San Francisco is no Manhattan, but cabs are a pretty common sight — sometimes more than others. For example, it's easy to hail a cab in the Financial District at lunch, and along pretty much every major street at night.
All SF cab companies operating within the city charge the same rates:
| Distance | Rate | |
| First 1/5 mile | $3.50 | |
| Each additional 1/5th mile | $0.55 | |
| Each minute of waiting, or traffic time delay | $0.55 | |
| (Airport exit surcharge) | $2.00 | |
Section 1137(a) of the San Francisco Municipal Police Code states that if there is ever a fare dispute, the driver is obligated to drive you to the nearest police station. Section 1137(b) obligates the driver to give a receipt if requested. Drivers may not charge you extra if you've got luggage, but they reserve the right to ask for payment up front if they're driving you out of town (with the exception of the Oakland or San Francisco airports). It's up to you to pay bridge tolls.
The city urges passengers to only ride official SF taxis, because SF cabs are inspected regularly and are insured, and the drivers undergo background checks. Also, rogue taxi drivers, driving what are commonly known as gypsy cabs, can charge you as much as they want. According to a brochure printed by the San Francisco Taxi Commission, you should watch for the following signs to ensure you are riding in a legal cab:
- The side and rear of the car will say "San Francisco Taxi Cab"
- There will be a small metal license plate on the dashboard
- The driver's ID will be visible from the back seat.
The police department has an official tip line for complaints about cabs at (415) 553-1447.
Sometimes, when you try to call a cab company for a ride, the operator will disconnect your call if you're dialing from an out-of-town area code. Try hitting *67 and then re-dialing.
Cab links
- The Exploratorium came up with a cool project called Cabspotting to track the movements of Yellow Cab taxis in the Bay Area.
- Sometime in late 2007, we'll start seeing Standard Taxis — a cheaper, more easily accessible model of cab.
- TaxiLibrary.org has a lot of info about the history of taxi cabs in San Francisco, as well as more links like the ones above.
- Taxi Mojo provides a mobile taxi app for iPhone & Android to order & track taxis from your phone, as well as a web-based option from its San Francisco taxi page .
