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Comment by xxpor | Hacker News Reader

Why do you let them tell you they don't take cards? From a quick googling, it seems like taxis in SF must take cards. If they drive me somewhere and the machine's broken, that's not my problem.

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It's easier to go with someone who wants my business than to try to force someone who doesn't want it to take me anyway.

I just wouldn't ask in the first place.

That's just another (better) way to force them.

I agree with mikeash (and the gp) on this one: I'm looking to exchange money for services, not get into some kind of grudge-standoff with a stranger.

Have to agree with some of the other responses. So what if they "have to" take cards. I believe that voluntary trades are the only moral ones; to use coercive force against someone in a commercial trade just to get my way seems rather thuggish. Also, once I manage to force them to take me against their will: what service should I expect? Top notch, or the sort of service a resentful party is likely to give when they didn't want the business in the first place.

Nope. Even if it were my only option to get I ride... I'd not use this sort of law to get it.

SF is not Silicon Valley proper, in the sense that the jurisdiction of SF over its taxi fleet does not extend south of San Francisco city proper and its airport. Anywhere else is different county rules.

Ah, yes, my mistake. I read too quickly and assumed SF.

They only have to take your card if they want to get paid. They're not required to pick you up in the first place.

If it's illegal not to accept cards, it should also be illegal to refuse fares by asking if someone wants to pay with a card.

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