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 the far west side of the City. We took Turk as far west as we could [...]

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 runs directly west toward the ocean (breakers) side of the City.
B2B cuts through many varied [...]

The NY Times reports on the sad news that the New York State Assembly vetoed New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to charge drivers to enter Manhattan during peak times.
While I do not understand the legal wrangling between agencies such that state representatives vetoed a local city measure, I do understand the underlying strong fear [...]

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 day. This is important.
While there are many factors over which I have control — the areas of [...]

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a bureaucratic whale, containing, in separate stomachs, the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) and the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit system.
Recently, the SFMTA crunched some numbers and said, “Uh oh, we won’t have enough money to cover our costs over the next two years.” [...]

My shift starts around midnight. I usually eat ‘breakfast’ around 1 or 2am if it’s slow. I’ll sit in line at the 18/Castro unofficial taxi stand, at the 24-Divisadero bus stop, and eat a slice of pizza for my first meal. This time an Indian guy came up to my cab, completely drunk, and demanded [...]

Dear Mayor Newsom
You didn’t have to spend City taxpayer money on private consultants. Anyone could have told you: Just like any other shared and limited public resource, public transit needs user fees.
Offering ‘free’ Muni is a destructive proposal. Muni rolling stock is not unlimited. Removing user fees distorts a natural and effective form of limiting [...]

(Photo Credit)
On a recent episode of KQED’s Forum, Dave Iverson discusses the possibility of congestion pricing in the City with two main guests: Ken Cleaveland, director of government and public affairs with the Building Owners and Managers Association and Zabe Bent, senior transportation planner with the San Francisco Transportation Authority.
To some degree, Ms. Bent and [...]

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 it’s dead at 4 in the morning I’ll often drive by people stuck waiting for [...]

Is Fair Trade coffee really ‘fair’? The short answer: no.
EconTalk’s Russ Roberts chats with Duke Econ Prof Michael Munger about the concept of Fair Trade Coffee. It’s a very difficult challenge to ensure that a consumer price increase correlates with a laborer salary increase. But, even assuming that this difficult challenge is overcome, here is [...]