Tag Archives: sf hackers

Return of the Gypsy Cab That’s One Step Ahead

Last time we checked in with out favorite gypsy cab, the fake medallion number had been covered with electrical tape in some feeble attempt to go incognito as it sat parked in plain site outside the California Smoke Shop on Geary Street:

photo by Bradley Voelker

In fact, the driver of this gypsy cab spends so much time at that smoke shop, it’s been captured on Google Street View:

Several weeks back, I was cab standing at The Great Northern and saw him drive by with a garbage bag taped over his back window, after someone obviously smashed it in. And no wonder, since the SFPD, the DMV and the SFMTA were all notified of this illegal operation and all claimed to have no jurisdiction over it. But a broken window didn’t stop this scofflaw…

Now, the Gypsy Cab that’s One Step Ahead is back, more brazen than ever. With a crafty new medallion number: 007.

gypsy-cab-007-san-francisco-union-square

photo by Gerry Rowland

As you can see, the license plates are the same:

gypsy-cab-yellow-983-2

But now he’s enlisted a new driver.

Numerous taxi drivers have spotted him around the city.

photo by Christian Lewis

photo by Thomas Canne

photo by Bradley Voelker

Even Stanley Roberts, who produces the People Behaving Badly series for KRON4 News, posted about the fake cab on Facebook:

I guess claiming to be a SAM Francisco/Redwood City cab makes him immune to the laws of SAN Francisco.

photo by Christian Lewis

He even has a phone number on the outside. And why not? He’s immune to any sanctions by the city.

Just goes to show… you can get away with anything in San Francisco, except, apparently, eating pizza at a bus stop. Gotta draw the line somewhere…

[All images, other than screengrabs, courtesy of the omnipresent SF Hackers.]

Fly-by-night Outrage

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san-francisco-taxi-sfo-christian-lewis

After gleefully watching the #DeleteUber movement gain traction on social media for a week, I was curious if there would be any residual effects from the boycott when I started my shift on Thursday. Even though most of the protesters were switching to Lyft, some folks did recommend Flywheel. A few even kept it old school and suggested flagging down one of the hundreds of empty cabs rolling around The City …

As I leave the National yard that afternoon, I check my Flywheel phone and get the same error: Can’t connect to server. It’s been over a week now. From what I’ve read on Hackers, it’s affecting many drivers, but only those who don’t drive for Flywheel Taxi, the cab company, that is, not the app.

Fortunately, the outage doesn’t interfere with the user end of the app. People can request rides, and drivers, especially those who work for Flywheel Taxi — again, the cab company, not the app — are still receiving orders …

Flywheel has been around since I started driving a taxi. I’ve always incorporated the app into my driving rhythm. Without it, I have no choice but to hunt down fares the old-fashioned way. I work the Financial, Union Square, SoMa and the Mission. When dropping outside the metro area, I have to remind myself not to linger, as I usually do with the Flywheel app open, and hightail it back downtown.

You don’t really notice how much business you get from the Flywheel app until it’s gone.

Read the rest of this column here.

[photo by Christian Lewis]

San Francisco Taxi Drivers Ain’t Nothing to Fuck With

On the Recitation of the Waybill: The National Barbecue

This week’s I Drive S.F. column is about the National Barbecue:

The National Barbecue is a cross between a hobo cookout and a bunch of pirates carousing after a night of pillaging and plundering. It takes place on Sunday mornings in a junkyard, among the remains of disemboweled taxicabs and assorted automobile parts rusting outside the front office.

Hester looking out over the junkyard

Throughout the night, people come and go, including former Veterans and Arrow drivers like Marty, Austin, Ben “I got nothing to live for!” Valis and Trevor Fucker. Mingling in the crowd is Other Larry (aka Early Morning Larry), Mathias (“a feast of rats upon you”), Steven, Willie, Byron and Glover, the only taxi driver who gets a pass for switching to Uber because he’s probably driven a cab longer than anyone else and justifies his betrayal with, “It’s all about the money, baby!”