April 21, 2008
Judge Says Fenty Has Authority on Taxi Meters
The final road block to Mayor Adrian Fenty's mandate to switch the District's taxicabs to time and distance meters has at last been removed, reports WTOP. A judge has ruled in the city's favor in a case brought by a group of taxi drivers who tried to argue that Fenty did not have the authority to make his decision on meters. Now that the ruling confirming the mayor has power over taxi regulation is in place, taxi cab drivers only have until May 1 to have meters installed in their cabs, or else face $1,000 penalties each time they drive without one.
All that said, after reading Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles' comments on this issue in the Post on Saturday, we have a pretty good feeling the city is going to have to extend the meter installation deadline by at least a few weeks. Almost no taxi drivers have already installed the time and distance meters, and it appears to be almost impossible for the six licensed installers in the city to have every cab ready by the end of this month. Either we'll hear that Fenty has extended the deadline by the end of the day today, or the District is going to be rather short on legitimate taxi cabs on May 1.
Photo by andertho
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I never understood why it says "Call 911" on rooftop taxi cab signs. Would somebody please enlighten me??
Yonas, if there is an emergency in the cab, i.e. he's being hijacked or robbed, all he has to do is flip a switch which will illuminate the "Call 911" sign and signal to those outside the cab to call 911.
oh yay! the toyota ads that must use flash or something are back, and they hog so much processor power that you can hear that fan just kick into high-gear whenever they're on screen.
how much are they paying y'all? i'll double it, just to get rid of their crappy ads.
What Toyota ads?
Go here now if you use Firefox: http://adblockplus.org/
Thanks Drew! I've been calling 911 to schedule taxi pick-ups. Oops...my bad!
Instead of giving the taxi drivers yet another extention, Mayor Fenty should let Maryland and Virginia cabs work in the District until the DC cabbies have their meters installed. The drivers have done everything in the power to drag their feet on this, so I have limited sympathy for them not having time to get their act together.
In some parts of town, calling 911 is the only way you'll ever get a taxi pickup.
DL in DC: wow, that's awesome. adios ads!
(sorry dcist, i know that's how you make your money, but i just can't take those toyota ads anymore).
I (heart) FireFox.
And I never got the Call 911 thingy either. I have seen them turned off as well as turned on. I never got which one indicated the cabbie needed help.
@drew in adams morgan: wow, thanks. That definitely clears it up.
@somegirl: ain't THAT the truth? Especially when hanging out in H Street NE. Good luck getting home after staying there until 2am.
I tend to agree that issuing an extension would only cause cabbies to drag their feet further. They knew this was coming, and if they failed to prepare for it... fuck 'em.
Also, Mac users can get SafariBlock, which uses the same blocking list as AB+.
Heck with the "Call 911" has any light on the top of a DC taxi (on or off) meant anything at all?
As discussed here before, the new rules require that light to be connected to the meter and act like taxi's in every other city. Just *that* feature will be well worth the cost.
yonas, et. al you're welcome.
I say give them tough love. Start enforcing it on May 1 from the get go and be a real harda$$ about it.
If I get ripped off by a cab ride, I want it to be because of the city, not because of a cabbie's creative accounting.
I agree with other posters - let MD and VA taxis carry DC fares if there aren't enough legal DC taxis to do it.
Fuck taxi drivers. They are roaches on our roads. Too many cabs as a result of DC being the only major city sans medallion scheme in the country.
Fine them off the streets.
It just occurred to me, the cabbies are probably pissed about the meters most of all because the IRS can gauge what their income is from the meter. Is the current system all self-reported?
From the comments, it seems clear the cabbies' public outreach efforts haven't worked very well.
To me, that CALL 911 is about as effective as a car alarm. God knows every time I hear one of those going off, I call the cops.
i can't count the times that I have seen the call 911 message displayed on a metro bus that obviously did not need the assistance, not sure what would happen if they actually needed someone to call 911.
I was out this weekend with a friend who was born and raised here in DC (lives in Orlando now), I was surprised to find out that he didn't support the move to time & distance meters.
Hillrat:
Did he give any reasons?
Is the "Call 911" switch only for the driver? I could have used one when a cab driver tried to sexually assualt me a few years ago...
You better wake up and smell the real flavor, 'cause 911 is a fake lifesaver.
Had an argument with a cab driver just last night. Can someone tell me if I am off-base here?
I went from my house in Columbia Heights to a destination by Gallaudet, traveling from Zones 2B to 2C entirely along the southern border of both along Florida Ave. I previously checked the fare estimator on the Post website as I'd had this argument before. I arrive at my friend's house and I know the fare is 2 zones, $9.80, and I even tip the guy by handing over $11. He immediately starts to argue with me that I owe him more money. I challenge him to prove how, you took me 2 zones. He keeps yelling at me "where did I pick you up from!" I said to look at the map, we went from within 2B south to Florida Ave. and then to 2C, traveling along the southern border of both zones. 2 zones. Look at the map. Then he starts yelling at me "you cheap! you cheap!" I tell him this is why they're switching to meters bc you rip people off. And he drives away honking the horn like crazy in the middle of this neighborhood yelling.
