As the Going Out Gurus reported last Friday, this past weekend marked the beginning of the long-awaited Adams Morgan Taxi Stand pilot program. As Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham published on his web site, the program is designed to reduce the killer traffic congestion on the 18th Street nightlife corridor on weekend nights.

The pilot program, which currently is set to last 90 days, is set up like this: between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, you are no longer allowed to hail a taxi on 18th Street between Columbia Road and Wyoming Avenue. Instead, you’re supposed to go to one of two taxi stands; there’s one at 18th and Kalorama, and another in the alley behind the SunTrust Bank at 18th and Columbia. Staff from the Adams Morgan BID are supposed to be on hand to manage the taxi stands, and hack inspectors will be present to make sure cab drivers aren’t breaking the rules by picking people up anyway.

DCist wasn’t able to get down to check out the taxi stands during their first weekend, but some of you have been kind enough to email in your experiences. DCist reader Kristen sent us this:

… the taxi stand pilot program in Adams Morgan is an utter disaster. I (probably the only sober person in Adams Morgan) left the bar around 1:30 a.m. in order to catch a cab before the rush. I was directed to the corner of 18th and Kalorama to a taxi stand. I waited for 45 minutes at the stand for a cab like the law abiding citizen I am. That is, until I noticed no cabs were coming to this designated “taxi stand.” That is because people were catching them all on the side streets, completely surpassing the stupid stand. For people who managed to snag a cab on 18th, the cops in the area were pulling them out of the taxis as if they were some kind of animal. After realizing no cabs were going to come to this stupid stand, the inspector/cop/whatever he was told everyone that they should probably walk to the stand on the other end of 18th. REALLY? This stupid rule is completely ridiculous. A girl in the back of the line tried to get in a cab and I thought a group of guys were going to punch her. …

Guh, sounds like the pilot program has a lot of work to do. Over the next couple of weeks and months, we plan to check back in and see how this experiment is faring, so keep sending us your experiences catching a cab at the end of the night in Adams Morgan to sommer (at) dcist.com.

Photo by drewbsaunders