May 29, 2008
Taxicab Commission Renews Gas Surcharge, Again
Given the record high gasoline prices consumers are paying at the pump right now, it's not terribly surprising that the D.C. Taxicab Commission took "emergency action" this week to extend the expiration date of the current $1 per trip gas surcharge by another 120 days. The previous gas surcharge, which was also an "emergency" extension, went into effect at the end of January and expired on May 28.
When the $1 gas surcharge cycle we're on right now first began, in late November of 2007, average gas prices were around $3.13 per gallon. Two years before that, when an earlier $1 gas surcharge went into effect, prices in the city were around $2.59. So what we're wondering is: when exactly does the Taxicab Commission expect prices will be at a level when the $1 surcharge will no longer need to be extended via "emergency" action? Could it instead be time just to permanently raise prices?
This latest "emergency" action by the Commission extended the gas surcharge through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28. But it seems likely we'll be writing this exact same post a fourth time on Friday, Sept. 29 unless, between now and then, the Commission and the Mayor can come to some agreement between them about what this "emergency" gas surcharge is actually trying to solve. Given that the new metered rates are now in effect, it may be tough for Fenty to go back on his word about not having a $4 initial drop fee. At the same time, we'll have been paying a de facto $4 drop fee for months already when this latest extension expires. At some point, wouldn't you rather just pay an increased fare rather than a constantly extended, not very transparent additional fee?
Photo by Samer Farha
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transparent fees, transparent governments, what a celophane utopia that would be!
Does anyone know if hybrid-car taxis are allowed to charge this gas surcharge? I've never taken one, but see them around occasionally by DCA. I wouldn't be suprised either way.
So let's say that the average cab gets about 20 miles to the gallon and that the average price of a gallon right now is about 4.00. That one dollar "surcharge" is basically paying for 5 miles worth of gas. I doubt the average cab ride is anywhere near 5 miles.
Even if it is over 5 miles, the logic behind the surcharge is faulty. The idea is that since the gas prices are high, passengers need to chip-in more. But let's say the price of gas has jumped a buck from whatever the Commission would consider the base (a clearly faulty concept in the first place). That would mean your extra buck is actually buying an extra 20 miles worth of gas over what the cab would normally take-in.
This is legalized gouging. Clear and simple.
462838472 hours straight without hiring a cab and LOVING it!
(and even if the average mileage for the normal POS DC cab is closer to 15 mpg, it doesn't change the numbers that much. It's still legalized gouging.)
they're also tacking on a $5 meter fee. i mean someone has to feed their families, pay for their cell phone bills, pay for those cardboard air fresheners, pay for their polyester clothes, and pay for those expensive meters to be installed right?
i think we should just have a free for all every time you take a taxi somewhere. you have to get in the front seat and strap on your seatbelt. you and the driver then put on boxing gloves and start wailing on each other. whoever wins* gets to pick the cost of the fare, but it can't exceed $15 or go below $0.
* the winner is decided by either a TKO or whoever starts crying first. if you're a woman, you got 20 free punches. if the taxi driver is a woman, you get 20 free boob punches. if you knock out the taxi driver, make sure their "on duty" light is turned off and their "call 911" light is turned on.
I took a metered cab the other day and noticed the latest gas surcharge. I figured the emergency simply meant that the initial pickup rate was written in stone and the Taxicab Commission had to figure out how to get around that. I don't have a problem with paying more in times of higher gas prices, but it's clear this "emergency" is going to be in effect for a long time. Just be honest anbd raise the initial fare. Stop bs'ing people.
Not to defend the gas surcharge, but with all of the idling and sitting in stop-and-go traffic that they do, I wouldn't be surprised if they're getting much less than 15 MPG. I would love to see the Taxicab Commission mandate that all new cabs that go into service after a set date achieve a certain level of efficiency or be hybrids, but at this rate I don't see that ever happening.
Got my first metered taxi last night and was delighted by the exchange I had with him:
Me: "So, how's the meter working out."
Driver: "It's no good, I'm not making any money."
(Read: "It's not as easy to rip my unsuspecting passengers off any more.")
Whoa to Does anyone know if hybrid-car taxis are allowed to charge this gas surcharge?
But - most of those hybrid cabs are VA/MD ones... The DC cabs are still far to POS to be hybrid.
