bug or a Ferrari.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The taxi industry, for its part, is still not happy with the CPUC, because the proposed changes would not go into effect immediately, but after the current TNC policies expire or one year from the effective date of the decision, whichever comes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jerry Sullivan said he was in discussion with Lyft about 18 months ago to broker insurance coverage, but that the company balked when he quoted them a price for primary coverage from Lloyds of London. “They didn’t want to pay the price,” he says. “That’s not how they designed their business model.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_126917\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/30/lyft-uberx-driver-safety/rs8866_uberx_3-lpr/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126917\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-126917\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/01/RS8866_UberX_3-lpr-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"The California Public Utilities Commission requires Transportation Network Companies like UberX to display signage. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo: Jeremy Raff/KQED) \u003ccite>(Jeremy Raff/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n February, when Lyft was battling to stave off regulations of ride-service companies in Seattle, company CEO John Zimmer \u003ca href=\"//www.geekwire.com/2014/seattle-tech-community-ride-sharing/%E2%80%9D\">pointed to California as a shining example of a fruitful partnership between a disruptive tech industry and regulators.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California had a yearlong rule-making process with several steps,” he said in an interview about the California Public Utilities Commission's decision last year to sanction what it calls Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs. “And they were able to come out with something that put, in many cases, more strict standards on new companies like Lyft, yet preserved innovation and consumer choice. I think that’s a fantastic model.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Ride-service firms in a struggle with legislators and regulators over insurance and other issues.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But critics of companies like Lyft and TNC behemoth Uber were not so happy with the CPUC ruling. Taxi companies and their regulators led the charge: Despite a host of requirements the commission created as the cost of TNCs doing business in California, these were nowhere near the regulatory burden that taxis had to contend with in San Francisco and other cities, they said. The biggest complaint: The state was not saddling the Lyfts and Ubers with the same stringent insurance requirements that taxi firms must meet under local regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNC industry has portrayed these protests as the loud protectionist rumblings of an obsolete industry. But now, nine months after the commission’s decision paved the way for ride-service upstarts to purloin large chunks of cab business, the home state of the most prominent ride-service companies may be on the verge of levying significantly more rigorous insurance mandates, either through legislation, the regulatory process or both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A stern \u003ca href=\"//www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/216C7343-8740-40C3-BF60-2B57BF37F8A5/0/LettertoLoganGreenofLyft061014.pdf%E2%80%9D\">letter that CPUC President Michael Peevey sent\u003c/a> last week to UberX, Lyft and three other TNCs serves as a sign of just how precarious things have gotten for the industry in California. The letter threatened to revoke the companies' licenses unless they prevented drivers from operating at five California airports. Not only did TNCs fail to obtain the necessary permits to serve the airports, Peevey wrote, but the vast majority of drivers flaunted CPUC regulations by not displaying required insignias on their vehicles. In addition, some drivers could not provide proof of insurance, and on two occasions at San Francisco International, operated without a valid driver’s license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peevey expressed his \"personal disappointment and concern about this behavior.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber was less than contrite: \"We have spent countless hours with airport managers and their staff to help develop requirements that are aligned with CPUC regulations and embrace the spirit of ride-sharing,\" company spokeswoman Eva Behrend said in a statement. \"The tone of the majority of these conversations has been mutually respectful and productive. It's unfortunate the CPUC is not allowing the airport process they designed to proceed by allowing ride-sharing companies to continue working with California airport authorities on their permitting process.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cstrong>Update June 17\u003c/strong>: A representative for Uber said at a state Senate committee hearing today that it needed to do a better job of informing drivers of the insignia requirements. But she also said drivers do not like to identify themselves as working for TNCs because of harassment from taxis. We have also heard this, especially from Lyft drivers, who frequently remove the trademark mustache from their cars for the same reason.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the airport kerfuffle could prove to be a mere skirmish compared to other regulatory battles brewing around an industry that has expanded globally with startling rapidity. On June 6, Uber announced it had raised an additional $1.2 billion in investment capital to \u003ca href=\"//dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/uber-raises-new-funds-at-17-billion-valuation/%E2%80%9D\">up its valuation to $18.2 billion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sacramento Takes a Whack\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee heard two bills intended to inject a stronger dose of regulation in the world of TNCs, especially around insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The TNCs offer drivers $1 million in commercial liability insurance, the same requirement as what San Francisco taxis must carry. But TNC coverage is \u003cem>excess insurance\u003c/em>, ostensibly triggered only at the point where the personal policies of TNC drivers, using their own vehicle, after all, stop paying. The TNCs contend that drivers' personal policies should be the insurer of first resort. But both the insurance industry and the state Department of Insurance have now taken the position that this set-up is based on a fiction, contingent on the erroneous view that drivers’ personal insurers will be happy to or at least tolerate paying claims for individuals who drive commercially for TNCs, an activity that has not been factored into the price of their policies. If it is a fiction, though, it's one that makes TNC insurance less expensive, because it assumes drivers’ own policies will pick up at least some of the liability cost for accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, another TNC, all insist drivers’ personal insurers have paid claims for accidents occurring during a paid ride. The insurance industry says that’s because the drivers’ insurer didn’t know the accident happened on a TNC call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The insurance industry is attempting to dismantle this two-tier TNC coverage by backing \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2293/id/1008847%E2%80%9D\">AB 2293\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla (D-Concord). The bill, which does not set specific coverage amounts, would require TNCs to advise drivers that their personal insurance may not provide coverage during TNC work. It would also force the companies to carry primary insurance, like taxis do, and defend drivers against lawsuits for loss or injury when providing TNC services. The bill would also extend the time that drivers are insured to when they have their apps open but have yet to accept a call, so called \"Period 1.