Photo by NCinDC

You may not be happy with the quality of service offered by the District’s taxicabs, nor might you be happy that any upgrades could well be paid for by a surcharge on all fees. But taxicab drivers have long complained that they’re not getting paid enough, and a proposal has been presented to increase how much they can charge riders.

A proposal presented to the D.C. Taxicab Commission by Nicholas Maxwell, an independent operator, would lower the drop rate (what you pay just for getting into the cab and traveling the first one-eleventh of a mile) from $3 to $2.75, but increase the per-mile charges from the current $1.50 to $2.75. The waiting rate would also increase, from $15 to $25 an hour.

But as a means to mollify riders that may be angered by rate increases, the proposal suggests that the Commission should do away with most surcharges (spare those for airport trips and when gas prices increase) and scrap the practice of resetting the meter each time a member of a group of riders is dropped off at different locations. Instead, Maxwell offers, only the final drop-off would pay for the entirety of the trip.

From the looks of his proposal, Maxwell didn’t pull his numbers out of thin air. Starting with the national mean income of $13 per hour for cab drivers and adding the local cost of living and business expenses, Maxwell found that a cab driver should be making almost $26 an hour. Based on an average of 2.33 trips per hour, he wrote, each trip should reach a target price of $11.14. (We’ve left a message for Maxwell requesting comment, and will update if he calls back.)

Ever since Mayor Adrian Fenty did away with the zone system, taxicab drivers in the District have argued that they are underpaid. A recent Post article found that when compared against other cities across the country, such claims may well be true — go any more than two miles and we’ve got rates lower than 40 cities.

In late September, D.C. Taxicab Commissioner Ron Linton, who has promoted an eight-point plan to improve the city’s cabs, dumped the $19 cap on fares within the city. And though he was granted executive authority to set rates, Linton has so far declined to use it, opting instead to accept and openly proposals from cab drivers and residents. (Have a proposal of your own? Here’s how to submit it.)

“What we need is people who want increases to tell us what they want and why,” he told DCist.

Maxwell’s proposal will be discussed at a meeting of the Commission tomorrow, where Linton assumes that it will be quickly referred to a panel on rates and charges. After that, a pre-hearing conference and public hearing will be scheduled, where proponents and opponents will be able to make their case.

Linton said he’d like to see the rate increase proposal be voted on in January, after which it will be published in the D.C. Register and wait 30 days before taking effect.