Cab that tangled with bus was a pirate

You’ve heard talk of rough-and-tumble, rum-swilling pirates on the high seas, attacking and pillaging helpless ships before leaving them to burn.

You’ve also heard about so-called “digital pirates” who exchange files illegally online in flagrant breach of copyright law.

But pirate taxis, on the streets of San Francisco? Yup. Actually, there are more than you think, most decorated in close-but-no-cigar Yellow Cab livery.

Thursday morning, a cab with all the markings of an illegal pirate cab collided with a Muni bus near the I-80 exit at Bryant. No area code, no clearly displayed city of origin, and a phone number eerily similar to Yellow Cab’s famous 333-3333 dispatch line all tell the tale of a road-faring pirate.

Taxi insider Athan Rebelos commented on SFist that the cab was an illegal, “bandit” cab and not a San Francisco taxicab.

Fortunately, no one was killed, though one woman was taken to the hospital for minor hip injuries.

An officer at the scene reported that the cab driver had been trying to make a right turn when it cut off the bus. The bus hit the right rear of the cab, causing it to spin and hit a fire hydrant.

The greatest irony in this story was that it happened outside the Hall of Justice.  We’ll leave it to you to come up with the cheesy cop-show ending line about justice being served against this pirate taxi.