OK, so you couldn’t figure out the Muni schedule and you were tired of the incessant delays – time to throw in the towel (environmentalism be damned) and hail a taxi! San Francisco sure looks like a city, and there seem to be taxis driving about, how hard could it be to flag one down?
How hard indeed.
There are about a dozen independent taxi companies in San Francisco. They are all sorts of colors, but typically all have the little light thingy on the top of the cab. The little light thingy that typically (i.e. in a normal city) indicates if the taxi is available.
This is a taxi
In San Francisco, the light is sort of an adornment that may or may not be lit depending on the mood of the driver and the latest maintenance on the cab. It certainly has no bearing on whether or not the taxi may be available.
In select neighborhoods, at specific times of the day (i.e. not morning or lunch or mid-afternoon) and during particular slivers of the evening (i.e. not dinner time, post-dinner, pre-drinks or anytime you actually need one) you may actually be able to flag down a rare random taxi on the street. But most often you’re going to need to call a taxi.
How adorable.
So you grab your cell phone and dial a number and wait…and wait…and wait… Through my informal research (i.e. hours of my lost life), I have determined that about 50% of the time the dispatchers will not pick up the phone. If they DO pick up the phone, you have a 40% chance of needing to wait over thrity-minutes for a cab to arrive.
Hardly convenient. But the good news is that San Francisco is a pretty small “city”, so you can always walk. Or, do what everybody else does here…drive.
San Francisco is Weird 
I still maintain that I have never had these problems.
Um, stand on busy corner, wait for cab to approach, throw hand in air. If the cab is really far away, then employ some type of whistle.
Um, during rush hours it’s impossible to find a vacant cab. During non rush hours it’s impossible to find any cab. It’s just not that easy Peggyluwho!
I’ve unfortunately had “problems” on most days and most times. And although I have not mastered the Bronx whistle (not to be mistaken by the Bronx cheer) my wife has, but it has yet to bring a taxi to our curb.
I appreciate your optimism Peggy Lu, and maybe you’re used to it being born and raised here, but it’s really insane how hard it is to (a) flag down a cab or (b) get a taxi company to answer their phone.
Perhaps you know a local’s trick???
So I see you still haven’t learned how to whistle like a hairy man. Mandatory cab-hailing move, regardless of the locale. Remind me to teach you next time we are in the same town. 🙂
The only time I’ve had a problem is on New Year’s Eve and when you’re in the middle of no where . . . like in the Sunset.