Was I wrong here??? Is driving along Florida Ave. an excuse to charge a 3rd zone??? I don't like arguing with cabbies, I always tip them, I don't want to be a jerk, I just expect to have the rules applied fairly.
Anyway, can't wait til the switch.
I like the idea of allowing MD and VA cabs pick up the slack but don't they have different meter rates? So would it be possible to reprogram the meter temporarily?
@deeper dish: i believe the correct response in your case should have been to yell, "you stupid! you stupid! learn how to count! watch sesame street! p.s.! buy some deoderant!" it sounds like you encountered one of the many insane cabbies in our city.
i can just see the day (far, far away) when meters are supposed to be installed and enforced and hear my cabbie say, "sorry, meter broken. $14. you cheap!"
wow DL in DC, thanks. although it's kind of weirding me out not to have ads in my hotmail...
Deeper Dish: You are not off base, you are correct. According to the DC Taxicab Commission Website:
"The zone boundaries shown on this Map shall include both sides of the designated street, avenue, or road. Any trip originating on the street, avenue, or road designated as a zone boundary shall be viewed as originating in the zone nearest the point of destination or origin."
They even has a chart that shows you the number of zones traveled. From 2B to 2C = 2 zones. [Note: the second link includes a PDF].
thewrongballoon, you'll get used to it :-)
I'm just "paying it forward" for someone on DCist who pointed out AdBlockPlus one of the last times that the ads were annoying. Actually, I think that time they were a touch NSFW that time, depending on your employer.
I imagine most people won't do this, but I plan to boycott cabs without meters starting 5/1. It will probably take me a while to find a ride, but at least it will be lawful and might begin to send a message to the cabbies that they're going to lose out on revenue if they're not in compliance.
"It will probably take me a while to find a ride, but at least it will be lawful and might begin to send a message to the cabbies that they're going to lose out on revenue if they're not in compliance."
I would take down their Cab number and license plate number and report them to the DC Taxicab Commission as well.
Interesting article. And who knew there were enough gay cab drivers in the District for them to have their own advocacy group!
DL in DC: i am finding that you have to play with the settings on this to get it working just right. it blocks some "legitimate" content as well, if it's not originating from the domain as the page you're surfing on.
but, it looks promising in the long run.
thewrongballoon: i just realized you've got an achewood avatar! this is the greatest comic of all time.
I'll hop box cars before I set foot in another DC cab. I always get less charming versions of Mister T or Travis Bickle for a driver.
Wow. Maybe it's just you out-of-towners. I'm from the area and I've never gotten ripped off in a DC cab.
yonas, you clearly have never resided anywhere in NE.
Compare DC cabs to London or Tokyo or NYC or friggin Oxnard and a DC cab ride is about as comfortable, hygenic, and enjoyable as colonic irrigation with a garden hose full of Tabasco. Any jackass with a driver's license and basic autonomic nerve functions can get a hack license in DC.
And tough s**t if you're stuck on a street corner at 2am looking for a cab and you're the wrong color. You could be dressed like Secretary of State Cunnilingus Rice herself and they'd still refuse to stop.
I don't understand why so many locals have these fights over the fare at the end of their journey. One good thing about the zone system is that the fare is always the same -- in other words, ASK the driver what the fare will be before you get in the cab or before he pulls away from the curb. If you know the fare should be $9.80 and he wants to argue, get out and get another cab.
I can understand tourists not knowing that they can do this, and I've told many of them that can can ask the fare in advance if they aren't sure. Local/residen cab riders should have figured this out a long time ago.
Interesting article. And who knew there were enough gay cab drivers in the District for them to have their own advocacy group!
Damn you HCE!!! I've now been hoisted on my own petard
in other words, ASK the driver what the fare will be before you get in the cab or before he pulls away from the curb.
That's been my system for years; negotiate the fare at the beginning of the cab ride, not the end and you save yourself a lot of grief. Of course I pretty much have Stockholm Syndrome from taking cabs in DC for so long, so as long as they don't say something outrageous I usually just roll with it.
@ DL in DC
We were slightly hammered by this point in the evening, but he seemed to be worried that the meters would be unfair to the cabbies. Obviously this is someone who moved away from DC a loooooong time ago.
I usually get ripped off coming from National Airport, where everything is hazy. Otherwise, I pretty much know where I am going. But the boundary streets are always a conundrum.
I usually get ripped off coming from National Airport, where everything is hazy.
