The Washington Post says that taxicab drivers are handing out surveys to riders about the impending change from zones to meters. Drivers have until Jan. 8 to hand in public comments to the D.C. Taxicab Commission and the mayor’s office, which means that if you get in a D.C. cab between now and then, odds are pretty good you’ll be asked to complete a survey.

We haven’t spotted one of the surveys ourselves yet, but based on the Post article, the questions appear to be the following:

1) Do you feel you were consulted by the mayor regarding the change to meters?

2) Do you prefer time-and-distance meters?

3) Would you prefer zone meters?

Question one is pretty clearly designed to get people’s outrage up, and question 3 indicates that at least the survey’s designer is still clinging to the hope that moving to zone meters is still a possibility (and interestingly, no longer bothering with promoting keeping the zone system just as it is, without any kind of meter).

Today’s Post story indicates that so far, a surprisingly huge percentage of respondents prefer keeping the zone system, which differs from the results of the reader survey that influenced Mayor Fenty’s decision. Think there could be a little selection bias going on here?

Filed Under: mayor, mayor fenty, taxi meters, taxicab commission, taxis, The Washington, the washington post, transportation, washington, washington post,