FREE RIDE

Around D.C., Mixed Reactions to Meter Decision

Michael Williamson/TWP
Photo of cabs at Union Station on Wednesday by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post

AT AROUND NOON on Wednesday, one cab driver on M Street NW pulled up to the light at 16th Street, where another driver was stopped. Both of their windows were rolled down, and one shouted to the other that D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty could go ... well, you get the picture.

This morning, the mayor decreed that the District government would mandate time-and-distance meters in taxi cabs like most other large cities in the world, eliminating D.C.'s long-held, but often confusing zone-based fare system system.

Despite a big rally on Freedom Plaza by around 200 cab drivers earlier this month who fought against time-and-distance meters, the reform-minded mayor did not bend to their demands and accepted a congressionally required switch to meters, a move advocated by Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, a longtime foe of the zone system. Fenty could have opted out of the law.

But not all cab drivers are opposed to the switch.

"The tourists are getting ripped off by cab drivers who pay their bribe," said one driver who refused to give his name as we headed up Connecticut Avenue. He said that most cab drivers around town know him as Little Moe, a driver for Yellow Cab who caused a fuss at a contentious Sept. 11 meeting of the D.C. Taxicab Commission in Ward 8. "They called the police on me," said the driver, who has advocated for meters, saying "the majority [of passengers] have been getting ripped off."

But will those cab drivers who are upset with Fenty's decision go on strike, as some have threatened?

"There will be a strike," said Little Moe, who said he has been driving or working dispatch for 29 years.

Not everyone is so sure. Outside the 7-11 at Columbia Road and Wyoming Avenue in Adams Morgan this afternoon, a gathering of active and retired cab drivers — all of whom said they support meters — said that even if the vocal anti-meter opposition gathers enough support within its ranks to strike, there are still plenty of qualified drivers who would be anxious to fill the shoes of striking cabbies.

Bekana Huluka, who has been driving a Pleasant Cab for two-and-a-half years, said he doesn't understand why drivers would want the zone system preserved. "What is the reason behind it?" Huluka asked. "Why are we confusing people?"

But under a meter system, will cab drivers still be able to make a comparable living? "That is a fair question," Huluka said. And that's a question nobody can answer yet.

As for the general public, reaction was mixed when we walked around Farragut Square and Lafayette Park over lunch.

Rodrigo Lurueña of Chihuahua, Mexico, said that where he's from, there aren't meters and that you negotiate the fare in advance. The 23-year-old intern said that he's "sort of used to it that way" and worried that with meters, cab drivers will simply take odd routes to increase time and distance.

The potential for meandering routes also worries Lisa Galik, who said she likes the zone system. Galik, a graduate of American University, said that since she lives in the District, she knows where she's going and will call out cab drivers on possible deception en route. "Is he taking me through an extra zone?" she said she'd think. "I am a local, thank you."

Fairfax County resident Erin Henshaw said that when she was an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, she'd often get charged $20 to go from her boyfriend's housing at Georgetown University to the heart of M Street. "It was less than a mile," she said, but the cab driver would tell her they went though three zones. "In [the zone] system, I am being taken advantage of," she said.

What will the new meter system function like? Will drivers still find a way to confuse riders? And will the metered system result in the slimmed-down cadre of cabs that drivers have warned of? Cabbies and customers alike will have to wait and see.

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COMMENTS (4)

  • One thing about the zone system that I think has always been misunderstood is that fare wasn't supposed to be calculated based on the number of zones that you pass through, but simply the number of zones between the shortest distance between two points. If a detour forced you to travel half-way around the District, it didn't matter.

    Of course, that's moot now. It just always pained me that the zone system was so misunderstood that people didn't see some of the safeguards.

    By Phil , Posted October 17, 2007 4:09 PM

  • Phil, you're right on that. But remember, many cab drivers have claimed that price is determined by the number of zones traveled through. I can recall one trip where a cabbie drove into Zone 1 for two blocks to then go back into Zone 2, where the trip originated. He then charged me an extra zone.

    By mgrass , Posted October 17, 2007 4:27 PM

  • Of over 7,000 cabs, only 200 showed up for the rally? I doubt these guys have the numbers or organization for a strike to cause a perceptible downfall in cab availability.

    By rockcreekrambler , Posted October 17, 2007 4:33 PM

  • Before a problem can be solve it is necessary to identify the cause of that problem. Whatever cheap excuses that "reporters" or politrickcians use to hide their irresponsible effort to hide the Truth of the corrupt origin of the DC taxicab industry will not work due to the simple fact that you can hide the Truth but you cannot change it.
    Basic research of the facts of this issue will allow everyone to know that DC initially did use a meter system to equitably compute DC taxicab fares as well as serve as a reliable means to record and tax the income of the DC taxicab industry.
    The DC Public Utilities Commission issued order no. 956 on 11/6/31 and listed 20 reasons to deny any version of the zone system to replace
    meters in DC taxicabs. One of those reasons stated that, "The zone system causes discriminative service" at a time when this racist society had "colored restrooms." This government decision was upheld by Judge Adkins very detailed court decision. Due to the shallow address to this issue very few know this fact that the zone system was initially denied due to the discriminative service it provided white people in 1931.
    Judge Adkins stated that, "In my view the zone system is only a means to exploit the labor of the driver." (PURC 1932 pgs. 17,19) The Appeals Court upheld Judge Adkins decision. Are we talking about a system of Justice or "Just -Us" that allowed Congress to pull a legislative trick and allow themselves for the past 75 years to have the cheapest, most reliable taxicab service in downtown DC ?
    National and local politicians as well as the news media have irresponsibly kept totally quiet about the racist fact that foreigners, who barely speak English have been exploited by a unique zone system that was initially denied due to it being found to exploit the labor of white taxicab drivers in 1931!
    Congress had the audacity to play a legislative game and despite the initial gov't and court decisions suddenly included a sentence in the already insulting DC Appropriations Act and simply stated, "DC no longer has the authority to consider or enforce any rules or regulations regarding installing meters in DC taxicabs."("The Taxicab Rider" Washington Post 11/13/71)
    A huge Zone one in downtown DC has provided the cheapest and most reliable taxicab service to white people on Capital Hill,downtown and the NW area of DC since that Congressional trick while the predominantly Afro-American residents of DC are insulted by needing to pay a two or three zone fare while traveling very short distance in the residential areas of NE and SE. Tourists are constantly cheated and by the time they realize it they are on their home.
    One of your reporters just informed me that the historical, legal facts of this issue haven't ever been reported due to the fact that the "newspaper" only relates to issues that are "new". Carol Schwartz of the DC City Council had once responded to my testimony and referral to the corrupt origin of the unique DC taxicab zone system by informing me that the gov't and court decisions were too old and so therefore were not at all relevant to the present need to regulate the DC Taxicab Industry.
    My detailed research is available on google.com under the title, "Karl Rudder's Blog".
    Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted by Congress and the DC government to conduct "studies" on this issue yet not one of them refer to the corrupt origin of this issue.
    I pray that your readers will consider to responsibly employ themselves and at their convenience take a short time to read my 3 pages of detailed research on google.com on this issue to help them form an informed opinion on the Zone System vs Meter Issue.

    By Karl Rudder , Posted October 23, 2007 11:36 AM
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