What constitutes being "ripped off"; are they banging you for $40-50? I've been living and traveling in DC for over ten years and every time I take a cab to or from the airport to the Hill; whether I call for a cab or grab one on the street, whether it's me by myself or I have the whole fam, etc. I usually end up paying about $20. I've gotten there or home for as little as $15 including tip, but the most I've ever paid was $25; for the convenience of walking out of the airport and being home in less than 20 minutes I think $20 is pretty good.
Yup, I agree with Hillrat, my fare to and from National has always been around $20-$23, often including a decent tip. Not bad for door-to-door service at all hours. I can honestly say I've had maybe three memorably bad cab experiences in 22 years of living in DC and taking cabs frequently.
Hillrat and Sun Head:
Neither of you see anything wrong with having a fluctuation of $3 to as much as $10 in your cab fare coming from National Airport?
We're not talking the increase of 1 zone here. I've paid as little as $14 to get from the airport and as much as $22. From the same location, taking the same route and not during rush hour. The actual price is $17. I would say charging me 29% more than the actual fare constitutes ripping me off.
I think I'm going to have a rolling strike of my own...basically just hail down cabs if I want to go anywhere (eff metro, man!) and ask if he'll charge me the metered rate. If he has no meter but agrees to it, cool. If not, I'll sit in his cab and call DCRA or whoever until they come and give him a $1000 fine. I have shit else to do, and it'll help make up for the uncounted millions I've lost on "extra luggage" charges in DC cabs when the cabbie didn't budge to help me.
If we all join together and do it for 24 hours, I bet our strike would be more effective than the strikes they put together in the fall. Given that the Post was reporting there it will take 7000 man-hours to upgrade all the cabs and that there are six licensed shops to do it, they'll each need to have some 5 dudes each working around the clock to meet the deadline. That's some sweet overtime.
Curses!
I hate you Fenty. I'm going to not vote for you again!
Neither of you see anything wrong with having a fluctuation of $3 to as much as $10 in your cab fare coming from National Airport?
Not really. I'm pretty intolerant of bullshit, but in my particular case there are enough variables (extra passengers, radio call charges, rush hour, etc.) and I feel like the fare is reasonable enough that I choose to file it under "don't sweat the small stuff". When I used to travel all the time, I had a much better feel for what the fare should actually be and probably didn't have as much variation; but for the 2-3 times a year the fam and I travel, three of us getting door-to-door service for $25 works for me.
Hillrat: A $5 dollar fluctuation Hillrat is like adding 3 extra zones to my fare without traveling through those three zones. $10 is like driving through 6 extra zones. It's not small stuff. How much of an outcry would you have if you were traveling in the city and the cab driver tacked on 3 extra zones, without going through those zones, for no reason? You'd be furious. How is this different?
It's ripping people off.
Sorry, $5 not $5 dollar. Haven't had my coffee yet.
How much of an outcry would you have if you were traveling in the city and the cab driver tacked on 3 extra zones, without going through those zones, for no reason? You'd be furious. How is this different?
I dunno, chalk it up to cognitive dissonance. I'm not disagreeing with you, you have every right to be outraged and in most circumstances I would be right there with you.
I think a big part of my indifference is that I feel like taking a cab is a luxury. So going into the transaction I have already made a decision that I'm being a little extravagant and if I'm on my way to the airport for vacation the last thing I want to do is get my asshole tight worrying about my cab fare. If a cabbie tried to charge me $30 he'd probably be told to go fuck himself, but I figure karma will make the difference between a $17 fare a $22 fare right in the end.
As much as cab drivers have been vilified, it's not an easy job. Carting drunk assholes around town while dealing with the looming fear of getting jacked at any moment? None for me thanks.
The chart drew links to is the Rosetta Stone. It's not about how many zones you travel through, as many people incorrectly believe. Only the start and end zones are considered for the fare.
Drew, I meant as Hillrat did, that sometimes there are variables such as whether I call the cab or hail it on the street, if there are extra passengers, where I get delivered on my return, and if I'm tipping generously or not. The basic fare from my home (if I call the cab) to National has been $18 for a while now. No "variation" in the base fare, no getting ripped off.
I am talking about me riding alone in a cab to Dupont Circle from National Airport. It should be $17 (including the airport pick-up charge and the luggage handling fee). I have been charged as little as $14, and as much as $22. Never any other passengers except me. No hailing from the street.
hillrat,
your brand of "cognitive dissonance" voids any potential value you might bring to the conversation.
you are willing to be inconsistent and elitist because the "cognitive dissonance" you cite means that you're an exception all while you raise your tiny fist in unity with the rest of us, the vacation challenged.
i call bullshit.
be elitist. or not. just stop the posing.
@alice_r
WTF are you talking about? I really don't understand what you're trying to say here.
Drew, then maybe you should have ASKED the driver before you accepted the ride how much it would cost. And since DC cabs are going to get meters, this discussion is now pointless and you shouldn't be getting "ripped off" anymore.