Amid Saturday’s PG&E outage, social media was flooded with posts showing dozens of confused Waymos pausing at intersections as they fruitlessly attempted to contact central command, causing frazzled humans to navigate around them, which led to a temporary halt in service.

As Mission Local reports, Waymo temporarily halted service around 7 pm Saturday as reports swarmed the internet documenting the fleet’s autonomous vehicles creating traffic jams throughout the city during a major power outage that resulted in several rolling blackouts, per SFGate.

Per Mission Local, the Waymo vehicles appeared to stop in their tracks, as cars piled up behind them — at traffic lights that had gone dark as well as at four-way stops, as users noted in the Waymo subreddit.

“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” Waymo spokesperson Suzanne Philion wrote. “We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”

Commenters in the Waymo subreddit thread had a variety of observations from the meltdown, including seeing many near-misses with human drivers.

“The Waymo’s weren’t running through controlled intersections at full speed because they didn’t know there were traffic lights. Saw a bunch of close calls with human drivers,” wrote dwkeith.

“They’re running through intersections constantly right now. Or bricking in the middle. Either way hope nothing bad happens!” added karstcity.

When a skeptic scoffed at the estimate of idling vehicles as being in the hundreds, Mental-Reach-231 verified it was accurate, adding that Waymo significantly increased the severity of the traffic standstill.

“As someone who had to drive through the p-p show this evening, and the dozens of halted Waymos, with multiple intersections with multiple Waymos, I would suggest it’s not a far exaggerated number,” they explained. “And the suspension of service wasn't because of the traffic nightmare, it was because they couldn't provide vehicles because they were all stuck making a traffic nightmare exponentially worse.”

Potat0man69 said they observed plenty of Waymo vehicles navigate intersections adequately, but the chaos of the situation scrambled the whole system and threw the cars into a sort of panic mode when they couldn’t connect with Waymo’s remote assistance.

“There were many Waymo’s I saw able to figure out the lack of a light perfectly fine,” they wrote. “I think it’s just that these intersections were so chaotic that eventually the Waymo “brain” throws up its hands and asks for remote assistance (people taking the intersection out of order, Waymo getting cut off, people walking where they shouldn’t be, etc. essentially overwhelming the normal decision making process, making the car think it’s in an unfamiliar situation).”

“Smart concept to have it reach a point where there’s so much going on that it decides it could probably use a bit of help, bad execution to have it rely on something that could also be impacted by the same root cause,” potat0man69 concluded.

Per SFGate, PG&E has pinpointed a substation at 8th Street and Mission streets as the source of the outage, which has a history of problems, per NBC Bay Area. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie confirmed on social media that some customers will likely continue to experience outages “into the early morning hours.”

Image: AnnTrades/X

Previously: Massive Power Outage In San Francisco Leaves 200,000+ In the Dark, Disrupts Muni and BART

Confused Waymo Cars Block 101 On-Ramp In Potrero Hill, Then Go Down Closed Road

An SF Giants fan made quite the splash on Wednesday when he was broadcast getting dropped off in McCovey Cove via water taxi, which quickly went viral. It was later confirmed that the man was an off-duty boat captain.

As SFGate reports, during the first inning of Wednesday night’s Giants game against the Cubs at Oracle Park, a curious sight occurred at McCovey Cove. The Madison Lynne water taxi, owned by Westar Marine Services, pulled up to the portwalk and dropped off a person who then climbed the railing and sauntered into the ballpark.

Giants broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow displayed footage of the legendary drop-off for fans, per SFGate. “That’s door-to-door service right there,” said Krukow. The video went viral and became a top post on several Reddit channels.

SFGate writes that the man turned out to be an off-duty boat captain who had just dropped off a ship at an anchoring spot, which was confirmed by Westar Marine Services dispatcher and “social media guy,” Jamie Horton. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome,’” Horton told SFGate when he heard about the drop-off. “I guess all publicity is good publicity.”

