Tag Archives: demand

Taxi driving: conferences + tourists = seasonal demand

Posted on June 12, 2008 by kfarr

My shifts were busy and lucrative this past weekend. Two big conferences were in town: the Apple WWDC and some sort of diabetes convention. Two special events — the Haight Ashbury Street Fair and the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon — … Continue reading →

Posted in taxi, work | Tagged alcatraz, apple, ashbury, ball, bocce, boules, cab, cabbie, conference, demand, diabetes, driving, escape, fairs, France, french, haight, obama, pétanque, san francisco, sf, street, summer, taxi, taxicab, tourists, transit, triathlon, visitors, wwdc | Leave a comment

More Bay to Breakers

Posted on May 22, 2008 by kfarr

This is a continuation of a previous post. Toward the end of my shift, around 3pm, I picked up an elderly Chinese couple hailing on the street downtown. They were heading all the way out to the deep Richmond on … Continue reading →

Posted in taxi, work | Tagged b2b, bay, bay to breakers, breakers, cab, cabbie, city, demand, driving, econ, economics, event, francisco, geography, medallions, peak, pricing, race, road, roadrace, run, running, san, san francisco, sf, taxi, timing, to, urban | 1 Comment

Driving Bay to Breakers

Posted on May 21, 2008 by kfarr

This weekend the City hosted its annual Bay to Breakers run. Bay to Breakers (B2B) is a 7 mile run through the heart of San Francisco. B2B starts from the east (bay) side of the City at the Embarcadero and … Continue reading →

Posted in taxi, work | Tagged bay, bay to breakers, beer, breakers, bridge, cab, cabbie, city, crowds, demand, driving, event, gate, golden, golden gate, management, naked, ocean, park, party, peak, pricing, race, run, runners, running, san francisco, sf, taxi, transit, transportation | 2 Comments

Cab earnings update: seasonal rise in demand for taxis offsets increased fuel and gate costs.

Posted on April 24, 2008 by kfarr

San Francisco cab drivers face two recent cost pressures: a recent gate fee increase combined with the recent climb in gas prices. Fortunately, these cost pressures come at a time when aggregate demand for taxis in the City is increasing. … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, politics, taxi, transit | Tagged aggregate, cab, city, cost, demand, earnings, econ, employment, fee, forecast, fuel, gas, gate, gate fee, home, hourly, increase, infrastructure, labor, macro, micro, oil, pay, rise, san francisco, seasonal, sf, shift, take, take-home, taxi, taxicab, tips, transit, transportation, wage, winter, worker | 1 Comment

Driving the day of the Olympic Torch run

Posted on April 9, 2008 by kfarr

I was not originally scheduled to work today, but I had to make up for a missed shift from earlier this week. More to the point, I wanted to experience San Francisco during the historic procession of the Olympic Flame … Continue reading →

Posted in happiness, taxi, transit, work | Tagged aggregate, bearer, bearing, cab, chase, Christ, Chrysler, city, demand, dispatch, dispatcher, down, flame, God, helicopters, left, mini, minivan, olympic, olympic flame, procession, right, run, runner, russian hill, san francisco, sf, solution, stories, tales, taxi, taxicab, theory, torch, transit, transportation, up, van | Leave a comment

Driving highlights

Posted on April 2, 2008 by kfarr

It was a tough weekend. It was slow Monday and Tuesday in the City. I am learning, albeit slowly, to let go of the natural feelings of elated success or critical failure that come from a high or low earning … Continue reading →

Posted in taxi, work | Tagged aggregate, cab, cabbie, cabbing, care, city, commission, compensation, demand, drivers, driving, elder care, elderly, health, health care, hospital, management, pay, performance pay, pricing, roads, san francisco, sf, socialism, taxi, taxicab, the city, tourism, traffic, transportation | 1 Comment

Fire destroys low-income resident’s apartment. Archaic rent control forces her to leave City.

Posted on March 19, 2008 by kfarr

The Chronicle has a touching and well-written article about the aftermath of the Mission District fire that completely destroyed a 30-unit apartment building Monday evening. Central to the article is the story of Griselda Paleo. Ms. Paleo is 59 and … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, happiness, politics | Tagged affordable, ceiling, city, control, demand, econ, economics, housing, macro, market, micro, new york, new york city, nyc, policy, price, price ceiling, price control, regulation, rent, rent control, rental, san francisco, sf, subsidies, supply, unit | Leave a comment

Crazy Idea: What if City cabs had variable pricing?

Posted on December 25, 2007 by kfarr

What if each City cab were to have a bright green light which, when lit, indicates fares are half of the normal price? During off-peak times I can cruise for nearly as long as an hour without a fare. When … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, taxi | Tagged cab, demand, econ, economics, market, microeconomics, muni, pricing, supply, taxi, taxicab, thought experiment, variable, variable pricing, variable supply | 2 Comments

“Peak Medallions” are the answer to evening cab rush.

Posted on November 6, 2007 by kfarr

You have a 7pm reservation with friends across town in the Mission. It’s 6:30 and you know MUNI won’t get you there in less than an hour, so you have to cab it. You walk to the nearest busy street … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, taxi, transit | Tagged cab, demand, dispatch, econ, economics, local, medallions, partnership, peak, private, public, regulation, san francisco, sf, taxi | 7 Comments

There’s no free parking.

Posted on October 20, 2007 by kfarr

This excellent article in Slate discusses the hidden costs of parking. I won’t attempt to summarize, it’s worth reading in its entirety. Link It got me thinking about the cost of parking in the City, especially residential parking permits. Is … Continue reading →

Posted in econ, transit | Tagged congestion, demand, econ, economics, idiocy, local, parking, parking pricing, policy, public policy, regulation, supply | 4 Comments