WTOP’s Adam Tuss managed to get D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain on the record that he’s now officially “trying to get rid of the [gas] surcharge.” Trying? He’s also apparently “trying” to contact members of the taxicab commission so that he can talk to them about repealing the surcharge. “I expect to take action this week,” Swain told Tuss. Hmm. You may recall that FOX 5’s Matt Ackland asked Swain the same question on Oct. 29, noting that gas prices had fallen and were expected to keep falling. Since then, there was a regular, full meeting of the D.C. Taxicab Commission on Nov. 12. What prevented this discussion from happening at that meeting? Average gas prices in the metro area now stand at $1.91. When the $1 gas surcharge we’re paying right now was reinstated in late 2007, average gas prices were around $3.13 per gallon. The Commission approved the most recent surcharge renewal on Sept. 29, extending it through January 31, 2009.

In other taxi-related news, the Examiner reports today on a new report from a 13-member taxicab task force, which was co-chaired by Swain along with D.C. Council member Jim Graham, that calls for the elimination of the $1 fuel surcharge, while at the same time raising the meter rates from $1.50 per mile to at least $2, and increasing the $15 per hour wait charge to $24. The report also calls for the elimination of the $19 cap on rides that start and end in the District.

Early DCist prediction on all this: the gas surcharge will be eliminated, but either at the same time or only shortly before many of these meter rate increases are implemented, thus making most short trips cost roughly the same as they do now.

Photo by dbking