Cab rides in Washington will soon be cheaper thanks to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s decision to scrap the DC’s antiquated and expensive zone system in favor of the modern meter system found in any respectable city. Cheaper fares for residents means less profit for cabbies. Said one: “There is no way we can make a living on a [time-and-distance] meter.”
“The talk of a strike is in the formulation plans,” said Nathan Price, a driver for Yellow Cab Company of D.C. Inc. and a spokesman for the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association (PTDA).Mr. Price said the group represents about 500 city cabdrivers. “It’s to send a message … that we’re going to fight. The strike is for real.”
A June study performed by George Washington University for the taxi commission compared fares for identical trips measured by taxis using meters and the zone system.
For most shorter trips, meter fares were cheaper than zone fares. For longer trips, zone fares were generally cheaper.
Mr. Fenty’s decision was mandated by a provision placed in D.C. legislation by Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, that forced Mr. Fenty to require the switch to meters by yesterday. The mayor could have opted out of the order and kept the current zone system, which was established by Congress and dates back to the Depression era.
The senator — who has complained publicly about receiving different cab fares over the years for the same trip — yesterday praised Mr. Fenty’s choice.
“Mayor Fenty’s decision is the right one,” Mr. Levin said. “Washington is a world-class capital city with a strong mayor, and his decision reflects that.”
Cabbies – who in 1932 lambasted the zone system as discriminatory – are threatening a Halloween strike if the meter system is adopted.
Fenty orders D.C. taxis to adopt meters [Washington Times]
(Photo: Daquella manera)
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FINALLY, those DC cabbies would always rip you off and then never want to show you their zone cards to prove their outrageous rates. They would also charge their zone rate, plus a per person surcharge. A cab ride of a few blocks with your family would end up costing $15. They are protesting because they can’t rip people off when a meter says how much is owed instead of their imagination.
@melmoitzen: Are you kidding me? Have you been to DC and taken a cab? DC government is a wreck. Do a little Googling to determine the state of the DC treasury. They can’t get their own act together, nevermind taking on complex issues like changing cab fee calculation methods.
Hack inspector? Are you serious? If they even exist, it’s like throwing a lit match into a volcano. Doesn’t make a difference.
DC is the only place I’ve been for any extended period of time that I’ve been consistently on my guard about cab fare. Not just in DC proper, either. When taking a cab home from the airport, I can’t count the number of times that a cabbie “adjusted” my bags when I put them in the trunk myself and tried to charge me a handling fee.
For non-DC folks, there are no indicators of zones anywhere but on the zone map in the cab or online. No markers on the streets to indicate when you’re leaving a zone.
@pinkbunnyslippers
Yeah, the threaten to call the cops thing always tickled me. I did the same thing. I’ll wait, and you better let me out of the cab, or the cop won’t like that you’re detaining me without cause. The “that’s all I have” thing always worked, too. Note to everyone: always have exact change and be able to pull exact out of your pocket so the cabbie can’t tell how much cash you have.
Re: Comments about running up the meter. Running up the meter is largely a matter of passenger perception. Has it happened before? Of course it has. But the economics of doing so (not to mention the risks) usually don’t make sense from the driver’s perspective, unless you’re his last run of the day.
Metered taxi fares in all major cities are structured with a relatively high minimum fare the moment you step into the cab.
[www.schallerconsult.com]
Because of this, a cabbie handed nothing but short runs will make a helluva lot more than the cabbie handed (or creating) a longer run.
A cabbie’s goal after getting a long fare is usually to get back into the downtown area as quickly as possible so they can keep churning a high number of short runs. Time spent running up a fare only stands in the way of this goal.
@Elvisisdead: I’m in DC every day, have taken a DC taxi at least ten times a year over the last 20 years, and have never been overcharged.
Point being, the elephant in the room that DC taxi drivers don’t want to acknowledge, in spite of their protests, has nothing to do with a potential new fare structure. It’s converting their business from a cash-business honor system to a system that will provide full documentation of all but their tip income.
And if you wave revenue collection opportunities under the nose of the DC government, you’d be surprised at how they suddenly become very efficient. Feel free to curse the DPW parking ticket writers and their reason for being, but you’ve got to admit DC focuses resources there effectively.
@Elvisisdead:
“They’ll also try to screw you for a full fare to each address if you drop someone off on the way.”
When I lived in DC, the security at my building had to forcibly remove a cabbie from the building lobby and then driveway. I lived on Connecticut about 2 blocks up from Porter. A friend and I were coming back from Adam’s Morgan and she jumped out at her building which was directly north of the zoo. When we pulled into my building the guy told me the ride was $19.
I was completely taken aback. I’d taken that cab many times and it was $11 with tip, max. He explained to me that my friend had gone 2 zones and I had gone three zones to which I promptly replied bullshit. Every other time I’d done that it was 2 zones and whenever splitting a cab it was like an extra 1.50 charge per person. He completely flipped and told me it was three zones for me, 2 zones for my friend and I had to pay full fare for both of them. He was counting going to Connecticut avenue (which divides a zone iirc) as crossing into another zone and giving me this full fare farce.
I gave him $9 which would be the initial of 5+1.50 for my friend and 2.30 for the additional zone and offered him a tip if he wanted to quit being such a dick. He refused so I got out and he followed me into my lobby bearating me and asking me if I couldn’t afford to pay him because my rent was too much. The lobby security told him to leave and he wouldn’t he was yelling at me until the point that I got to my elevator with the night doorman blocking him from getting to me.
I came back down after a few minutes to apologize for the disturbance and they told me they had to grab him by the arm and drag him out of the lobby and instruct him to leave. Then he sat in his car honking for a few minutes before they called the police. He obviously took off before the cops came and I am not sure what the ultimate resolution was but long story short, DC cabbies are not above trying to rip drunken college students, Virginians and others that shouldn’t be trusted to travel alone.
I was in Washington D.C. once (I think it was over 20 years ago). I thought the zone fare system was very unacceptable. You could be 2 blocks from the address that you want to go to but because of the zone fare system you had to pay the full fare even though you only had to go 2 blocks.
I’m glad they’ve joined the rest of the U.S. and gone with meters.
@melmoitzen: And I would also bet that you pretty much stick to 1 or 2 zone trips. Probably from your end point to a metro station or Union instead of to your residence. Probably when it’s raining or too hot/cold/late to make the walk, right?
I absolutely agree that they can write tickets and deal with parking effectively. I doubt that you would disagree that it’s just about the only thing that they do effectively.