Politics

San Diego Council To Consider Cab, Ambulance Contract Extensions

By Sandhya Dirks / KPBS Metro Reporter

Published June 24, 2013 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

The San Diego City Council looks at extending contracts with the groups that run taxis and ambulances.

While San Diego studies the effects of bringing the administration of taxicabs under the auspices of the city, the City Council is set to extend San Diego’s contract with the group that currently runs the cabs.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit runs cabs and other for hire services for the city. Its contract will likely be renewed for another year, but it could be the last time that happens. That is because the city is engaged in a $100,000 study to see whether the cabs would be better run by the city.

Also up for a temporary extension is the city’s contract with private company Rural/ Metro, the company that operates ambulances in San Diego. There have been complaints about service and Mayor Bob Filner has suggested he wants to study them, as well.

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If passed, both contracts will extend through next June. However, the council has indicated it will use the next year to explore alternatives.

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Sandhya Dirks

As KPBS’ Metro Reporter, Sandhya Dirks covers city news and politics for radio, TV, and online. She focuses not just on the political horserace, but on how policies affect people in the community. Prior to joining the KPBS Newsroom, Sandhya worked at Iowa Public Radio, where she covered the 2012 presidential campaign for that key state as well as state politics. Sandhya contributed regularly to NPR during the election year and produced stories for Harvest Public Media - a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and ﬁeld. As a state-wide reporter, Sandhya focused on stories of growing diversity in the heartland and investigated the broken mental health system in Iowa. Sandhya started her career in the Bay Area at public radio station KALW. Her work focused on investigative stories and features on poverty, violence, and the criminal justice system. Her work has been honored with a Mark of Excellence Award by the Society of Professional Journalists and a regional Edward R. Murrow award. Sandhya has a master’s degree from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she refined her audio skills and learned multimedia reporting, editing, and production. Her master’s project on international adoption earned her a prestigious Patsy Pulitzer Preston fellowship.

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