Horton told the outlet Westar runs its taxi service from its base near Oracle Park at Pier 50 and the captain had asked for a ride to the ballpark after anchoring the ship. “We could literally throw a rock to the ballpark,” Horton told SFGate.

Horton said Wednesday’s drop-off was a special circumstance. The service usually transports captains along a designated route around the Bay. VIP service, indeed.

Image: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Uber’s long war on the taxicab industry has ended with a whimper and a merger, as Flywheel cabs are now incorporated into the Uber fleet, in a pilot that’s starting here in SF and hopes to fly nationwide.  

Back in during Uber’s “asshole culture” days of the Travis Kalanick era (2010-2017), the all-out war between Uber and the taxicab industry had Uber sending SFist attack PR emails complaining of “false information propagated by Big Taxi monopolies.” Meanwhile, the established taxi industry that Uber hoped to "disrupt" was hitting back. The former DeSoto Cab, renamed Flywheel, was suing Uber for predatory pricing, with Uber (of all companies!) calling the taxi industry “corrupt and greedy.”

But their war has now ended in a marriage of convenience (or desperation?). The Chronicle reports that Flywheel cabs will be available on the Uber app, in a one-year pilot that has now received full approval from the SFMTA.  We reported on late March that Uber and Flywheel were working on cutting a deal, which has now received regulatory approval in SF.

When that deal was still in the works, Flywheel said in a press release, “This integration will first launch in San Francisco, and then roll out to subsequent cities in the following months, bringing new lucrative opportunities to drivers, assisting in the development of cutting edge rideshare technology, and providing more transportation options for passengers nationwide.”

It’s unclear if this integration has actually happened yet. But as we see above in a letter dated November 9, the SFMTA has approved this arrangement, saying “SFMTA staff hereby approves Flywheel’s request to offer Third-Party trips” via the Uber app.

Uber is suffering from driver shortages, and they already started a similar partnership with Yellow Taxi in New York City two months ago. (SF’s Yellow Cab, which uses the Yo Taxi app, is scheduled to be integrated in the future as well.) And they also have international aspirations with this. The UK industry publication TaxiSite sounds the alarm that “Ride-hailing firm Uber are looking to make available ALL licensed taxis on its platform by 2025,” pointing to a March Reuters report that said Uber hoped to “include every taxi on its Uber app by 2025.”

But some perspective on Uber predictions: this is the same company that claimed they would have flying cars by 2026.

San Francisco Flywheel cabbies are not being forced to work with Uber — they can opt out. But Flywheel president Hansu Kim tells the Chronicle, “Most of the taxicabs in San Francisco will be serving Uber-booked rides.” For you, the consumer, the pricing and experience will be the same, except it’s a Flywheel that will show up rather than a regular Uber driver.

And who knows, maybe there will be some environmental upside to having fewer rideshare cars idling for hours on end. But it is an ironic chapter that Uber is entering, after boasting for years that they would “disrupt:” the taxi industry, that Uber is now in effect trying to hail every taxicab on the planet into joining their fleet.

Related: Uber On the Verge of Cutting Deal With Taxi Fleet Flywheel [SFist]

Image: Caesar A. via Yelp

A shocking alliance between Uber and SF taxicabs is on the table, as cab fleet Flywheel is in talks with Uber to put their cabs on the Uber app.

The Flywheel taxi fleet and app may seem new-ish, but they are San Francisco's oldest surviving taxi company. Flywheel used to be DeSoto Cabs, founded in the 1930s, and they sued Uber in 2016 over antitrust and monopoly charges. According to the New York Times, Uber responded by calling the taxi industry “corrupt and greedy,” which is pretty hilarious coming from Uber.

What’s even more unusual is that Times quote comes via their revelation that Uber and Flywheel are now in partnership talks to put Flywheel cabs on Uber’s app. The talks are so advanced that it seems an agreement is already in place, and now they’re seeking SFMTA approval.

“I’m optimistic if this deal goes through we will make up for all these years that were down,” longtime taxi driver and current Flywheel operations manager Muwaffaq Mustafa told the Times. “More calls, more value, and it’s more money.”