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Uber called the bill “a back-room deal by insurance companies and trial attorneys to prematurely force the ridesharing industry to fit their special interests. The bill allows insurance companies to escape their liability for services they’ve already charged ratepayers, and helps trial attorneys work the system to ensure they get the largest payouts possible.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The energy committee forwarded AB 2293 to the Committee on Insurance. The bill does not contain specific amounts of required coverage, but that is where the debate appears to now lie. At the hearing, representatives for Lyft and Uber said they support a number of the bill's requirements: that their insurance be primary, that there be a written disclosure to drivers of TNC insurance limitations and that the period of coverage now extend from app on to app off. However, as an official analysis of the bill states, the TNCs contend that requiring $1 million in coverage for the period before a driver accepts a call would “kill their business model and service.” So the TNCs have proposed an amendment that would set a requirement of just up to $100,000 in insurance, which is what Uber and Lyft offer now for this period. Committee Chair Alex Padilla seemed to push the bill's sponsor, Susan Bonilla, to forward the bill with those requirements. But she said, \"I can’t abandon the reality that catastrophic things do happen and that $100,000 isn’t going to be enough ... What happens after that is exhausted?\" Bonilla did, however, say that she is \"committed\" to treating Period 1 with more flexibility than in the subsequent times a driver will have to covered. Interestingly enough, Kara Cross, General Counsel for the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said Uber told her in negotiations that they can't acknowledge that Period 1 is commercial activity, because that could come into play in the lawsuit against them by the family of Sofia Liu, the 6-year-old killed in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, by an UberX driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update 6:34 p.m.\u003c/strong> Uber's Eva Behrend, in a response to Kara Cross's comment, said, \"That's patently false.\")\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A second bill, \u003ca href=\"//legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB612/2013%E2%80%9D\">AB 612\u003c/a>, sponsored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Los Angeles), is backed by the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California and would legislate requirements closer to what local taxi companies labor under: mandatory drug and alcohol testing of drivers; closer monitoring of DMV records; mandatory criminal background checks; driver fingerprinting; and the banning of anyone convicted of a number of crimes, from burglary to credit card fraud to obstructing a peace officer. The bill also stipulates TNCs must have a preventive maintenance program for driver's vehicles, and that all vehicles involved in TNC work must be registered with the CPUC, with an official decal affixed to every bumper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A provision that would have required TNCs to cover vehicles around the clock was removed from the bill before the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber, naturally, is not a fan, calling the proposed legislation “a flagrant attempt to stymie innovation and competition by an antiquated industry. It is an obvious play by the taxicab industry to kill competition and limit consumer choice ... “ Backers of the bill, the company said, wanted to \"make it impossible for companies like Uber to operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>William Rouse, the president of TPAC and general manager of Yellow Cab in L.A., said the legislation is necessary to police companies that are plain out of control. He pointed to the violations at California airports as an example.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is not a single jurisdiction, whether inside or outside the U.S., where the TNCs actually follow the letter of the law,” he said. “This is the new world order, where these companies just routinely, habitually thumb their nose at the law in every single city where they operate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>(Update June 17, 1 p.m. \u003c/strong>The committee voted to remove all but the drug and alcohol testing and background check provisions from AB 612. Representatives from San Francisco International Airport spoke in favor of the bill.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CPUC Puts the Hammer Down\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TNCs are also under the gun from the \u003ca href=\"http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M094/K268/94268677.PDF\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC's proposed modification\u003c/a> of its original TNC decision. These new regulations, if approved, could significantly increase the companies' insurance costs. The modified decision is scheduled to be heard on July 10 or after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal, released last Tuesday, makes no bones about clarifying the issue of whether drivers’ personal insurance would cover claims related to TNC accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A driver’s personal automobile policy is no way required to provide coverage or the duty to defend for TNC services,” the commission wrote. Reinforcing that stipulation, the commission states TNC policies “shall provide exclusive coverage, and assume all liability and the sole duty to defend, at dollar one,” which would prohibit the TNCs' reliance on excess insurance. The proposal does say that a driver’s insurance can be used to cover TNC accidents, but only if it is “specifically written for the purpose of covering transportation network services.” And those policies do not currently exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like AB 2293, the latest CPUC proposal also extends the time that drivers are insured to Period 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UberX driver who struck and killed Sofia Liu in San Francisco was reportedly in this interval between calls, so was not covered by Uber's policy, a limitation not widely known at the time. Subsequently, both \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/03/14/uber-lyft-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">Uber and Lyft announced they had closed this gap\u003c/a> by offering up to $100,000 in coverage for drivers in the app on-and-waiting time. However, this won’t be good enough under the CPUC’s proposal, which appears to simply extend the $1 million insurance requirement to this period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Uber and Lyft have also added $50,000 in collision insurance, and Uber offers $50,000 in comprehensive coverage (fire, theft and such). These are all contingent, however, on drivers having bought the same coverage on their personal auto policies. The CPUC’s proposal gives TNCs no such leeway, making collision and comprehensive mandatory regardless of a driver’s having purchased it on his own. Finally, the commission also wants to require $5,000 in coverage for medical payments related to injuries resulting from an accident. