There is a tremendous gap between the rich and the poor. Clearly, something needs to be done. Raising prices will help these tax drivers who are paid 100x less than the typical Silcon Valley CEO. San Francisco is clearly doing the right thing by intervening before costs of living gets out of hand for their taxi drivers.
I would take taxis more frequently if they were a) more affordable and b) more available. As things are, a ride home from downtown costs about $20, and getting a cab on the street is a non-starter in most of the city. Medallion holders are supposed to 'use it or lose it' and must drive unless they are disabled; most of them fulfill this requirement by driving one day a week and renting out their medallion for the other 6 days at a healthy profit. It is they who are going to derive most of the benefit from these cost increases rather than the drivers, most of whom pay exploitative taxi rental fees and are put on the street with no training of any kind and are prone to getting lost in SF's peculiar geography.
I don't see what your point is in comparing a taxi driver's income with that of a tech CEO. I'm not wealthy either, and now take cabs only in emergencies because the cost has become prohibitive. Maybe you should compare drivers' incomes with those of medallion holders and taxi company CEOs. In general I'm a pro-regulation, pro-governance kinda guy, but not when it comes to price controls. the taxi industry is the way it is because of a corrupt arrangement between incumbents and administrators.
Your "more available" point is so important to me that I'm willing to pay Uber prices for regular cabs if they can make that happen. I've used Taxi Magic and called in the past and never had much success in terms of reliability, and well, I'm not one for standing around for 15 minutes on a street like Market or Van Ness trying to flag down a cab. Which I have done in the past, and I'm tired of doing it. I want to give cab drivers my money, but apparently they don't want it.
About the only time I've found myself in a cab in a timely manner is with the taxi zones at SFO. That happens to be pretty much the only time I ever get a non-Uber ride too.
