October 20, 2005
Transit on Thursday
Today's Transit on Thursday brings us a personal account of one of the city's few metered cabs, how to calculate your commuting costs, and WMATA's Richard White on Instant Messenger.
A Firsthand Look at Metered Cabs
As part of a test being conducted by the Taxicab Information Project, 20 of the city's 6,500 cabs were recently outfitted with meters for an eight-month trial period. It goes without saying that your chances of catching one of these elusive metered cabs is about as good as Dick Cheney taking our well-advised public transit alternative to get home, but we were lucky enough to receive the following from a reader who did hit the meter jackpot:
I hopped in a cab last night at 14th and F NW to go to 101 Constitution Ave. NW at 7pm. I actually didn't notice til after I'd paid the driver that it was a metered cab, but it ended up being approximately the same cost. The fare for the ride was $5.00 plus the $1.50 surcharge -- so a total of $6.50 as compared to $7.00 under the zone system. Which still seems a little high for not a very far trip. The driver said he likes the meter better than the zone system, "People believe what they see" he said, giving the fare system a transparency it doesn't have with the zone system. Sometimes it is more, sometimes less than under the zone system said the driver.Has anyone else caught a metered cab? If so, thumbs up or thumbs down?
I felt pretty lucky to have actually seen one of these cabs since there are only 20, but I hope that from the driver's positive reaction, that other drivers have similar experiences, and will lobby for instead of against the meters to be used more broadly.
Metro's Commuter Calculator
If traffic, parking woes, high gas prices, and crappy morning radio talk shows aren't enough to convince you that maybe public transit is a good alternative, then maybe an exact comparison on your pocketbook is.
WMATA's nifty commuter calculator let's you know how much you can save by taking public transit based on miles driven, parking costs, wear and tear on your car, your car's gas mileage, and the price of gas. Of course, the calculator doesn't take into consideration some of the non-financial costs of public transit -- sophmapics, constairpation, dirtyrottenrudebastards, and sleepthroughstops. Regardless, this DCist's cost to drive to work would run $101.67 a month, while public transit would cost a mere $64.00.
Then again, biking is even cheaper, and you lose weight doing it. Richer and fitter? That's a winner.
WMATA Chief to Chat on Friday
We have to give it to him -- for all the criticism WMATA receives daily from users, WMATA Chief Richard White has done a superb job making himself accessible to feedback and commuter concerns. The many townhall meetings and now multiple online chats have allowed commuters to directly address the transit agency's shortcomings, and the soon-to-be formalized Riders Advisory Council will provide the first institutional forum for rider oversight and opinion.
White will answer questions this Friday from 12 to 1 p.m.
While we realize that this probably won't happen, DCist would like to see some real-time, IM style chats with WMATA officials. We can picture it now:
MtrUsr: OMG! Is this Dick White?Unlikely, but here's to hoping.
WMATAPrez: Yep, Dick White here. A/S/L?
MtrUsr: 23/grl/Cap Hil
WMATAPrez: WU?
MtrUsr: FYI...I've been waiting a peeternity for Green Line trains at U Street this week. Y r they l8? Pls comment.
WMATAPrez: LOL! RUOK? DQMOT, but ATM track probs at Branch Ave.
MtrUsr: Thx for answer. TAFN. L8R. :-)
Picture of bus riders snapped by photogene.
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I still do not see any explanation for the ridiculous spandex outfits on the picture in this entry.
If you click on "Picture of bus riders snapped by photogene" at the end of the article, it will take you to his flickr account where he describes what happens.
It is too bad that DCist isn't making the pictures themselves clickable anymore.
These guys were models for Under Armour. I came across them doing a photoshoot by the MCI center. When I stopped laughing, I took a picture.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!!!
Agreed. It'd be swell if photos were clickable, particularly when the photocredit and its link isn't given until "after the fold".
Of course, if you're a federal employee in the DC area, you're eligible for a transit subsidy up to $105 a month.
Explanation for (non-ridiculous) photos of men in spandex? What's the need?! Men in spandex are entitled to ride MetroBus with me.
Metered cabs? What the city should be doing is making it easy for passengers of cabs operating by the zone system to see how much it would cost if they were to pay by meter. Without that, we're getting taken for a ride -- in the dark.
Hey I just had a swell idea -- how about adding taxi zones to you very helpful dcist map? That way we'd have access to a zone map that is -- *gasp* -- actually oriented north!
Dear ZO,
What are you referring to with your mention of 'actually oriented north'? Less rail service?
Just fyi, check out: http://wmata.com/metrobus/maps/dc.pdf
Dennis, I think ZO was referring to the way the maps in DC taxis have north at a 45-degree angle from vertical. See this PDF.
Zoned: we've talked about a taxi zone overlay. It should happen sometime after station exits, but well before bus lines. But work's been busy, so I've got no ETA for you. As always, if anyone wants to help out with the map, let me know! No technical experience necessary.
KCinDC and ZO, thank you, now I got a stiff neck.
I managed to land a ride in one of the cabs as well. I talked to the cab driver, he said one of the big downsides with the metered system is that they'll no longer be able to take multiple passengers to different destinations. Sounds like a really annoying downside to me.
Gaural, that sounds bogus. Cabs in other cities that have meters seem to manage it. Besides, the only times I've taken a cab with people going to other destinations under the current system everyone had to pay as if they were traveling separately, so it's a windfall for the cabbie and a ripoff for the passengers. That's probably not the way it's supposed to work, but how can people argue when the whole meterless system relies on trusting the cabbie?
This is cool, you have to try it. I guessed 77446, and this game guessed it! See it here - http://www.funbrain.com/guess/