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is \u003ca href=\"//www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/06/12/uber-lyft-setback-insurance-chief-backs-proposal.html?page=3%E2%80%9D\">supporting the proposed CPUC changes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNC Arguments Against\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the CPUC first floated the expansion of the mandatory $1 million coverage to include Period 1, Uber argued it could spur drivers to “(keep) the app open at all times, regardless of the drivers’ intent to accept a request for transportation service … solely to obtain the benefit from the increased insurance.” Uber also speculated that drivers not engaged in TNC work might turn on the app “immediately following an accident in order to try to secure the potentially significant financial benefit of the higher limits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyft had similar objections: “(A) TNC driver could forget to close the app and be considered to be ‘providing TNC services’ in the middle of the night when the car is parked on the street and the driver is sleeping, or when the vehicle is being driven by another household member, or when it is being used to transport a driver’s child to soccer practice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kara Cross of the Personal Insurance Federation of California says TNCs can guard against drivers gaming the system this way by monitoring their acceptance rates, tracking who has the app on while not accepting rides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Stuart Nelson, the president of Point West Insurance, a property and casualty insurance broker in Sacramento, says the CPUC’s mandatory collision coverage could invite fraud. “You could damage a car personally and then say it was damaged during a drive,” he says. “I could have this pre-existing damage and then claim it happened as an Uber driver, and Uber has to cover it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TNCs Would Pay More\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson, Kara Cross, and Jerry Sullivan, who runs an insurance brokerage business, all say TNCs will pay more for insurance if the CPUC changes go through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People who write livery are prepared to write the kind of exposure these guys will have,” Sullivan said. “But it’s going to cost them 30 to 35 percent more than they are now.” He said that increase only takes into account the greater expense of extending the period of time drivers are covered — the TNCs might incur additional increases for the additional collision and comprehensive insurance. Nelson thinks requiring TNCs to offer one-size-fits-all collision coverage to every driver could be a significant extra cost, because “there’s no way to properly insure the risk. We won’t know if we’re insuring a 1974 Volkswagen Bug or a Ferrari.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The taxi industry, for its part, is still not happy with the CPUC, because the proposed changes would not go into effect immediately, but after the current TNC policies expire or one year from the effective date of the decision, whichever comes first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jerry Sullivan said he was in discussion with Lyft about 18 months ago to broker insurance coverage, but that the company balked when he quoted them a price for primary coverage from Lloyds of London. “They didn’t want to pay the price,” he says. “That’s not how they designed their business model.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Transbay Transit Center Construction Reaches Halfway Point",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139129\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7000.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139129\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7000-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the Transbay Transit Center construction site, viewed from 201 Mission St. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">\"N\u003c/span>o great thing is created suddenly.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quote, attributed to the Greek philosopher Epictetus, is splashed across plywood panels at Fremont and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco. It's part of an ad campaign for the soon-to-be-built Salesforce Tower, but it could also apply to the neighboring Transbay Transit Center, the grand transportation terminal that has rendered a large chunk of SoMa a construction zone for the past several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers officially broke ground on the transit center in 2010, beginning with the demolition of the old Transbay Terminal. Nearly four years later, the site still looks like a 1,500-foot-long chasm, buttressed by dozens of huge steel tubes. But that will change soon. According to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, construction is at about the halfway point. After two years of underground work, the above-ground portion of the building will begin to take shape this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the TJPA conducted a tour of the construction site to show off its cavernous underground portion before vertical construction begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139132\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7003.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139132\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7003-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The walls are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's difficult to get a sense for the scale of the project from street level, because all of the work up to this point has been underground. \"You get your exercise,\" said Chris Jones, who serves as the project's quality assurance coordinator. \"Basically, if I do my rounds, that's one lap around the project. It's half a mile.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To give you an idea of just how big it is, two Transamerica Pyramids, laid down end to end, would nearly fit in the hole. During excavation, workers removed enough material to fill 120 Olympic swimming pools. (Other excavation trivia \u003ca href=\"http://transbaycenter.org/uploads/2014/02/Transbay-Transit-Center-Excavation-Fact-Sheet-2.10.14.pdf\">can be found here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The steel that will support the new building will come from seven fabrication shops that are spread out all over the country. \"Our job numbers just came in, and I think we're employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\" said Stephanie Reichin, a spokeswoman for the TJPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139133\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7021.