City Wide Dispatch

Cab driver took us on a round about drive instead of straight to our hotel. Very shady. Unfortunately for hIm I know the city. Use über instead.

If zero stars was an option I’d use it. We got a cab at SFO to go 4 miles back to our hotel to get our car and drive home. Luxor with City Wide was our driver, cab # 1166. Absolutely horrible! We gave him the correct address which took him forever to put into his GPS, after he watched my husband load all of our luggage alone. I’d be shocked if he actually has a driver’s license, he kept stopping at lights, pulled over to mess with his GPS, ended up on the wrong street somehow and then drove the WRONG WAY down a street toward oncoming traffic and had to stop and back up. All the while the meter ticks on. After pulling into the wrong hotel 2 blocks from ours we were done and got out. When my husband didn’t tip him (for a $ 24 fare for 4 miles with him getting lost repeatedly) he yelled at us and sped off. I called the # on the cab and got someone who said he’d pass it along to a manager but at 1^st said this driver wasn’t 1 of his. Ummm it had your #. I never complain about service and never review either but this was beyond ridiculous.

Took a cab with this company today and was threatened by the cab driver for not giving a tip even though there was a $ 5 charge over and above what the meter was showing. The driver should not be on the road at all… I don’t know how Citywide taxi allows its employees to scream profanities at its customers in front of their home.
This company should screen its employees.

This review is not about my experience with CWTD Cab ride but about character of one of their leased Cab owner. I live in a gated housing complex in Oakland, Ca. There are 12 houses in this complex. Some areas inside the complex are marked red «Fire Lane» by City of Oakland and Oalkand Fire Dept for emergency vehicle parking only.
Everyday at night and sometimes during the day a City Wide Cab #360, CA DMV Reg #16001U1 is parked in the Fire-​Lane. I believe the Cab owner also lives here or around the complex. It’s not that the Car is just sitting idle there. The owner actually use our Fire lane as parking spot.
Several times I brought this to the attention of CWTD and they acknowledged that this Cab is leased to a driver. They told me to call tow company, but we can’t call to tow since this is a private property. It looks like CWTD tries to wash up their hand as if it is not their problem. I just like to inform CWTD that ultimately they have leased Cab to a drive who is irresponsible and do not care safety of other homeowners in the complex. It is the responsibility of CWTD to train their drivers where to park and where not to. If something happens to our complex and emergency vehicle is unable to park, we will held CWTD responsible.

BEWARE!
I just called the 415−920−0700 number to file a complaint and it’s not a valid telephone number. The website is also invalid.
My 85 year old mother flew into SFO on 9÷1÷15 and unfortunately got into this company’s cab to get a ride to my place in San Carlos. (About 20 – 25 minute drive)
She was charged $ 69.00 by an overweight, short, young Asian woman. My mother said the meter read $ 43.20!!!
I take cabs from SFO to my house often and it usually runs aroun $ 40 – 45.
They ripped a senior citizen off and refused to give her a real receipt… Just a business card with a bum telephone number.
Be very careful stepping into these cabs at SFO. They appear to be quite shady and dishonest.

Driving down ECR when this &$@#%! Throws an ENTIRE cup of coffee out the window! I swerved and nearly hit the car next to me he got coffee on my car. I called the cab company (the car sticker reads «SAN FRANCISCO TAXICAB») who said oh sorry yeah we know who he is and we’ll talk to him. Littering is supposed to be a $ 10,000 fine and throwing an object that creates a danger to others should be a moving violation. The owner didn’t care. There are hundreds of unaddressed complaints against cab companies in SF. This happened in San Bruno so he’s out of his area anyway. Overweight middle aged gray haired driver who has zero respect for others. Make your own decision whether or not you would use this company!

This is not for all City Wide cabs. Just #585 driven by Amit Ranjit. Today. First, I say I need to go to Glen Park and he says he can’t cross Market. I explain he doesn’t need to cross Market because we are going south and Market is to the north of us. He argued. Super aggressive driver. I asked him more than once to stop hitting the gas over and over and over because it was making me car sick. I never get car sick. My neck hurts and I threw up when I got home. Dude. Seriously?

