As anybody knows, if you see Stanley Roberts, you've been behaving badly.
The SFPD and SFMTA are cracking down on Uber and Lyft drivers trying to pick up passengers who are attempting to hail taxis in taxi-only lanes. And, wouldn't you know it, KRON 4 sent Roberts (of his "People Behaving Badly" segment) along to witness the sting effort paid for by the SFMTA.
Roberts shadowed plain-clothes officers who attempted to hail a taxi in red taxi and transit only lanes. These would-be passengers then confronted any non-taxis — Ubers and Lyfts — who stopped, seemingly with the intention of picking them up, either, presumably, to charge them under the table (illegally) or to encourage them to use the app to hail them.
Since they really did a double bad, these drivers received two tickets. First, you aren't allowed to drive in the taxi lane if you are a ride-hailing vehicle. Second, if you're a ride-hailing vehicle, you can't just pick up anybody on the street — you must have arranged in advance with them via the app.
In addition to a ticket from the police officer, an SFMTA employee was doling out administrative tickets to offenders. Those can be as costly as $5,000.
Related: Google-Owned Waze Gets In The Ride-Hail Game, Launches New Carpooling App