You know what's more frustrating than not enough taxis in town? A string of taxis blowing by with their light on while you stand there continuing to hold your arm up in the air like a jerk. Thankfully, the geniuses at the SFMTA are working on a a colorful new proposal that would add a couple lights to taxicab rooftops. As it stands, the "TAXI" light only goes dim when the meter is running, leading to confusion if a cabbie is headed home for the night or on their way to a pickup. Under the new proposal, Taxis would have three lights: one for "available", one for "unavailable" and one for "PANIC" - a new safety feature the MTA wants to try out, since we're already talking about adding lights.

The colors of each particular light are still up for debate apparently (How about green, yellow and red? Too obvious?), but the idea seems like a no brainer. Although, at least one cab company manager told the Examiner the real problem is drivers who don't stop when they're flagged down. Which: yes, that's also a problem. But we wouldn't be hailing taxis that were off duty if we knew they were off duty, now would we?

Previously: All coverage of Taxi Cab issues on SFist
[SFEx]