You’re not going to like the sound of this: the final set of rules governing the switch from the zone system to time and distance taxi meters were published in the in the D.C. Register on Friday, and the additional passenger fee was added back in.

Mayor Fenty originally announced the fees would be done away with at the same time he announced that the initial fare drop would be $3 instead of $4, as well as the abolishment of the rush hour surcharge. The rush hour surcharge has not been resurrected, but cab drivers will be allowed to charge $1.50 per additional passenger under the revised rules.

“These last adjustments to our meter plan will make sure we’re ready to go on April 6,” Mayor Fenty said in a statement. “We’ve listened to all stakeholders, and taken the concerns of the riding public and our hardworking taxi drivers into account. Everyone will know exactly what to expect.”

It’s a little unclear to us whether the additional passenger fee is now set in stone. The Examiner paints the situation as being a done deal, because the plan was written as an emergency rule and published in the Register. The Post describes them as “a proposal” and says that public comment on them is open until Tuesday.

From our perspective, this is very disappointing news. I spent the weekend in Philadelphia visiting some friends, and on three separate occasions, four of us piled into a single cab for a quick ride to another location (it was rather cold). Each time, our total fare was around $5. Assuming we had only traveled one zone, those cab rides in D.C. would have cost us $12 currently, and might cost anywhere from $9 to $13 under the current meter plan. Frankly, I don’t think we would have bothered to take the same cab rides had we been in D.C. — we would have just walked. That the additional passenger fee would go away was one of the most attractive parts of Mayor Fenty’s taxi meter proposals, from a consumer perspective.

Photo by akkleis