The SFMTA would have to approve this arrangement, and it’s already on their April 5 board of directors meeting agenda. So Uber and Flywheel apparently have all the details worked out between them.

So how would this work? It sounds as if Uber would just add Flywheel as an option on its app.

“If San Francisco approves so-called ‘third-party dispatch services’ like Uber to participate, the upfront cost that Uber charges customers to get a taxi through its app will not be required to be the same as a metered taxi ride,” the Times reports. “That means they could charge the same price as a typical UberX car ride, which is often cheaper than a taxi ride.”

Uber is short on drivers these days, which has apparently led to this once-unthinkable partnership between the rideshare company and the industry that it set out to "disrupt" a decade ago. According to The Verge, Uber recently struck a similar deal with New York City’s yellow cabs.

But taxis have always been free of surge pricing, which led to a resurgence of cab use last summer when surge pricing got wildly out of control. Some drivers expressed concern that those spikes would shoo away longtime customers. But for most cabbies, the value of this proposition is simple. If they make more money they will like it; if they make less money they will hate it.

Yet a few cabbies have more complicated feelings about making a deal with Uber of Lyft. “My morals, ethics and principles would never allow me to be part of that,” SF cab driver Marcelo Fonseca told the Times.

Related: After Suing Uber, Google’s Waymo Is Now Subleasing Office Space from Uber [SFist]

Image: Dan B. via Yelp

Gather round kiddies, and I'll tell you a tale: Long, long ago, before your cell phone could let you do anything besides make calls and play Snake, people who wanted to travel to SFO without driving themselves had to:

• Beg a friend with a car for a ride or
• Load your luggage onto Muni till you get to BART, then take BART to a bus or
• Shell out $50-75 bucks (maybe more) for a cab that (if you live outside the hotel zone) may or may not pick you up and get you there on time or
• For $25 or so bucks you could schedule a Super Shuttle van (or its ilk) that would pick you and many others up hours and hours before your flight and, bumping you up and down (I don't see a seat belt are there any seat belts?) till your teeth were ready to fly out, then would unceremoniously dump you in vague proximity to your airline's departure doors

Oh, the good old days, mulling which I think I just got PTSD. For now one has little excuse to beg a friend for a ride, as BART service to SFO is relatively seamless and an Uber Pool or Lyft Line will arrive within moments of when it's requested and will cost $15-30 (sometimes even less). It's only now the remaining San Francisco taxi drivers are reportedly hoping to return as a top choice for travelers, by offering a $30 flat rate to the airport.

The news of this possibility comes to us via the Ex, which warns that "no formal change has been proposed" but that the $30 SF-SFO flat rate was discussed by "taxi drivers, industry leaders and regulators met in a town hall meeting at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in late September."

According to the Ex, local taxi operator Tariq Mehmood says he came up with the flat rate idea because “We will try to get back our customers.” It's unclear how the rate would be implemented, as the Ex reports that "Cab drivers can set their own prices, and on an individual basis could charge a $30 flat rate on their own," but also quotes Kate Toran, head of taxi services at the SFMTA, as saying that it's possible for the MTA to set a flat rate, but that “It’s still up for discussion. We’re looking at what our options are.”

Luxor Cab owner John Lazar told the Ex that "an advertised price drop may be an effective tool to lure riders," and if the flat rate went into effect, “I think volume would increase, yeah.”

But I don't know about that! Twice now, I've tried to call a cab from Lazar's company to my Outer Sunset business to take customers to the airport. You know how this story ends, right? In both cases, after half an hour of no cab, I called back, and was told that no drivers were responding to the call. I ended up arranging ride-hail rides for both. They were picked up within five minutes in both cases.

So you'll have to forgive me if I am dubious about this whole thing. But what about you? Would you start taking good old taxi cabs to SFO if they were only $30, or have you tired of giving that industry chances?