Reid: Nationally, the average taxicab trip is, in fact, five miles long. However, D.C. rivals New York for the shortest average cab trips in the nation; the best estimates suggest that the mean D.C. cab trip is 3.8 miles and the median trip 2.8 miles.
On the other hand, most D.C. cabs expend a fair amount of gasoline even when they have no passengers (even radio-dispatch cabs, which are nearly as rare as hens' teeth in DC, still have to deadhead it between pick-up points), and this has historically been considered an overhead expense that has to be recouped from fares for the industry to work. Personally, I suspect the gas surcharge is too high, and I'm sure that the process involved in deciding the amount of the surcharge makes the imposition of the surcharge itself seem like the acme of rationality and transparency, but in the Taxicab Commission's defense it's not necessarily as straightforward a calculation as it seems like it should be.
Timmy: Yes they are, but I don't think DC has any hybrid cabs (if we do, it's just a tiny handful). The ones you see are registered elsewhere in the region -- usually Arlington, which has one of the largest fleets of hybrid cabs in the country.
Disclaimer: in the past, I have had occasion to work with the D.C. Taxicab Commission in a professional capacity, and may do so again in the future. Any opinions expressed above are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or the D.C. Taxicab Commission.
i don't mind the gas surcharge, though it should be incorporated permanently.
the big ripoff is that cabbies with meters are still ripping people off by trying to charge a rush hour surcharge. i've gotten into arguements with metered cab drivers that claim that the surcharge is still in effect. i don't pay it, but people less willing to stand up for themselves have a drop fee of $5, not $4.
The fact that it is a flat fee is particularly egregious. Why should I pay a buck more to go 2 miles, when someone who rides it 10 miles pays the same buck extra. If it were to be equitably applied, it would be a per/mile surcharge. And I'm thinking no more than 25 cents more per mile.
And even then I'd be opposed to it. It's based on a false premise (i.e. that we're in a fuel price "emergency"). The cost of gas is just part of the overhead of running a cab. I say that we let the normal rates apply, and then reconsider those rates only once the number of cabs in business declines significantly. The Taxicab Commision is not an employment agency.
Can we declare a "pad the meter emergency" to account for cabbies taking longer-than-necessary routes and seeking out high-traffic areas to run up their meters? I would suggest a $2.00 deduction from the drop fee.
Is there anywhere we can go to see the actual rules of the meters? Like the fact that there is no rush hour surcharge and that they should run it to the airport and what the add on's are?
"to shirk or not to shirk"
If I linked that right, it goes to a complicated nerdy econ analysis of why cab drivers should not be a'holes and take roundabout trips... Not super relevant to this thread, but a little bit.
Reid, I'm with you on passing along any gasoline surcharge as an additional mileage charge rather than as a flat fee.
I'm not sure whether it's really necessary to wait until the number of cabs drops significantly, though. It's generally not necessary to adopt the "figure out the weight limit on a bridge by driving heavier and heavier trucks across it until it collapses, then rebuild the bridge" method for rate-setting in a regulated industry.
Unless, of course, reducing the number of cabs significantly is the goal, and holding back on passing along increased gasoline surcharges a means to an end. In which case that could work, although I'd be worried that letting increased gasoline charges drive out some drivers would have the effect of ensuring the survival of the most dishonest drivers, at the expense of drivers who don't gouge. A better approach might be to establish a medallion system, and provide for loss of medallion as a punishment for certain offenses.
Except that I don't consider the going-out-of-business of cabs to be equivilant to a bridge collapse.
I'm for a medallion system if it would result in better quality of service (as seems to be the case in medallion-granting cities). In my opinion, currently we have too many cabs, and this situation exists because they are oversubsidized by inflated rates.
If your bitching over a dollar surcharge your A) cheap and B) need to stop taking cabs. Gas is high. Cabs use gas. Customers who want to ride in cabs must pay for it. I dont see where the outrage is coming from.
I have noticed some drivers avoiding the angled State Avenues in favor of the "L" of the triangle approach. (How long till we can have robots replace cabbies?)
Regarding the fee, I have to completely agree with Reid. On top of that the whole meeter system was designed during this whole gas price insanity. I think the citizens of DC should get a rebate from the Taxicab Commission for all that time when gas was around $2, but they were still charging that same $1 surcharge.
