February 12, 2008
Wasn't There Supposed to Be a Taxi Strike Today?
It's the second week in what was supposed to be an indefinite period of rolling taxicab strikes. Last week's strike, on Monday, definitely affected morning commutes and traffic, but seemed to end before really causing problems for folks trying to catch a cab on their way from work to happy hour. Now it's Tuesday on the second week, and we have to ask: are the taxi strikes already failing?
We noticed an entirely normal amount of cabs on the roads this morning. Maybe too many cabbies felt guilty about scheduling a strike to coincide with election day, or maybe, just maybe, they're starting to realize that the switch to time and distance meters is inevitable. But we thought we'd ask you: did you notice if there were a lot, just a few, or no cabs out this morning? Were you able to catch one if you were looking for one?
Photo by p2wy
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Did not notice a difference this morning. In fact, there was a steady stream flying down 16th and 17th like any other weekday morning.
Nah, I asked a cabbie last weekend if there would be one and he said they canceled it for Election Day.
Ahh. I was running late to work and picked one up on 14th Street in like 1 minute with no problem.
Scanning through this quickly, where it says "a lot, just a few, or no cabs" my brain somehow generated "lolcabs." ("I CAN HAZ ZONE SYSTEM?")
I called a Yellow cab this morning and it came to my house within 10 minutes. Strike = FAIL!
Just an overall comment on cabs... I was waiting for a bus last week during a weekday on Penn Ave, NW, downtown. The amount of taxis that slowly drove by staring at me or honking lightly trying to entice me inside was amazing. I've never seen so many. Quite a few even were going the wrong way, then saw me and did quick illegal u-turns to drive by me, only to realize I was waiting for the bus.
I think DC might just have too many taxis overall. The switch to meters will probably decrease this number, which is a good thing.