Related: San Francisco's Biggest Cab Company Sold To Competitor For $810K

You might recall New Orleans jazz musician Donald Harrison from his prominent role in Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke, or from his role in David Simon's HBO series Treme. But now one area resident has even more of a connection with Harrison, as they are in possession of his custom-made saxophone after the musician left it in a San Francisco taxi cab.

So reports KTVU, saying that Harrison "was performing at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco Saturday night when he left his instrument in a taxi."

Harrison, who according to his website " created 'Nouveau Swing,' a style off jazz that merges it with modern dance music like R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul and Rock," says that the instrument "was one of the only things he saved when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans," KTVU reports.

Harrison was "an actual evacuee/survivor of Hurricane Katrina," his website says. Speaking with KTVU, he says that in the disaster, "The only thing I took with me was my computer and my saxophone."

Posting to Facebook, Harrison wrote on Saturday that "I just left my saxophone in a flywheel taxi in San Francisco. I was riding with an African driver and payed with cash so they can't track him down."

"I know it is a shot in the dark but if anyone has any ideas let me know. I usually ride with uber but my phone was dead so I could not get a uber," he wrote.

In another post, Harrison says "The brand of my sax that is missing in San francisco is International Woodwind and is made in Los Angeles by a manufacturer named Laksar. There are not many of them around so if you see an International Woodwind alto sax it is probably mine."

"The case has a couple of New Orleans Saints season ticket holders stickers and a Playboy Jazz Festival sticker on it with a TUMI leather sholder strap. It has a vandoren 45 alto sax mouthpiece and a vandoren neck strap that takes the pressure off the spine inside."

KTVU reports that the sax "was made especially for him by International Woodwind Company. He says it is the horn he can express himself the best on." Nicknamed "Lady M." by Harrison, the gold alto horn has its model number, IW 601 ADL engraved on its body. It was inside a case "in the shape of a sax," KTVU says.

Harrison says that he expects to be back in the Bay Area on August 30, when he has a performance scheduled at Yoshi's in Oakland.

"I hope a miracle occurs," Harrison says, "and I will be united with my saxophone in time to play Yoshi's."

If you have any information on the missing instrument, you can contact Harrison via his Facebook page or by a slew of other methods via his contact page.

It's hard enough being a San Francisco cab driver (don't believe me? Then check out driver Kelly Dessaint's gripping Examiner column), do people really have to pile onto the profession by refusing to pay their fare? If a crime report from early Friday morning is any indication, the answer to that question is "yes."

The crime, police say, went down at 2:30 this morning, near 14th and Folsom Streets. According to the San Francisco Police Department, two men of indeterminate age and a woman in her 40s hopped into a cab driven by a 41-year-old man.

When they arrived at their destination, it was revealed that the passengers were unable to pay for their ride, police say. "An argument ensued," according to the SFPD, and the suspects stole the driver's cell phone, then fled on foot.

Police did not have any additional details on the suspects, including a description, but confirmed that they remain at large as of publication time. According to the SFPD, no arrests have been made in this case.

Related: San Francisco's Biggest Cab Company Sold To Competitor For $810K

Nearly five months after the news broke that embattled San Francisco cab company Yellow Cab was for sale, they've found a buyer: Competitor CityWide Taxi, which got the bankrupt business for a relative song.

As reported last November the nearly 40-year-old Yellow Cab Cooperative had stopped paying its members in 2015, after being financially crippled by "millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from accidents, with one settlement reaching as high as $8 million," the Ex wrote at the time.

Fast forward to March of this year, and the business, which at 500 vehicles is SF's largest cab company, had only one suitor: Citywide Taxi, the Ex reported. As Yellow Cab is now deep in bankruptcy proceedings, the sale had to be approved by United States Bankruptcy Court, Yellow Cab trustee Sam "Well, that's a bad sign" Singer said.

And approve the court did just this past Friday, after an eleventh-hour bidding war with Minneapolis taxi operator Cabtopia, the Ex reports, an operation so obscure the most I could find on it was this photo on Yelp.