Let the Council continue this "emergency" legislation tactic where at least it gives (the potential) opportunity for citizens to examine the practice.
It's still hard to take a cab in this town for under 10 bucks. Considering that I can RENT A (zip)CAR (including gas) for less than that, I think there is something clearly out of place here.
At some point, wouldn't you rather just pay an increased fare rather than a constantly extended, not very transparent additional fee?
No, actually, what would be the point to that? An increase in fares might "remove" this current fee for the moment, but that would give them an opening to tack a new fee on in its place. Do you honestly believe they'd not still add an additional "gas surcharge" anyway after a fare increase? It might go away for a little while as a token, but as soon as a new milestone in gas prices is reached, the surcharge would be back along with the increased fare.
I'm sure a Soccer Stadium Surcharge will be next.
I agree that the now-continuously-present-"emergency" gas surcharge is a joke. I do wonder how the taxicab commission would implement any changes to the base rates though. Clearly those are stored in the meter. Even more clearly, we don't want the cabdrivers having any way to access those rates, other than "Start" and "Stop". What are the chances that all 37,000 cabs in this city will line up to get their meters adjusted.
Oh wait. Let's remove the surcharge first, then then they'll line up to get their meters set with the new (higher) rates.
guest33: Here you go; the rules begin on page 3831.
fabs: It's not the Council that sets these things, it's the Taxi Commission. (Just in case that wasn't a typo.)
I'm amazed at the number of people who are proud to admit that they have been repeatedly cheated by cab drivers.
It's kind of like admitting to have bought additional "Rollex" watches from guys outside of Metro stations because the first one that you bought turned out to be fake.
It might go away for a little while as a token, but as soon as a new milestone in gas prices is reached, the surcharge would be back along with the increased fare.
Probably the best way to deal with this would be to take a page from Seattle. Seattle has a gasoline surcharge for taxicabs which is calculated from a published formula, based upon gas prices, and increases or decreases are automatically triggered when gas prices reach certain levels. Instead of an ad-hoc system of "emergency" surcharges, DC should set a mileage fee that takes into account the cost of gasoline and the desired level of cab service, and then provide for changes in the mileage fee according to a strict formula. It'd be hard to do -- since part of the mileage fee covers costs, that portion needs to be linked to gas prices, but the rest of the mileage fee is for vehicle costs and labor and should be linked to the CPI -- but you'd only have to do it once. (Or at least only once until changes in public policy result in a higher or lower demanded level of service. But I digress.)
Disclaimer: in the past, I have had occasion to work with the D.C. Taxicab Commission in a professional capacity, and may do so again in the future. Any opinions expressed above are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or the D.C. Taxicab Commission. (This also applies retroactively to my comments 17 and 24.)
so typical that I have to dig through some hundred-page document to find the rules on meters when all cabs should be using them by now and passengers should know what the rules are. Thanks DC! You're so nice.
now that I read it, wow. One taxi already told me he could turn the meter off to go to National Airport. Another, who picked me up from the airport, said there was an "airport fee." Both not true. That said, if I'm having such a hard time finding the rules, I imagine a lot of taxis don't know the exact rules either. fun fun
Did anyone know this??
In cases where more than one passenger enters a taxicab at the same time on a pre-
arranged basis (group riding) bound for different destinations, in addition to the applicable charges set out in this section, the fare shall be charged as follows: Whenever a passenger gets out, the fare shall be paid, the meter shall be reset, and the last passenger shall pay the remaining fee.
The gas surcharge only applies to trips within the city. So the Commission cannot increase the drop rate to $4 as interstate trips (including to/from the airport) are exempt from the surcharge.
From the Commission's Web site: The fuel surcharge will only affect fares for point-to-point service within the District and do not apply to interstate fares.
Another, who picked me up from the airport, said there was an "airport fee."
That one might be legal. Check out 801.6(j). (Airport surcharges are outside of the city's authority, so the regulations can't say what they are, just that they can be added to the fare.)
The other guy is, even before June 1, very much outside the law. As in, $1,000 and loss of license outside the law.
Disclaimer: in the past, I have had occasion to work with the D.C. Taxicab Commission in a professional capacity, and may do so again in the future. Any opinions expressed above are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or the D.C. Taxicab Commission. But, frankly, they should.