March 13, 2008
Cab Drivers Starting to Sound Desperate
D.C. taxicab drivers may have won a small victory in their attempts to derail Mayor Fenty's time and distance meter mandate this week, when a judge awarded them an extra month of the zone system thanks to a silly typographical on the part of the District government. But a hilarious story in today's Post by Sue Anne Pressley Montes outlines their new strategy in getting what they want (namely, zone meters), which includes tactics such as attempting to gather enough signatures to recall Mayor Adrian Fenty (ha!) and something called a "paparazzi campaign" that could find taxi drivers photographing elected officials they encounter (huh?).
Mounting a recall effort against a popular mayor like Fenty is going to be close to impossible, but we're even more mystified as to what exactly taking photos of public officials will accomplish. OK, so sure, it might annoy them. But are they expecting to catch them climbing out of limousines with no underwear on? We suppose Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry might want to be on his best behavior if he takes any taxis between now and May.
One thing the drivers are apparently not planning on doing anymore: striking. Those rolling, once a week strikes we heard so much about only ever happened twice, and the second time didn't even go according to schedule. I've asked four different cab drivers in the last week whether they had heard there would be any more strikes, and they all told me they thought the strikes were over.
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I propose Taxi Rider strikes.
maybe they will post their photos to flickr! Drivers - dont forget to tag it "DCist"!
Taxi Rider TIPPING strikes. Just tell the driver you're only paying exact change because you support the fairness of the meter system. Then take a picture of his pouty ass...and yes, post it on flickr! And more power to you if you pay with a sockful of pennies!
The cabbies obviously prefer the current zone system because they can screw over passengers and charge whatever they want. The meter system is less confusing -- just press a button and then charge what the LCD says at the end of the ride. So the complications of the change are absolutely not what the cabbies are against. And if they were concerned about their compensation remaining consistent, they could still seek that farily by agreeing to adopt meters with the condition that they get to negotiate final rates so that they don't suffer from the change. They could even ask for the option to allow the passenger to opt between the meter or a pre-negotiated rate like in New Orleans. But of course, once the meter rates are set, no matter how well compensated they may be the cabbies won't be able to arbitrarily jack up the charges for a metered ride by 50% without the customer knowing it. Which is why they prefer the confusing, arbitrary, and transparent-as-a-pirate's-eyepatch zone system.
BTW, If you caught the "Ask the Mayor" segment on today's NBC morning news, it would probably have come across that Fenty knows and agrees with all of this. But he's just reluctant to call bullshit on the cabbies because he doesn't want to add to the strife. But I would like to see him support, enforce, and improve the new meter system with increasing stringency once the policy takes effect. Once the cabbies have to have meters, it'll be easier to crack down. I hope.
The cabbies obviously prefer the current zone system because they can screw over passengers and charge whatever they want. The meter system is less confusing -- just press a button and then charge what the LCD says at the end of the ride.
More cabbies have attempted to cheat me in time-and-distance meter cities by taking deliberately circuitous routes than have tried to cheat me under the zone system. And that's only the times they've tried to cheat me by drawing out the trip -- if the meter was hacked (it's been estimated that at least a third of LA's meters are crooked), I'd never know.
(Admittedly, I seem to be the only person in DC who actually understands the zone system -- I wouldn't think it was rocket science, but based upon DCist comments, apparently it is -- and it may be that DC taxi drivers subconsciously get that, if they try and cheat me, I will quote chapter and verse from 31 DCMR 899, demand the correct fare, take a cell phone picture of their face card and license plate, and harangue the Taxi Commission to actually take action. In which case, I hope the courts actually do throw out the meter regulations, because I can hire myself out as a taxi fare consultant/facilitator at twice what my employer -- who is not the Taxi Commission, but has worked with them in the past and may well do so in the future, but any opinions are my own, yadda yadda -- is underpaying me now.)
I like to think I know a thing or two about the taxi industry, but even I have absolutely no goddamn idea what the hell the "paparazzi strategy" is supposed to accomplish.
My best, by which I mean only, guess that the point is to come up empty handed, and thus to argue that the city's elected officials are making decisions on meters without having a clue what conditions are actually like on the street. It's not a wholly nonsensical argument -- our elected officials sometimes do make uninformed decisions that can make or break other people's businesses -- but if that were the strategy, I would challenge elected officials to prove they actually ride cabs, not show up with no photos of elected officials riding in cabs and claim that this proves that they don't.
As always, not working for a taxi outfit or the Taxi Commission, have had professional relationship with Commission in the past, any opinions are my own, blah blah blah.
I think the "cabbies prefer zones so they can cheat customers" argument in some way undermines the case for meters if, in fact, the real reason for the resistance to meters is a desire to perpetuate a system that allows for the easy hiding of income.
