WTOP’s Adam Tuss and Kristi King did what I wish I had been able to do today: they went out and rode in a bunch of cabs, both to see how many they found that had meters installed, and to get a few real-life comparisons on price differences.

They came back with some hardly surprising numbers, but hard numbers nonetheless:

• It took them seven cabs and 25 minutes to find a taxi with a meter.
• In Union Station’s busy taxi stand line this morning, they only found three taxis with meters (out of how many, WTOP!?)
• They took a round-trip cab ride from Wisconsin and Idaho Avenues NW to Dupont Circle, one with a zone fare and one with metered fare. The metered fare was $2.50 cheaper.

You’ve got to love that quote from the cabbie who got paid the lower fare, too. As though the 7,000 cab drivers in this city deserve to make more than drivers in any other city, and the rest of us city residents should have to foot the bill. Also, the attitude that some drivers believe the “real deadline” is June 1, reported by David Nakamura, is about what we’d expect.

Takeways from WTOP’s experiment? If you’re considering taking a stand against taxi drivers who refuse to comply with the law, you’re in for adding a significant chunk of time to your trip while trying to find a metered cab. But if you find one, you could end up saving a not inconsequential chunk of change. Is $2.50 worth 25 minutes of your time? Probably not. But hopefully, as we progress into the month of May, that waiting time will shrink as more and more taxis get their meters installed.