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139133\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7021-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\"We're employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\" said TJPA spokeswoman Stephanie Reichin. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The center's $1.9 billion first phase will include a five-story bus terminal, which will stretch across four blocks. The building will be topped with a 5.4-acre rooftop park, which has been compared to \u003ca href=\"http://www.viator.com/tours/New-York-City/New-York-High-Line-Park-Walking-Tour/d687-5196HIGH?pref=204&aid=m5858\">New York's High Line\u003c/a>. Future phases, which have yet to receive funding, will link high-speed rail and Caltrain to the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest challenges associated with the site is groundwater. In the 1840s, the bay's shoreline was roughly where First Street is today. So, when workers began to dig, they encountered a lot of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We created, essentially, a bathtub,\" said Reichin. That enabled workers to excavate the site without disrupting the surrounding water table. Crews pounded 100-foot-long I-beams into the ground, creating underground walls that are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. Those walls serve to prevent dirt and water from the surrounding neighborhood from pouring into the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7040.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139146\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7040-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers tour the lower levels of the Transbay Transit Center construction site. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Workers found more than just water when excavating the site. They famously discovered a 1,300-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, some gold chips and a treasure trove of \u003ca href=\"http://transbaycenter.org/project/archaeology\">Gold Rush-era artifacts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, the transit center has been making headlines for its escalating price tag. Last month, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Transbay-Transit-Center-s-construction-costs-keep-5486433.php\">the Chronicle reported\u003c/a> that the project's costs had risen by $150 million, forcing officials to drop more than $50 million in \"cosmetic\" expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The enormous size of the building is an obvious contributor to the hefty price. But there are other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're building it correctly,\" said Reichin. \"We have to build it for seismic structural integrity.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building must also conform to Federal Transit Administration and federal security requirements. The Bay Area's recent construction boom is also to blame, enabling construction companies to take their pick of projects, driving up prices in the bidding process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing at the base of the concrete chasm in a maze of scaffolding and rebar, it's still pretty difficult to picture the curvy, metal-clad structure that will rise over the next three years. But construction is moving steadily forward. The first four decks of the lower concourse have been poured, and beginning this fall, the building will begin to take shape above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139140\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7189.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139140\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7189-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is expected to be complete in late 2017. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139129\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7000.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139129\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7000-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the Transbay Transit Center construction site, viewed from 201 Mission St. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">\"N\u003c/span>o great thing is created suddenly.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quote, attributed to the Greek philosopher Epictetus, is splashed across plywood panels at Fremont and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco. It's part of an ad campaign for the soon-to-be-built Salesforce Tower, but it could also apply to the neighboring Transbay Transit Center, the grand transportation terminal that has rendered a large chunk of SoMa a construction zone for the past several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers officially broke ground on the transit center in 2010, beginning with the demolition of the old Transbay Terminal. Nearly four years later, the site still looks like a 1,500-foot-long chasm, buttressed by dozens of huge steel tubes. But that will change soon. According to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, construction is at about the halfway point. After two years of underground work, the above-ground portion of the building will begin to take shape this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the TJPA conducted a tour of the construction site to show off its cavernous underground portion before vertical construction begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139132\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7003.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139132\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7003-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The walls are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It's difficult to get a sense for the scale of the project from street level, because all of the work up to this point has been underground. \"You get your exercise,\" said Chris Jones, who serves as the project's quality assurance coordinator. \"Basically, if I do my rounds, that's one lap around the project. It's half a mile.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To give you an idea of just how big it is, two Transamerica Pyramids, laid down end to end, would nearly fit in the hole. During excavation, workers removed enough material to fill 120 Olympic swimming pools. (Other excavation trivia \u003ca href=\"http://transbaycenter.org/uploads/2014/02/Transbay-Transit-Center-Excavation-Fact-Sheet-2.10.14.pdf\">can be found here\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The steel that will support the new building will come from seven fabrication shops that are spread out all over the country. \"Our job numbers just came in, and I think we're employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\" said Stephanie Reichin, a spokeswoman for the TJPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139133\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7021.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139133\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7021-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\"We're employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\" said TJPA spokeswoman Stephanie Reichin. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The center's $1.9 billion first phase will include a five-story bus terminal, which will stretch across four blocks. The building will be topped with a 5.4-acre rooftop park, which has been compared to \u003ca href=\"http://www.viator.com/tours/New-York-City/New-York-High-Line-Park-Walking-Tour/d687-5196HIGH?pref=204&aid=m5858\">New York's High Line\u003c/a>. Future phases, which have yet to receive funding, will link high-speed rail and Caltrain to the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the biggest challenges associated with the site is groundwater. In the 1840s, the bay's shoreline was roughly where First Street is today. So, when workers began to dig, they encountered a lot of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We created, essentially, a bathtub,\" said Reichin. That enabled workers to excavate the site without disrupting the surrounding water table. Crews pounded 100-foot-long I-beams into the ground, creating underground walls that are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. Those walls serve to prevent dirt and water from the surrounding neighborhood from pouring into the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7040.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139146\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7040-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers tour the lower levels of the Transbay Transit Center construction site. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Workers found more than just water when excavating the site. They famously discovered a 1,300-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, some gold chips and a treasure trove of \u003ca href=\"http://transbaycenter.org/project/archaeology\">Gold Rush-era artifacts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, the transit center has been making headlines for its escalating price tag. Last month, \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Transbay-Transit-Center-s-construction-costs-keep-5486433.php\">the Chronicle reported\u003c/a> that the project's costs had risen by $150 million, forcing officials to drop more than $50 million in \"cosmetic\" expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The enormous size of the building is an obvious contributor to the hefty price. But there are other reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We're building it correctly,\" said Reichin. \"We have to build it for seismic structural integrity.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building must also conform to Federal Transit Administration and federal security requirements. The Bay Area's recent construction boom is also to blame, enabling construction companies to take their pick of projects, driving up prices in the bidding process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing at the base of the concrete chasm in a maze of scaffolding and rebar, it's still pretty difficult to picture the curvy, metal-clad structure that will rise over the next three years. But construction is moving steadily forward. The first four decks of the lower concourse have been poured, and beginning this fall, the building will begin to take shape above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_139140\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7189.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-139140\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/IMG_7189-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Transbay Transit Center\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is expected to be complete in late 2017. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Odds Stacked Against S.F. Transit Operators in Talks, Union Leaders Say",
"title": "Odds Stacked Against S.F. Transit Operators in Talks, Union Leaders Say",
"headTitle": "News Fix | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10660_IMG_6286.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-138283\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10660_IMG_6286-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Trolley conductor Sam Eversley gazes up Powell Street. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cable car conductor Sam Eversley gazes up Powell Street. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco transit riders were caught by surprise last week when Muni operators staged \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/01/san-francisco-muni-operators-may-stage-monday-sick-out\">a three-day sickout\u003c/a>. But the wildcat action was foreshadowed in the campaign four years ago against a voter-approved initiative that required collective bargaining but stripped some of the union's power to negotiate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point, the wall is so high in negotiations that we cannot get over it because it’s an unfair process,” said Eric Williams, president of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents 2,200 operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But late last week, in a hopeful sign for the union, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency agreed to meet with a mediator instead of an arbitrator. Union leaders had accused the agency of forcing talks into arbitration, where the odds are stacked against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Prop. G, approved by nearly 65 percent of San Francisco voters in 2010, arbitration is triggered when negotiations reach an impasse. In arbitration, the measure puts the burden on operators to prove their labor proposals prioritize Muni service and serve the public interest. Otherwise, the rules favor the SFMTA’s proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not negotiating. That’s dictating the system,” Williams said. “What kind of bargaining is this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-138488\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Passengers board the #38 bus on Geary Street, near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Proposition G\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. G, sold as a way to “\u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/65763670\">Fix Muni Now,”\u003c/a> was pushed primarily by former Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and Supervisor Scott Wiener and endorsed by a number of groups, including the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). They \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/10/14/proposition-g-and-the-fix-muni-syndrome/\">cautioned the measure alone wouldn’t fix Muni\u003c/a>, but get rid of inefficient work rules and rein in labor costs that the SFMTA said forced a service cut of 10 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, union leaders said operators were being blamed for everything wrong with the city’s beleaguered transit system — portrayed as lazy public employees with runaway overtime and high salaries. They had refused givebacks at a time when other city employees were making sacrifices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that was because the base pay of operators was set under a 47-year-old wage formula that required operators’ salaries to be the second-highest in the nation. Proposition G did away with that formula and handed more power to the SFMTA to bargain and run operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether Prop. G has done what it was intended to do is up for debate. Some elected officials who opposed the measure, but supported other reforms, say it’s not working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This anti-worker language made Prop. G a more divisive measure and created a lot of the distrust we’re now seeing from the Transport Workers Union,” said Supervisor John Avalos during a debate last Tuesday on \u003ca href=\"http://sfappeal.com/2014/06/sf-supe-plans-resolution-to-urge-end-to-muni-driver-sickout/\">a resolution calling on Muni operators to go back to work\u003c/a>. “Prop. G was sold to the voters as 'fix Muni now,' but we all know it didn’t fix Muni.