But in the end CityWide was the victor, snapping up Yellow for $810,000. “This was a good sale price for the company,” Singer said, and maybe it was for what remains of Yellow — the deal was perhaps less glowing for CityWide, which will get only some of Yellow's $8 million in assets but will assume its $26 million in liabilities.

According to the Ex, CityWide, which says on their website they're the fourth-largest taxi company in SF, will only get "Yellow Cab’s color scheme, its locally famous (415) 333-3333 phone number, 160 of its cabs and the sublease to Yellow Cab’s property."

123 of Yellow's cabs are owned by Ford which will take them back and sell them, Singer told the Ex. 158 other Yellow vehicles will be sold by the company at a later date.

It's assumed that as opposed to rebranding Yellow as CityWide, the reverse might occur. "The famous yellow scheme will continue to traverse San Francisco streets,” Singer told the Ex last month. “The cabs will continue to operate as Yellow cabs...Citywide’s management should at this time be familiarizing itself with Yellow operations in the coming weeks in order to have a smooth transition.”

Luxor Cab Company owner John Lazar weighed in on the sale last month, saying “I think [the buyer] wants to keep the color...He wants people still calling ‘Yellow,’ still to get a ‘Yellow Cab,’ he’d be stupid not to. That phone number is everything.”

The sale is expected to close by April 29.

Previously: Bankrupt Yellow Cab Is Now For Sale

#SFPD seeks 4 suspects in 8/2 Potrero Hill tasing & robbery of #SF cabdriver. Tipline (415) 575-4444 @SFPDBayview pic.twitter.com/KuEOizoRm6

— Officer Manfredi (@OfficerManfredi) August 25, 2016

Over three weeks after a San Francisco cab driver was assaulted and robbed, police have apparently had no luck in identifying the four suspects in the attack. So on Thursday, they released dashcam video of the assault, in hopes that a member of the public might step forward with information on the violent thieves.

According to San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Officer Carlos Manfredi, the assault took place on August 2 (at 4 a.m., ABC 7 reports, while CBS 5 says 4:30). A 41-year-old male cab driver picked up two men and two women at Market and Mason Streets, passengers who said first that they wanted to go to a location on Third Street, then to Texas and 25th Streets in Potrero Hill.

When they arrived at the final stop, Manfredi tells the Chron, “One of them told the driver, ‘I don’t have my money. It’s in the house,’” handing the driver his cell phone as ostensible collateral as he purportedly went to get the driver's payment.

But when he returned, it wasn't with cash, police say, it was with a stun gun, which he used on the driver's neck.

As you can see in the video (the cab driver's face is the one that's blurred out, at his request), the driver tried to climb into the passenger seat to escape the assault, but a second former passenger-turned-suspect opened the door and started punching the driver before pulling him out of the taxi.

The suspects rifled through the taxi and took the driver's backpack, phone, and wallet, as the driver fled the scene on foot "for his own survival," Manfredi says.

“We were able to recover the cab,” SFPD spokesperson Officer Grace Gatpandan told CBS 5, saying that the driver is still recovering at home.

All four suspects, two of whom are clearly visible in the video, remain at large according to the SFPD. If you recognize them or know anything about this crime, you're asked to contact SFPD's Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or to text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.

The driver of a cab who jumped a Market Street curb and struck two bystanders might have been on the phone at the time of the collision, one witness says — but in a preliminary report, the San Francisco Police Department suggests that a medical issue affecting the driver might be to blame for the crash.

The 59-year-old driver of what police say was a four-door Ford Fusion Yellow Cab jumped the curb at Market and Sutter Streets at 3:17 Tuesday, striking "a public bathroom, a newsstand and then hit the shoe shine stand" according to an SFPD report.

Two people were injured when the driver struck the shoe shine stand: The 66-year-old shoe shine strand owner identified in various media reports as Saleem Bae (ABC 7) or Mohammed Salim (CBS 5) and a 40-year-old homeless man who worked as his assistant, identified by CBS 5 as "Jazz."

The driver was also injured in the collision, and all three were transported to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition. As of Wednesday morning, according to a spokesperson with SF General, the driver has been released from the hospital, Bae (that name used here for the sake of expediency) had been upgraded to fair condition, and Jazz's condition remained critical.

