Mayor Sticks to His Guns on Alleged Fare Thefts

Mayor Gavin Newsom wants cable car crews to know he doesn’t think all of them are lining their pockets with pilfered fares.

The mayor met privately with union leaders and workers Friday to take some of the sting out of his comments earlier in the week that he was convinced some cable car operators were stealing money that should have gone into the public till.

Those who went into the closed-door meeting hoping for a mea culpa were disappointed.

“There are so many operators doing incredible work [who] feel that because of my comments, their good reputation has been affected,” Newsom said.

“That being said, I cannot in good conscience retract the statements that I made, because they are the truth,” the mayor added.

Newsom has said he concluded that the city was losing money to dishonest drivers after personally boarding cable cars and seeing operators not issue receipts in exchange for fares.