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, who ran his campaign for supervisor in the same office as Prop. G, has made Muni reform one of his top priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve seen steady progress,” Wiener said, arguing Prop. G has done away with work rules that triggered what he described as “very excessive overtime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA \u003ca href=\"http://sfbay.ca/2014/02/12/sfmta-trims-overtime-costs-by-13-percent/\">has trimmed overtime\u003c/a>, according to the city controller, but Williams said operators have no choice but to work long hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Prop. G was based on getting bodies in here to get the buses out, to get the equipment out. They still have not achieved that,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10671_IMG_6497.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-138491 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10671_IMG_6497-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Duran has worked as a Muni driver for the past 15 years, and he's displeased with the proposed contract. "We haven't gotten a raise for five years, but they've been raising our premium," he said. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Duran has worked as a Muni driver for 15 years, and he's displeased with the proposed contract. \"We haven't gotten a raise for five years, but they've been raising our premium,\" he said. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Operator Shortage \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said an operator shortage has left the SFMTA without 200 full-time and 251 part-time operators. Many, he said, work 12-hour days. Overtime is paid as time-and-a-half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose admits “previous budgetary decisions” meant the agency “didn’t have the appropriate resources for training” new operators. But this year 15 additional trainers were hired and “a training surge” has begun. The first group of trainees, about 25 full-time operators, graduated Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Williams contends the training is antiquated, and it will take years to train all the operators needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All these positions that are open equate to runs that are not going out,” Williams said. “The full-time operators that are on the platform right now are making up the difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. G, for the first time, allowed the SFMTA to hire part-time operators. But Williams said the agency has had trouble attracting new part-timers because of the pay and the high cost of living in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you bring in a part-timer, and you’re asking him to pay 10 percent into his pension? And making $78 a day, plus gas and everything else. You’re trying to bring in new hires and the job is not worth it,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10663_IMG_6184.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-138533 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10663_IMG_6184-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Cable car conductor Francis Givens, 51, of Brentwood, works on the Powell Street line. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cable car conductor Francis Givens, 51, of Brentwood, works on the Powell Street line. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Frontline Ambassadors \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/es/node/71526\">call for applications\u003c/a> on the SFMTA’s website hails Muni operators as the frontline ambassadors to the city. It’s hard to argue that being a Muni operator isn’t a tough job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Safety concerns, lack of restroom breaks, mechanical \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/05/munis-absymal-breakdown-rate-one-reason-sf-needs-a-vehicle-license-fee/\">breakdowns\u003c/a> and traffic congestion add up to a lot of stress for drivers, Williams said, not to mention the pressure of being on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The worry that if I'm not on time I'm going to hear from the passengers, and I'm going to hear from my supervisor on where I'm at because I'm stuck in traffic because the agency and the city won't give us bus lanes,” said Williams, a former cable car operator who has worked a variety of jobs at the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We love our jobs,” he went on. “Most of us, even though we don't live in the city, we were raised in the city and we still have family in the city. We like what we do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it's unbelievable that we're here in San Francisco, the freest city in the nation, and we're being attacked like we are as workers, minority workers. That is unfair.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Contract \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposed two-year contract, initially agreed to by both sides through a mediator, was rejected by a vote of 1,148 to 47 three days before the sickout. It includes a salary hike and pension swap union leaders say would actually amount to a $1.10 an hour wage cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An SFMTA spokesman \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/node/126546\">argued it’s an equal swap\u003c/a>: a 5.05 percent offset for a 7.5 pension contribution (which pretaxed would amount to 5.05 percent), combined with a 3 percent raise this year, and another raise based on the consumer price index in 2015 between 2.25 and 3.25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni drivers make anywhere from $18 to $29 an hour, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/9163-Pay-Rates-2014.pdf\">according to the SFMTA\u003c/a>. The agency says the new contract, which would take effect July 1, would bump some pay to $32 an hour, and that Muni operators would go from being the seventh-highest-paid transit operators in the country to the second highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Williams said the union’s accountant crunched the numbers and the figures don't add up to an even swap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A date for new talks has not been set, but the SFMTA Board must approve a new contract by this Sunday, June 15. It has scheduled a special meeting Friday. If a contract is not approved by the deadline, an SFMTA spokesman said the current contract would be extended by two years, an unpleasant prospect for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current contract, which froze wages, was imposed by an arbitrator in 2011 after it was overwhelmingly rejected by operators, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Muni-operators-taking-strike-authorization-vote-2374591.php\">took a strike vote\u003c/a>, even though the city charter forbids a walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said operators are just asking to be treated like other city employees, who get an equal swap for their pensions. He said he understands rider anger over the sickout last week, but wants a fair deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We feel for our riders. We feel for the public, we do, and we're not asking for sympathy,\" Williams said. “We just want to be treated fairly as human beings and hard-working individuals.