According to witnesses who spoke to ABC 7, the cab was "flying down Market Street" before the collision, with one saying that the driver was "was going very fast."

Speaking with NBC Bay Area, one witness wondered just how fast the cab was going, given the amount of damage to the area.

"How are you going so fast to knock something over?" she asked. "A couple years ago, a bus hit that and only dented it."

Witness Rita Tripp, who was at the scene of the collision, told CBS 5 that the driver "told me he was on the phone, with his friend,” when he jumped the curb.

In a preliminary report from the SFPD, however, they write that the driver "was having a medical issue when he hit the gas and drove up onto the sidewalk."

SFist's efforts to contact Yellow Cab for comment and clarification on the issue have not been successful as of publication time, but spokesperson Bob Cassinelli issued a brief statement to KRON 4, saying that “At this time our thoughts are with the injured people."

Sources within the SFPD tell SFist that police were at the collision site until late Tuesday investigating the incident, and are seeking surveillance video from area businesses. CBS 5 also reports that "The entire crash was captured by surveillance cameras on a nearby Muni bus." The footage captured by the bus camera, police say, is now in the hands of investigators.

Update: In a press release sent to media Wednesday afternoon, they write:

On August 23, 2016 at approximately 3:17 PM, a taxicab travelling westbound on Market Street left the roadway and jumped the curb at Sutter Street. The taxicab struck a shoeshine kiosk on the sidewalk and two pedestrians at the kiosk were injured. The driver- a 59 year-old male from Burlingame- remained at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation. He was later treated and released from a local hospital. The pedestrians- a male in his 60’s and a male in his 40’s- remain hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The San Francisco Police Department’s Traffic Collision Investigation Unit (TCIU) is handling the investigation. Impairment does not appear to be a factor and investigators will be conducting a thorough examination including: driving history, possible mechanical issues with the vehicle and possible medical conditions of the driver. The cause of this incident is yet to be determined. Investigators are examining evidence including surveillance video of the area. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact the SFPD Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.

Previously: Three Seriously Injured After Taxi Jumps Curb In FiDi

A request for advance payment turned into a physical altercation Saturday, when a taxi driver's stick-wielding fare took umbrage after being asked to pay up.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the 47-year-old cab driver picked up a man in his mid-20s at 1:30 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Market and Main Streets in San Francisco.

The early-morning traveler wanted to go to the East Bay, the SFPD reports, and the cabbie asked him "to pay up front."

This apparently upset the passenger, who police say "became upset and began punching" the cab driver "on his face and head."

In an effort to escape his agitated fare, the cab driver "jumped out of his cab." The passenger pursued him, police say, and "jabbed [the driver] multiple times with a stick" before fleeing on foot. He hasn't been seen since.

The driver had non-life-threatening "facial/forehead/back of hands bruising" as a result of the attack, but refused transport to the hospital for treatment.

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency regulations state that cab drivers are "authorized to collect 150 percent of the metered rate for any trips originating in the City with a final destination that is more than 15 miles beyond City limits," as well as to "collect bridge tolls in advance from passengers whose destination requires the crossing of a toll bridge, regardless of the direction in which the toll is collected." An SFPD spokesperson did not know the amount of the upfront payment the cab driver was requesting, or why the fare was standing at Market and Main with a weaponized stick at 1:30 in the morning.

A San Francisco taxi driver had his Monday night take a pretty crazy turn, after a fare pulled a gun on him and commandeered the cab.

It was 9:20 p.m. Monday when the 64-year-old male cab driver picked up a fare at Sacramento and Drumm Streets. But this was no ordinary passenger: This guy, described by the San Francisco Police Department only as a man between 55-60 years of age, pulled out a handgun and demanded to be taken to Oakland.

The taxi driver complied, and across the Bay Bridge they went, gun and all. Once in Oakland, police say that the kidnapper insisted on being taken to Castro and 22nd Streets. He then then robbed the driver of the cash he was carrying, as well as his cell phone, then took off on foot.

