November 2, 2007
Morning Roundup: Having it Both Ways Edition
Good morning, Washington. It's Friday, and the city is still reacting to yesterday afternoon's announcement about how our new taxi meters are going to work. We already told you about the $4 flag drop, which many people are already saying is too high, and the fact that taxi roof lights will go on and off automatically to indicate whether a cab has a passenger, which everyone seems to agree is long overdue. One more thing to mull over is that drivers will no longer be able to stop and pick up extra passengers when they already have a fare (though shared riding from Union Station will be allowed). Sharing a taxi under the zone system hardly has a lot of incentives for most people, though. In our experience, drivers currently charge an entirely separate fare for the second leg of any multi-stop trip. Under the new system, if two friends share a cab and ask for two stops, meters will keep running after the first person is dropped off. Do you think you'll be more or less likely to share a cab with a friend on your way home once D.C. taxis switch to meters?
Cops Question 'All Hands on Deck': D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier has scheduled a fourth 'All Hands on Deck' initiative for this weekend, and the Examiner talked to some police officers and found they're not all on board. The officers told Scott McCabe that the initiatives leave the force short the week afterward because officers take days off to make up for working on the weekend. There's also that little matter of the fact that Lanier seems to be able to read the future -- this weekend's effort was scheduled well in advance of the city's most recent spate of murders.
Council Members Now Question Hospital Deal: The Post has the latest on the approved sale of Greater Southeast Community Hospital to Specialty Hospitals of America with the help of $79 million in public funds -- and it turns out several members of the D.C. Council are no longer confident in the deal. Apparently the Council did not receive information from CFO Natwar Gandhi about the financial risks the city could incur in the deal until hours before they voted on the plan, which they say wasn't enough time to adequately address those concerns.
Briefly Noted: D.C. police officer injured in hit and run ... Turf put down at new ballbark ... Beltway work to cause weekend traffic delays.
This Day in DCist: In 2006 we were giving Laura Sessions Stepp a hard time about her book, in 2005 we were wishing for a better bowling alley, and in 2004 we were playing election night drinking games.
Photo by AlbinoFlea
|
Watching the construction webcam is really getting interesting now since they are installing the elements that are really going to define the character of the stadium.
A drop fare of $4.00 is way too high, especially if they are going to tack on half a dozen surcharges. Contact the mayor and your council member and tell them that $4.00 is unacceptable. The only city I know of that has a fare that high is London at £2.20, but hey they have nice black cabs, drivers that know where they are going, and its London.
http://app.dc.gov/apps/about.asp?page=atd&type=dsf&referrer=%5b$DSF_SERVER_NAME$%5d&agency_id=1075
http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/index.html
Attention whiners: Does it cost less than $6.50 to sit in a DC cab now? Enough already. Jeez.
$2.75-$3.00 for the "get in" fee is enough. $4.00 is robbery! I might consider the $4.00 if all of those god awful taxis would be retired... like the piece of shit Mercedes sedan (complete with ripped, stinky leather), the collection of vintage LTDs, and the squads of skanky Buicks.
I don't think it's a matter of Lanier seeing into the future; the week surrounding Halloween sees an increase of crime by virtue of its high party quotient. Same goes for any other drink-and-be-merry holiday.
If you look at the distance the drop rate includes, the proposed DC rate is equivalent to LA, Seattle, St. Louis, and Las Vegas. Our drop rate is higher, but we get more distance than those cities. (LA, for example, only gives you 1/11 of a mile for your initial $2.20). And the distance rate of $.25 per 1/6 mile is lower than any other major U.S. city.
Also, if you check out this page:
http://www.schallerconsult.com/taxi/fares1.htm
you'll see that the proposed fares would result in lower than average fares for what the site calls "average trips" and "long trips," and only just above the median for "short trips." (Using the assumptions on that page, a D.C. average trip would be $12.25, a short trip would be $9.25, and a long trip would be $23.)
Actually being able to split a cab with someone was my main reason for supporting meters. It will be nice to be able to keep the meter running. As far as the high flag drop, I need to look at the numbers more but I personally don't ever take cab rides that are shorter than a mile. Looks like for average length cab rides fares will be pretty consistent with other large cities. I'll take what I can get, no whining here.
I'm aggravated that they want to keep all the ridiculous surcharges -- the $1.50 per extra person, the luggage fee, the rush hour fee, the gas surcharge and whatever other fee the driver feels like tacking on.
That was a major problem with the zone system and I'm extremely disappointed, to say the least, they're talking about keeping those.
I hope we use NY as a model, not LA. The cab charges there are highway robbery. It costs $50-60 to get from downtown LA to LAX and it's not as far as Dulles is to our downtown.
I love this from the Post article:
"The mayor did his thing again," Wright [the President of the Taxicab Industry Group] said. ". . . He's catering to the public. He doesn't care about the cabdrivers."
Man, the Fenty is an asshole. Cater to the public? Who the fuck does he think he is, the mayor?!
Even if the $4 drop seems a touch high, will it really matter? Take it out of the tip if it really makes a difference to you. (Do people tip?) It's just so exciting to be getting something approaching professional, first-world cab service. It's worth another dollar to know there's not going to be a battle of wills over the correct fare.
I wouldn't say DC is anywhere near "approaching" professional or world-class cab service. To do that, you'd need to fire 90% of the current cabbies, put all of their cabs into a car crusher, and create a new taxi comission with b*lls.
Don't get me wrong, meters are great, but I'd say we're only taking a "first step" toward somethign better than we have now.
I think the police would be more successful with an "All Hands on Dick" initiative, considering the amount of back alley buttsecks going on downtown.
Reid, I just snorted coffee through my nose and onto my laptop. Thanks, man.
Reid:
Mayoral nerve indeed, especially as 80 percent of DC cabdrivers do not live in DC.
"I hope we use NY as a model, not LA."
You mean the NY model that includes a peak time surcharge of $1 and a latenight surcharge of $.50?
I wonder if there'll be any set rate between DC and National Airport, or whether they'll just run the meter.