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10660_IMG_6286.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-138283\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10660_IMG_6286-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Trolley conductor Sam Eversley gazes up Powell Street. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cable car conductor Sam Eversley gazes up Powell Street. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco transit riders were caught by surprise last week when Muni operators staged \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/06/01/san-francisco-muni-operators-may-stage-monday-sick-out\">a three-day sickout\u003c/a>. But the wildcat action was foreshadowed in the campaign four years ago against a voter-approved initiative that required collective bargaining but stripped some of the union's power to negotiate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point, the wall is so high in negotiations that we cannot get over it because it’s an unfair process,” said Eric Williams, president of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents 2,200 operators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But late last week, in a hopeful sign for the union, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency agreed to meet with a mediator instead of an arbitrator. Union leaders had accused the agency of forcing talks into arbitration, where the odds are stacked against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Prop. G, approved by nearly 65 percent of San Francisco voters in 2010, arbitration is triggered when negotiations reach an impasse. In arbitration, the measure puts the burden on operators to prove their labor proposals prioritize Muni service and serve the public interest. Otherwise, the rules favor the SFMTA’s proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is not negotiating. That’s dictating the system,” Williams said. “What kind of bargaining is this?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-138488\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10658_IMG_6302-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Passengers board the #38 bus on Geary Street, near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board a 38-Geary bus near Union Square. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Proposition G\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. G, sold as a way to “\u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/65763670\">Fix Muni Now,”\u003c/a> was pushed primarily by former Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and Supervisor Scott Wiener and endorsed by a number of groups, including the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). They \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/10/14/proposition-g-and-the-fix-muni-syndrome/\">cautioned the measure alone wouldn’t fix Muni\u003c/a>, but get rid of inefficient work rules and rein in labor costs that the SFMTA said forced a service cut of 10 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, union leaders said operators were being blamed for everything wrong with the city’s beleaguered transit system — portrayed as lazy public employees with runaway overtime and high salaries. They had refused givebacks at a time when other city employees were making sacrifices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that was because the base pay of operators was set under a 47-year-old wage formula that required operators’ salaries to be the second-highest in the nation. Proposition G did away with that formula and handed more power to the SFMTA to bargain and run operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether Prop. G has done what it was intended to do is up for debate. Some elected officials who opposed the measure, but supported other reforms, say it’s not working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This anti-worker language made Prop. G a more divisive measure and created a lot of the distrust we’re now seeing from the Transport Workers Union,” said Supervisor John Avalos during a debate last Tuesday on \u003ca href=\"http://sfappeal.com/2014/06/sf-supe-plans-resolution-to-urge-end-to-muni-driver-sickout/\">a resolution calling on Muni operators to go back to work\u003c/a>. “Prop. G was sold to the voters as 'fix Muni now,' but we all know it didn’t fix Muni.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, who ran his campaign for supervisor in the same office as Prop. G, has made Muni reform one of his top priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve seen steady progress,” Wiener said, arguing Prop. G has done away with work rules that triggered what he described as “very excessive overtime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFMTA \u003ca href=\"http://sfbay.ca/2014/02/12/sfmta-trims-overtime-costs-by-13-percent/\">has trimmed overtime\u003c/a>, according to the city controller, but Williams said operators have no choice but to work long hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Prop. G was based on getting bodies in here to get the buses out, to get the equipment out. They still have not achieved that,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138491\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10671_IMG_6497.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-138491 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10671_IMG_6497-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Duran has worked as a Muni driver for the past 15 years, and he's displeased with the proposed contract. "We haven't gotten a raise for five years, but they've been raising our premium," he said. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Duran has worked as a Muni driver for 15 years, and he's displeased with the proposed contract. \"We haven't gotten a raise for five years, but they've been raising our premium,\" he said. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Operator Shortage \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said an operator shortage has left the SFMTA without 200 full-time and 251 part-time operators. Many, he said, work 12-hour days. Overtime is paid as time-and-a-half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose admits “previous budgetary decisions” meant the agency “didn’t have the appropriate resources for training” new operators. But this year 15 additional trainers were hired and “a training surge” has begun. The first group of trainees, about 25 full-time operators, graduated Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Williams contends the training is antiquated, and it will take years to train all the operators needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All these positions that are open equate to runs that are not going out,” Williams said. “The full-time operators that are on the platform right now are making up the difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prop. G, for the first time, allowed the SFMTA to hire part-time operators. But Williams said the agency has had trouble attracting new part-timers because of the pay and the high cost of living in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do you bring in a part-timer, and you’re asking him to pay 10 percent into his pension? And making $78 a day, plus gas and everything else. You’re trying to bring in new hires and the job is not worth it,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10663_IMG_6184.