Such a terrible experience last night. Got in this cab at SFO. The ride was about 10−15minutes. The driver scared the living daylights out of me. First, he didn’t have a navigation device and I had to put in the directions in my phone and read them out to him from the back seat. WTF?! If I get in a cab, I expect the driver can figure out how to drive me to my destination. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt, he was totally unsafe on the road (he got honked at for not checking his blind spot when switching lanes) and he was cussing out other drivers (this happened multiple times in the course of our short ride). At the end, I was so happy to get out of his car that I almost walked away without my luggage.
Guys like this are ruining it for the rest of cab drivers still trying to make a living in a world where Über and Lyft are king. Too bad… but yeah — ubering next time. At least über drivers navigate themselves.

Another morning flight almost missed because the taxi I thought was confirmed to show up at a scheduled time didn’t show.
Thank God for Über.
I hope the taxis who provide this joke of a service fall by the wayside. They deserve to be put out of business.

I just had the worst cab experience of my life. I finally flagged down and a cab and as we’re making small talk, he goes on this massive rant about UberX and how awful they are, how unsafe they are. He knows it all. He starts going on about the Dalai Lama and his brother. Then he gets me to my destination and he says he prefers cash, so I give him cash (BIG MISTAKE) and a tip (BIGGER MISTAKE) and then he calls me a fucking idiot as I get out of the car. He said «Take your tip back!» and I said «I will!» and as I approached the car, he rolled up his window and sped off. I wish to God I had gotten his cab number, plate number, name, SOMETHING.
He picked me up from Geary and Hyde this morning at 8:25 and dropped me at USF at 8:40 on Oct 24 2014, so if City Wide can look this guy up, it would be appreciated.
HE IS CRAZY. No more City Wide for me. EVER. I don’t care if it’s 35 degrees, pouring rain and I’ve been waiting for 2 hours. NEVER AGAIN. And he had the nerve to go on about Über that they don’t do background checks… maybe he was projecting. Maybe HE needs a background check.

Coming from New York, I was surprised to encounter a passive aggressive dispatcher in SF who hung up on me before I could tell him I had tons of luggage and two kids for an airport trip — so of course a Prius showed up. The dispatcher said it would be a few minutes, I called back nine minutes later to check if someone was on the way and he snarked, «Well, it’s been two minutes since you called.» What! I called them instead of Ubering on a recommendation and I’m sorry I did. The driver was fine when he showed up but on his phone.

I live on a small quiet street about a lane and a half wide and late Thursday night a cab driver was flying down the street as I was walking to the corner store. I threw my hand up in the air and yelled at the driver to slow down.
He stopped down the road and rolled down his window and I asked him why he was driving so fast in a neighborhood with elderly people, people walking dogs and kids.
He was driving a Big Dog City cab — an SUV — and exploded on me that he thought I wanted a cab and I’d lost him a fare. He then followed me, driving very slowly and yelling «Am I driving slow enough now?» for three blocks. As I got to a spot in the road where there was a double garage length curb cut, he pointed his cab towards me.
I saw my friend who works at the corner store, across the intersection and waved hello to him. At this point, the cabbie drove off.
I’ve had great cab rides in this city, but this guy drove way too fast (in a neighborhood where cabs have crashed into the same corner store twice) and this guy has anger issues.
I’ll never use this company to get a cab if they hire people like this guy.
And if you work for Big Dog City and care, you can contact me and I’ll tell you exactly where and when this happened and you can deal with the driver.

they said pick-​up would be in 10 – 12 minutes. they called back to change that yo 1 minute which is real fast! for 1.1 miles it was $ 11.75.i had 3 quarters and i played them well. nothin sneaky happened. may get a ride back w them :/
didn’t need one ;)

Thanks for always taking my morning calls Dispatchers. Always on time. I always get to work in one piece quickly and safely with Big Dog, Royal Taxi, & CityWide.

I’ve received consistently great cab service with City Dispatch, from the dispatchers to the cab drivers from varying cab companies.
I’ve never yet been abandoned, and I can’t think of a time when they didn’t arrive within 10 – 15 minutes, with a personal call to let me know. I often refer other people to them with the same consistent results.
They’ve been very cat-​friendly for vet appts, and simply want to know what kind of animal and if it’s in a crate.

Hailed a cab on Cabulous, driver accepted the call, and never moved his car. I called in to the dispatch, their response was i don’t have a way to contact or i don’t deal with those drivers. Then why the heck you put your cab company’s phone number on that cab.
Company Sucks.

