Last time we checked in with out favorite gypsy cab, the fake medallion number had been covered with electrical tape in some feeble attempt to go incognito as it sat parked in plain site outside the California Smoke Shop on Geary Street:
photo by Bradley Voelker
In fact, the driver of this gypsy cab spends so much time at that smoke shop, it’s been captured on Google Street View:
Several weeks back, I was cab standing at The Great Northern and saw him drive by with a garbage bag taped over his back window, after someone obviously smashed it in. And no wonder, since the SFPD, the DMV and the SFMTA were all notified of this illegal operation and all claimed to have no jurisdiction over it. But a broken window didn’t stop this scofflaw…
Now, the Gypsy Cab that’s One Step Ahead is back, more brazen than ever. With a crafty new medallion number: 007.
photo by Gerry Rowland
As you can see, the license plates are the same:
But now he’s enlisted a new driver.
Numerous taxi drivers have spotted him around the city.
Even Stanley Roberts, who produces the People Behaving Badly series for KRON4 News, posted about the fake cab on Facebook:
I guess claiming to be a SAM Francisco/Redwood City cab makes him immune to the laws of SAN Francisco.
photo by Christian Lewis
He even has a phone number on the outside. And why not? He’s immune to any sanctions by the city.
Just goes to show… you can get away with anything in San Francisco, except, apparently, eating pizza at a bus stop. Gotta draw the line somewhere…
[All images, other than screengrabs, courtesy of the omnipresent SF Hackers.]
I Drive S.F. 
Hilarious. I wonder why he goes to all the trouble, given that he could just paint his vehicle black and be an Uber/Lyft. Must be he still makes better money as an old-school gypsy.
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He’s not paying a gate, or 25% to Uber/Lyft. That’s huge if you can get away with it, and so far he’s getting away with it. But he seems to be leasing the car to another driver now, so maybe he’ll start a fleet of gypsy cabs. Yellow is selling a lot of used taxis these days…
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