Most everyone despises the District’s zone system, but Marc Fisher, the Post’s Metro columnist, may have found one more thing to hate about the city’s cabs — their chatty drivers.

Based on an email Fisher received from an irate reader, he wrote on Friday:

…let’s cut right to the real issue here: What we’re talking about is, for the most part, immigrant cab drivers who spend the entire ride talking on the cell in their native tongue. English-speaking cabbies are vastly less likely to spend their work shift on the phone in good part because they would be embarrassed or self-conscious about having their passengers listen to their personal conversations. Immigrant cabbies have a huge advantage–in most cases, they can chatter without much concern that any passenger will be eavesdropping on their conversation.

Fisher notes that New York has banned cab drivers’ chatty ways, and Seattle may soon follow suit. Should the District?

Before we open the floodgates to comments, these are questions to consider: Is there anything particularly wrong with a cab driver talking on the phone as they drive, provided they use a hands-free device? Do we object to them doing so because we’re looking for conversation ourselves, or because we simply appreciate the silence? When does their talking on the phone go too far? If we request that they stop and they refuse, is it them being rude or us being sensitive?

Fisher makes his take on the issue clear:

Well, excuse me, but as much as I too would love to have a secret language in which I could communicate with my friends as we travel through public places, that doesn’t mean it’s ok for cabbies to pretend that their customers are just a parcel they’re delivering to the next station.

What’s yours?