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We've heard from several readers who spotted fliers around town in the last week advertising a taxi cab strike in the District today. The strike is reportedly to protest the effect the current taxi meter rates have on cabbie income (many argue they now make less money). WTOP has also heard about the strike, but they say participation is spotty, so you can still get a cab if you need one. Given the unique nature of D.C.'s taxi business, it's almost impossible to account for all the different taxi driver alliances and groups out there, let alone the independent, unaffiliated drivers. So you tell us: were there fewer cabs on the streets this morning, or did you not even notice?
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Clever to have a taxi strike on car free day. That actually helps the "car free" nature of the day. Good for them for participating.
Yes. Surprisingly considerate of them.
Thanks!
Huh? I had to walk around a cab in the crosswalk on Penn Ave. this morning, same as always...
Taxi stand outside my office, empty.
i wish every day were a taxi strike. the traffic is so much better.
I get the sense that most of the actual protesting is taking place between fares. Routine behavior for the most part.
less taxis on k street this morning...
Fewer...
thanks, but i've already been corrected further down thread...
Sorry, it was early and I woke up on the English side of the bed... :)
what's the other side of your bed, then?
I don't know about a strike, but there was a major taxi clusterf**k at Dulles on Sunday. Apparently, a larger percentage of the Afghani drivers employed by Washington Flyer were observing the Eid holiday, leaving only a few drivers to cover a huge crowd of travelers. Gotta love that monopoly...
Maybe you should know better than to travel on Eid Day!
Maybe you should know better than to travel on Eid Day!
I found it nearly impossible to find a cab last night on my way to the Caps exhibition game. Almost impossible to find one for the way back, too.
Two currently sitting in front of the Capitol Hill Suites hotel (or whatever it is currently called).
DC needs to pass a law that if there is even a whiff of a cab strike, then the Mayor can allow VA and MD cabs to pick up fares in DC without any restrictions. Let Red Top put the Ethiopian mafia out of business!
They should be clever enough to hack their meters to run faster! Duh!
There's a protest at City Hall and someone said that 1,000 cabbies called off. FWIW.
D.C. has far too many cabs for a city of only 600,000 people. Roughly 7x per capita as many taxis as in Chicago or NYC. I imagine they would probably make better money if it wasn't incredibly easy to get a taxi license, and there wasn't a glut of cabs.
dcist has hit two of my pet peeves in one post today. It's effect not affect.
Affect is a verb meaning to influence.
Effect is a noun meaning a result.
I suspect there were fewer taxis on K street this morning, not less taxis. But this being DC and given IMGoph's credibility, I will accept that there were the same number of taxis today but they were in poorer condition.
Nice catch. Though I can't help but think of this when reading affect/effect diatribes.
I think IMGoph was trying to say that the Taxis on K Street this morning were either smaller or of lesser quality than usual.
that must have been it. lots of clown cars for some reason. :)
There is a strike although I was able to catch a cab from Metro Center to the Hill and back. It was harder to find a cab at Metro Center and my driver was none to friendly. Another cab that had refused to pick me up pulled up next to him brandishing a sign saying "we're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" (which seemed pretty generalized to me) and hassled him for taking fares today.
My driver on the way back probably should have taken the day off and gone to driving school but that is neither here nor there.
Few cabs around N. Dupont. Pain in the ass, but I think this just engenders antipathy towards cabs in this town. I'm more likely to metro to meetings with these kinds of shenanigans.
I didn't notice and nor woudl I care.
I don't know why ANYONE takes a cab in this city... They're so expensive and they have all the disadvantages of a Metrobus, dirty, smelly, slow, stuck in traffic, rude and ignorant drivers... and worse--they won't even stop for you if you make the mistake of telling them where you're going before you get in! I have ridden in a cab 3 times since I moved to DC a year ago. All 3 times that I rode, the drivers did not know how to reach simple destinations on New York Ave or in the Southeast. Even with an address they still could not navigate to the destination without going in circles around it a few times--now that could have just been to run up the meter, but my guess is just that they don't know anything.
I'd rather take a Metrobus and save the cash... or even better, WALK and get some freakin' exercise!
Thank you mlswanso3470. I also don't enjoy paying for the rude service, the beat-up cabs, the traffic, or the drivers that try to bend the rules whenever possible - including the refusal to take passengers based on destination. As a result, I think I've taken 1 cab in the past year. Seriously, just take the better and more sustainable form of transportation - take the metro or walk or bike.
Expensive?!?!? Name one city where you can go across town for $15. Or one city where you can go across town for less than $10.
i don't think most of the taxis are here to serve us yokels, as much as they serve to shuttle the k street and cap hill crowd from one fundraising opportunity to the next.
I noticed a few Virginia [Red Top mostly] cabs picking up fares along K St. this morning. Not sure if it's just due to a decrease in cabs, but traffic is kinda light today. I really wish all cabbies were forced to take a few days off every so often for driving/traffic law training. Worst drivers ever.
I saw no evidence of fewer taxis, although I did pass a group of maybe 50 demonstrators in front of City Hall on my way to lunch. From reading the signs, I think they were the taxi guys, although it seemed like a couple of them were there to complain about Fenty's privatization of DPR's child care programs.