The amount one can steal by subtly overcharging fares is likely peanuts compared to how much one can "save" by not reporting a large portion of cash income.
You should have the bearings to know when you're going in circles, by looking out the windows or feeling for the inertia of turns. If it seems like the route is circuitous, you can always let the cabbie know, either directly or by suggesting you're in a hurry and know a route with fewer turns. Or just get out and find another cab.
i support taking pictures of all the cabbies. some kind of rouge's gallery on flickr would be a public service, showing us who the worst of the worst are.
CMinus:
My problem with the zones isn't that I don't understand them. I understand them perfectly well (as long as I'm cabbing sober).
My problem is that it costs me $10 plus to go six blocks.
My bigger problem, though, is that cabs in DC suck generally.
DC is where third world cabs go to die.
And somehow I secretly suspect it's because of the zone system. I don't quite know how, but it is.
I've never understood why cabbies have the level of political influence in this city that they do. Nobody is sympathetic to them, whether it's ripoffs, falling-apart cabs, reckless drivers, or cabs refusing to stop for African-Americans or to drive to certain sections of town.
I think the only reason they wield clout with the DC government is they are so good at making a fuss.
Meters do bring with them their own opportunities for cheating, and I personally don't have a problem with the zone system, but it pretty much guarantees that visitors to our fair city who don't understand it will have a bad experience. If you don't understand the current system, you can feel like you're being ripped off even when you aren't.
I've never understood why cabbies have the level of political influence in this city that they do. Nobody is sympathetic to them, whether it's ripoffs, falling-apart cabs, reckless drivers, or cabs refusing to stop for African-Americans or to drive to certain sections of town.
I think the only reason they wield clout with the DC government is they are so good at making a fuss.
Meters do bring with them their own opportunities for cheating, and I personally don't have a problem with the zone system, but it pretty much guarantees that visitors to our fair city who don't understand it will have a bad experience. If you don't understand the current system, you can feel like you're being ripped off even when you aren't.
I've never understood why cabbies have the level of political influence in this city that they do. Nobody is sympathetic to them, whether it's ripoffs, falling-apart cabs, reckless drivers, or cabs refusing to stop for African-Americans or to drive to certain sections of town.
I think the only reason they wield clout with the DC government is they are so good at making a fuss.
Meters do bring with them their own opportunities for cheating, and I personally don't have a problem with the zone system, but it pretty much guarantees that visitors to our fair city who don't understand it will have a bad experience. If you don't understand the current system, you can feel like you're being ripped off even when you aren't.
"...if they try and cheat me, I will quote chapter and verse from 31 DCMR 899..."
The whole point of changing to meters is to make the fares simpler and clearer. One shouldn't have to memorize portions of the DC Municipal Code to ride in a taxi without being cheated!
Hillman, I don't think it's the zone system, it's the lack of medallions.
In other cities, where there is a medallion requirement, taxicab companies have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per medallion, which prices out undercapitalized operators and gives the survivors a valuable asset (the medallion) they can borrow against to cover capital spending needs. Whereas in the District, pretty much any schmo with a car can become the proprietor of a "one man, one car" cab company, and often does. However, with no real collateral, the independents are pretty much persona non grata in the lending market and have to pay a relatively large amount of cash up front -- which means lots of used cars, and no investment in things like hybrid vehicles or credit card readers or so on.
The District's lack of medallions is not without its advantages. It creates a cab market that's very easy to enter and has spectacularly high rates of cabs-per-capita. Fundamentally, and this may sound like the acme of counterintuitivity, the District's cab system is easily the most capitalist taxicab system in the country -- by which I mean that Adam Smith would love the low barriers to entry and long lists of service providers. But the District model certainly has its disadvantages, and number one on the list is, nobody can afford to spring for snazzy equipment.
(Opinions all my own, yadda yadda.)
Indiecognition, exactly. When taxicab drivers try and cheat me somewhere else, I'm not saying they get away with it (unless they've hacked the meter, in which case I'm screwed), I'm saying that a dishonest cabbie is a dishonest cabbie, and meters won't fix that.
That said, for my own personal circumstances, the zone system is in fact better at dealing with cheating cabbies, since I know the zone fare even before I get in the cab and if the cabbie were to quote a higher fare I would ownz0r his ass without even trying hard. Whereas under time and distance meters, it would be my word against his as to whether the detour was necessary to avoid snarled traffic.
Suances, I'd guess that too -- I would be surprised to find a cash-heavy business that doesn't underreport income -- but the taxi drivers support for the zone meter undermines that to some extent.
My personal guess as to their objection to a time and distance system? Driving a cab in DC is a tough job that won't make you rich, but it's a pretty good gig when compared to what cab drivers in other cities have to deal with. Maybe it's not because of the zone system, but why take that chance?