The driver was uninjured, and the suspect hasn't been seen since. Needless to say, no arrests have been made, nor did SFPD have any additional information at publication time.

As always, if you know anything about this incident, please do spill the beans to SFPD anonymously at 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 and begin the text with "SFPD."

Welcome to 2016, San Francisco. Yellow Cab Co-Op, our city's largest taxi company with 530 medallions, is filing for bankruptcy the Examiner reports. In a letter obtained by the paper, president of the independent company Pamela Martinez writes to shareholders that “We are in a midst of serious financial setbacks,” Namely, those setbacks are lawsuits, Uber, and Lyft.

In 1977, Yellow Cab grew out of bankruptcy in the first place — that of their owner. "The Cooperative was formed with the objective of putting the former employees of the bankrupt company back to work and the taxis back on the road," their website explains.

Now, Yellow Cab's former president Gillespie confirms that the company's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing is imminent — but that it's a last ditch effort to save the company, which will operate as usual in the meantime.

“In reality, we have the best color scheme there is in the world, we’ve got a lot of loyal customers, we still get a high volume of calls [just for] our color scheme on a daily basis,” Gillespie said.

Other cab companies, such as Flywheel Taxi (née DeSoto) have rebranded and reworked the system to maintain a semblance of competition in these Uber-take-all times. Flywheel says it's doing fine, just fine, okay?

Related: Lyft Scores $500 Million General Motors Investment, Plans Autonomous Cars

No one enjoys the sound of a car horn, but a couple on Market Street took their displeasure to a new level Tuesday, by assaulting and robbing the honking driver.

CBS5 reports that at 10 a.m. Tuesday, a Luxor Cab driver was summoned to pick up a fare at Market and Ellis Streets, which is near Fourth Street on one of Market's busiest blocks.

According to the San Francisco Police Department's report of the event, the cab driver, a 60-year-old man, "honked his horn to notify the fare that he was in the area."

"A group of people were standing near the cab and became irritated that [the driver] was honking," according to SFPD's report. The group approached the cab and driver, and one of the irritated people, a man in his 30s, hit the driver several times, then stole his cash, cell phone, and credit card.

The victim says that his assailant then handed the stolen items to another member of the group, a woman in her 20s, and the group fled the area.

The driver was treated for minor injuries, and is expected to recover. As of publication time, no arrests have been made.

Further differentiating the taxi industry from Lyft and Uber, who do nothing of the sort, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors voted unanimously yesterday to annually drug test cabbies for substances such as marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines, opium, and phencyclidine.

In fact, San Francisco has been out of compliance with state regulations adopted in 1996 that require such testing, as KQED explains. The new policy, which was six years in the making is as follows: when they apply for taxi permits, renew their permits annually, have an accident, or if there’s a “reasonable suspicion” that they’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol, drivers must take a drug test. Testing positive might lead to a suspension or revocation of the driver's permit.

Lyft and Uber also don't require the same background checks and fingerprint scans as cab drivers, and with the addition of drug testing, the Examiner writes that some in the industry are concerned that more drivers will move to the new ride-hailing businesses as a result.

But that fear was partly assuaged by a provision made for medical marijuana users in the henew SFMTA policy.

“My only concern is my fellow drivers [who are] up in age need marijuana to get them through the night with aches and pains,” driver Tom Diesso told the board during a public comment period. "I was hoping we could find some legal room here so they could perform their duty and not lose their jobs.” Indeed, Diesso's wish was granted.

"You have people driving for Uber and Lyft who don’t have to go through that filter of accountability. That’s what I worry about," said Hansu Kim, CEO of Flywheel Taxi (pictured above). That business recently sued for cities to further regulate Lyft and Uber. "We believe in drug testing, and we want to make sure our drivers are not taking hard drugs,” he said.

The program comes at a high cost: $900,000 a year, operated by a contractor, and takes effect next month.

Related: Flywheel Taxi Sues For Cities To Regulate Uber And Lyft