SFO warns cabbies to stop urinating, defecating in taxi lot - by j_rodriguez - August 27, 2018 - The San Francisco Examiner
SFO is cracking down on cabbies who are increasingly urinating and defecating in the airport’s taxi parking lot.
The San Francisco International Airport called the conditions a “health hazard” in an open email to cabbies.
Seth Morgan, a senior transportation planner at SFO, penned an email notice to San Francisco taxi drivers last Friday, which was posted to a taxi message board and obtained by the San Francisco Examiner.
In the notice, Morgan wrote that the practice has grown worse lately, which will result in additional San Francisco Police Department and SFO security patrols.
“Airport staff have noticed an increased rate of urination and defecation in the rear of SFO Taxi Lot #3 and nearby stairwells,” Morgan wrote. “This creates a highly unsanitary condition and a health hazard for SFO custodians and other staff handling the materials stored in these areas.”
Taxis are assigned designated areas at the airport to await passengers heading back to The City. Those rides are widely considered by drivers to be the most lucrative in The City.
Morgan warned “additional enforcement action” is on the way for taxi drivers who don’t go where they are supposed to go. “Regular patrols through this area are being added both during the day and overnight, including during open lot hours,” Morgan warned. He added that there are restrooms nearby that are open “24/7,” and that drivers may leave their vehicles in lots 2 and 3.
The email was verified by an SFO spokesperson.
John Lazar, the former owner of Luxor Cab Co., told the Examiner he was shocked to see the email Friday.
“I don’t think our cab drivers are that much of a degenerate so they piss and shit on the streets,” Lazar said. But, he added, SFO lines are money-makers for cab drivers, so it’s easy for SFO to enforce the rules.
SFO could “say if you don’t use the bathroom, you lose your place in line,” he said.
Tariq Mehmood, a taxi driver who often organizes other drivers around industry causes, told the Examiner bathrooms are within 60 feet of the taxi lots.
“The bathroom is close enough,” he said.
Read the full email from SFO below:
Courtesy SFO