Anti-Rideshare Bumper Stickers Help San Francisco Taxi Drivers Voice Frustration
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- The decision to suspend pickup privileges of two drivers involved in last month's taxi demonstration that blocked airport traffic isn't improving the moods of cabbies as a holiday truce takes effect.
Cabbies are annoyed that lightly regulated rideshare competitors including Lyft, Sidecar and Uber have been given the green light to pick up airport fares with no consequences for all the years they were doing so without official permission.
Taxi driver Dennis Wriku's cab sports a bumper sticker that reads, "Don't get hammered. Take a taxicab."
That sticker is in reference to an incident in September where an Uber passenger was attacked by a driver wielding a hammer.
"Yeah, an Uber driver basically hit a passenger," Wriku said.
The bumper stickers were handed out at last month's demonstration.
Cab drivers are coming up with all sorts of ways to help vent their frustration and show the public, we're the only ones following the rules. And, we're the only ones getting the bad end of the stick," Barry Korengold of the San Francisco's Taxi Worker's Alliance said.