I Believe in the Public Service of Taxi Driving
Since I went to Ruach Graffis’s taxi school, who is wheelchair-bound herself, a large protion of the class was devoted to studying the American Disabilities Act and how to interact respectfully with the disabled. The way I looked at it, I’d been driving drunks who were pretty much incapacitated for Uber, so the idea of helping people with real problems seemed more rewarding.
Sure, there are problems with the implementation of Paratransit and dealing with passengers with special needs, but any changes need to be made through the SFMTA, not abandoned for the Uber and Lyft technology that leaves more people out of the equation than just the disabled, i.e., poor people without credit cards and those not willing to have a third-party company have access to their personal details. What happens to them if the taxi system is abolished, and Uber and Lyft are the only game in town?