I think this whole entire thing is pathetic. They say that we the citizen has been disenfrachised in the process because the Mayor made the decision. Problem is that the Council forced the Mayor's hand into making a decision one way or the other by setting the October 2007 deadline to exempt or not to. Were the cab companies really expecting this to be made a referendum?
The DC cab drivers don't have as much influence as they might think. Nobody supports them on this issue. The strikes were a miserable failure. They are the ones who stand to lose the most. A lot are independently owned. They can continue to put up a fight, paid out of their own pockets. If they keep resisting, they will be out of business.
One shouldn't have to memorize portions of the DC Municipal Code to ride in a taxi without being cheated!
Indeed they shouldn't. This is why I actually do support meters, although I would prefer the zone meter to a time and distance meter (and a time and distance meter to no meter at all, even if it's not to my personal advantage).
The point was, in my personal experience, DC cab drivers are extraordinarily honest with the fares. However, I'm aware that my experience in this respect seems to be unique among DCist readers, so I was suggesting that the confidence I bring as a passenger (it's not as if I tell cab drivers that I know where the zones are, after all) is a reason this might be so.
(Another possibility is that people are exaggerating the stories about being ripped off, but suggesting that would be rude, not to mention that the stories are so widespread that it's easier to believe I'm exceptional than it is to believe everyone else is lying.)
Problem is that the Council forced the Mayor's hand into making a decision one way or the other by setting the October 2007 deadline to exempt or not to.
That was Congress, not the Council.
cminus:
According to § 50-381 of the DC Code, passed on October 16, 2006:
"(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and not later than 1 year after October 16, 2006, the District of Columbia shall require all taxicabs licensed in the District of Columbia to charge fares by a metered system. (b) The Mayor of the District of Columbia may exempt the District of Columbia from the requirement under subsection (a) of this section by issuing an executive order that specifically states that the District of Columbia opts out of the requirement to implement a metered fare system for taxicabs."
The Council forced the Mayor's hand in making a decision one way or the other. Sen. Levin only provided added pressure a year later.
Drew: If you have the passage date, check the history of 50 D.C. Code 381. My copy says: "Oct. 16, 2006, 120 Stat. 2019, Pub. L. 109-356, § 105." That's a Federal cite, not a District one.
50 D.C. Code 381 was inserted into the D.C. Code by Congress as a rider on the 2005 District of Columbia Omnibus Authorization Act. It was enacted by Congressional fiat -- it was never anything Anthony Williams or the Council asked for, and in fact Eleanor Holmes Norton unsuccessfully pitched a fit over it back at the time.
The most interesting thing in that article was the claim that cab drivers are concerned that the time-and-distance meters will result in an increase in fares, thereby attracting more large companies to the DC market and driving the independents out of business.
So now they're worried that they're going to make too much money? That sounds implausible (to put it politely).
CMinus: Do you know how taxicab insurance works? My understanding is that it's only 3 or 4 companies that issue the insurance for all the cabbies, they don't issue normal insurance paperwork, and cabbies pay a few dollars every week. Does that sound accurate?
I" will quote chapter and verse from 31 DCMR 899, demand the correct fare, take a cell phone picture of their face card and license plate, and harangue the Taxi Commission to actually take action."
Sweet life!
CMinus is correct. That bit o' DC code was courtesy of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). Yet another in a long line of members of Congress offering to be DC's voice in the Capitol (yes, I'm being sarcastic).
Cranky, vehicle insurance isn't my practice area, but that does sound plausible -- from what I understand, D.C. cabbies purchase insurance for very short increments of time from a limited pool of certified insurers, and carry relatively little insurance by national standards.
RecSpecs, it'd suck if I ever had to actually do it, but my knowing that I'm the kind of guy who will waste hours of his own time raising a very effective stink over an overcharge of less than two bucks may give me a certain swagger that discourages dishonest behavior. It's deterrence theory as applied to customer service.
Cranky, vehicle insurance isn't my practice area, but that does sound plausible -- from what I understand, D.C. cabbies purchase insurance for very short increments of time from a limited pool of certified insurers, and carry relatively little insurance by national standards.
RecSpecs, it'd suck if I ever had to actually do it, but my knowing that I'm the kind of guy who will waste hours of his own time raising a very effective stink over an overcharge of less than two bucks may give me a certain swagger that discourages dishonest behavior. It's deterrence theory as applied to customer service.
Let's face it. DC will be vastly better served when the big cab companies move in and take over.
It's all well and good to 'support the little guy'. But that has to come with some basic standards.
At a BARE minimum we should adopt and age/mileage standard, like other cities do. I think a usual standard is something like no more than 6 years old or 200,000 miles, whichever comes first. I could be wrong about that.
In any event, our cabs are atrocious. If adding meters brings us one step closer to changing that, that's the deciding factor to me.