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-138533 size-medium\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/RS10663_IMG_6184-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"Cable car conductor Francis Givens, 51, of Brentwood, works on the Powell Street line. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cable car conductor Francis Givens, 51, of Brentwood, works on the Powell Street line. (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Frontline Ambassadors \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/es/node/71526\">call for applications\u003c/a> on the SFMTA’s website hails Muni operators as the frontline ambassadors to the city. It’s hard to argue that being a Muni operator isn’t a tough job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Safety concerns, lack of restroom breaks, mechanical \u003ca href=\"http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/06/05/munis-absymal-breakdown-rate-one-reason-sf-needs-a-vehicle-license-fee/\">breakdowns\u003c/a> and traffic congestion add up to a lot of stress for drivers, Williams said, not to mention the pressure of being on time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The worry that if I'm not on time I'm going to hear from the passengers, and I'm going to hear from my supervisor on where I'm at because I'm stuck in traffic because the agency and the city won't give us bus lanes,” said Williams, a former cable car operator who has worked a variety of jobs at the SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We love our jobs,” he went on. “Most of us, even though we don't live in the city, we were raised in the city and we still have family in the city. We like what we do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “it's unbelievable that we're here in San Francisco, the freest city in the nation, and we're being attacked like we are as workers, minority workers. That is unfair.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Contract \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposed two-year contract, initially agreed to by both sides through a mediator, was rejected by a vote of 1,148 to 47 three days before the sickout. It includes a salary hike and pension swap union leaders say would actually amount to a $1.10 an hour wage cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An SFMTA spokesman \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfmta.com/node/126546\">argued it’s an equal swap\u003c/a>: a 5.05 percent offset for a 7.5 pension contribution (which pretaxed would amount to 5.05 percent), combined with a 3 percent raise this year, and another raise based on the consumer price index in 2015 between 2.25 and 3.25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni drivers make anywhere from $18 to $29 an hour, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/9163-Pay-Rates-2014.pdf\">according to the SFMTA\u003c/a>. The agency says the new contract, which would take effect July 1, would bump some pay to $32 an hour, and that Muni operators would go from being the seventh-highest-paid transit operators in the country to the second highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Williams said the union’s accountant crunched the numbers and the figures don't add up to an even swap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A date for new talks has not been set, but the SFMTA Board must approve a new contract by this Sunday, June 15. It has scheduled a special meeting Friday. If a contract is not approved by the deadline, an SFMTA spokesman said the current contract would be extended by two years, an unpleasant prospect for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current contract, which froze wages, was imposed by an arbitrator in 2011 after it was overwhelmingly rejected by operators, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Muni-operators-taking-strike-authorization-vote-2374591.php\">took a strike vote\u003c/a>, even though the city charter forbids a walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said operators are just asking to be treated like other city employees, who get an equal swap for their pensions. He said he understands rider anger over the sickout last week, but wants a fair deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We feel for our riders. We feel for the public, we do, and we're not asking for sympathy,\" Williams said. “We just want to be treated fairly as human beings and hard-working individuals.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_138273\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 548px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/Jitney-548x400.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-138273 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/06/Jitney-548x400.jpg\" alt=\"Di Pilla's original Jitney, with a young Michele, in 1976. Photo courtesy of the Di Pilla family.\" width=\"548\" height=\"308\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Di Pilla’s original Jitney, with a young Michele Di Pilla, in 1976. (Photo courtesy of the Di Pilla family)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Rigoberto Hernandez and Andrea Valencia\u003cbr>\nMission Local\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Few would suspect that La Argentina Gift Shop, an odd sliver of a store at 3250 24th Street, is part of a small empire built on a piece of Mission District history: the private jitneys that filled San Francisco for a large part of the 20th century, ferrying riders all over town and competing against Muni.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jitneys seem particularly relevant this week as commuters faced with the sickout by Muni drivers look for other transportation options. The city once had one—the jitneys—and some of their history is right on 24th Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the tech buses, they weren’t free, but they were private, for-profit services run by independent operators including the Di Pilla family, today the owners of the gift shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At their peak in 1950, some 7,000 passengers a day paid 10 cents a ride to take the private jitneys, according to Paratransit in the San Francisco Bay Area, \u003ca href=\"http://www.uctc.net/papers/252.pdf\">a study\u003c/a> by the University of California Transportation Center. The jitneys were seen as private vehicles competing well against Muni, and the city began to legislate against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more at \u003ca href=\"http://missionlocal.org/2014/06/up-until-the-1970s-muni-had-competition/\">Mission Local.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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