Politics

San Diego Set To Study Cabs And Ambulances

By Sandhya Dirks / KPBS Metro Reporter

Published June 24, 2013 at 1:09 PM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

The City Council agreed to extend its contract with the Metropolitan Transit System to run taxicabs in San Diego for one more year. The extension takes place as the city is rolling out its plan to study whether or not to change the way taxis are managed.

The city also renewed its contract with private company Rural/Metro Corporation, which operates ambulances in San Diego. On Monday, the council approved a one-year extension of the contract – with the option to stretch that to two years – while the city begins the process of putting the service out to bid.

Two years ago, the city dissolved a public-private partnership with the Arizona-based Rural/Metro, giving the company full control of managing ambulances. At the time, the city promised it would open a competitive bidding process. That hasn’t happened, but the city said it is working on it now.

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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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