Perfectly fine service. I called for a cab to Union Square from Hayes Valley. Very nice dispatcher said he would call me back within 10 minutes. Another (less friendly) dispatcher called me back within the 10 and told me my cab would arrive in 3 minutes. It did, we took our ride and were perfectly content. Will use again.
Have to edit my previous review, as I have used them for 3 days in a row (6 rides) during my stay here in the city. Everytime I called, my cab arrived within 5 minutes. I had a few dispatchers even call me back to make sure my cab had arrived when I wasn’t in a very central area.
Some dispatchers were very nice and friendly, some where very quick to get business done with no frills. I am happy with both.
I will definitely use again in my future stays!

Super rude!
Just used this service about 15 minutes ago.
I’m a visitor to the city — my first time in San Fran. We had a group of about 20 people who just finished eating dinner, and we had to get back to the hotel about three blocks away. Normally walkable, but it was 9pm and pouring at the time the cab was called (minutes after the SF Giants won their last playoff game — so if you were watching that, you know it was pouring) and a lot of the girls were wearing dresses and heels.
A big red van showed up, cab #1502 that said Big Dog City on the side. We tried to stuff multiple people in to make it worth it but honestly getting the attention of socializing, imbibing people can be like herding cats.
Three of us sat in the van while the fourth tried to «herd» and the whole time the cab driver shook his head and made comments. He said, «Come on, there are other people that need cab rides!» Wow, unnecessary!
Once we were all in, he asked where we were going. We told him our hotel — again which was about 3 blocks away — and he exclaimed, «Are you kidding me?!»
Honestly, if I want to PAY YOU to come pick me up and drive me around the same single block 19 times, what do you care?
Very unprofessional, rude dude. This experience was whole 5 – 10 minutes of being uncomfortable and disgusted at his attitude. I don’t know how he expects to make his tips when he’s rushing his current fare so he can get to the next one.
Enthusiastic 4 thumbs down!
(For the record, receipt said Royal Taxi — not sure if they go by that or Big Dog City.)

I work from home, but every other day I have meetings at client’s offices. I call City Wide Dispatch and I get cab at promised time. They call to verify if I was picked up or not.
The only negative side is that they charge 5% on credit card transactions, so if you like me paying with card — you will most likely to get crap from the drivers for not carrying cash around.
I find drivers working with City Wide to be MUCH nicer than Yellow Cab.

Out of my 215 reviews in my three years as a Unilocaler, I have NEVER given a one-​star rating. Until now.
It is raining outside. I wanted to call a cab. For some unknown reason I decide to call City Wide Taxi Dispatch. Here is how the conversation went:
:Dispatcher picks up immediately:
Dispatcher: Are you outside?
Cathy: (Well, that was abrupt) No… I’d like to get a cab
D: Yeah, come out to the street corner
C: I haven’t told you where I am yet
D: You’re at Everett middle school.
C: No, I’m not.
D: Oh, the other person must have hung up. Where are you?
C: I’m at Haight and Buchanan
D: Are you inside or outside?
C: Inside (Why does this matter? I don’t want to stand outside in the rain)
D: What’s your street number?
C: I’m at the corner of Haight and Buchanan
D: I can’t call you a cab if you don’t give me your street number.
C: It’s 295 Buchanan.
D: What’s your apartment number?
C: Why do you need my apartment number?
D: Ma’am you’re not getting a cab
AND THEN HE PROMPTLY HUNG UP ON ME.
Well, I just got a call from the OTHER cab company I used so I will update this later. I promise you I will still be seething with rage.
Update the next day:
Why in the WORLD would a cab company need my apartment number? Are you going to break into the building and escort me from my apartment? Are you going to record my address for your future
orders? Are you going to add me to your Christmas card list? There is only one remotely useful reason I can think of, and that is to ring an apartment buzzer when the taxi has arrive. Of course, this involves having the driver park and exit his car. Also, my apartment door buzzer doesn’t work. So there goes the almost practical reason.
I will give you my phone number so you can call me when the cab is outside. Hell, Luxor (the cab I actually took) gave me two automated calls — one when the cab was three minutes away and one when the cab got there. How useful and convenient.
It’s unfortunate that I will never patronize any of the (many) taxi companies that use city wide dispatch. There are many taxi services in San Francisco, and even more private car services that you can request with the click of a smartphone app.