Photo by Tracy Clayton.

On this day last year, former mayor Adrian Fenty decided that he didn’t have to follow the D.C. Council’s financial directive to repeal the $19 maximum fare on taxi rides beginning and ending inside the District of Columbia. Fenty cited a legal opinion rendered by then-attorney general Peter Nickles, which stated that Congress “delivered to Fenty dictatorial control of the taxicab industry.” The then-mayor upholding the cap on fares inside the city was one way he could flex his muscle — but now with both Fenty and Nickles out of the way, Mayor Vince Gray appears dead set on reversing the policy and, potentially, nudging the District back towards non-metered cabs.

Yesterday, we expressed skeptism that the usually out-of-sorts Commission would actually possess the logistical wherewithal to act on a repeal of the cap with any kind of alacrity. But Tom Sherwood reports today that Commission Chairperson Leon Swain has already “begun the process of changing the rule” and that it could be lifted within 30 days. While it would mean that all of the city’s cabs would have to recalibrate their meters — a process that would certainly take longer than a month to accomplish — the days of paying no more than 19 bucks to cab between destinations in D.C. appear to be numbered.

Anyone who was paying attention during the campaign realizes that the maneuver is simply Gray, strongly supported by cab drivers during the campaign, repaying a political favor. In the long run, the question is how big of a bite the cab drivers will want to take — will an overturn of the maximum fare be enough, or will they push for medallions or even, as silly as it sounds, a return to the zone system? Time will tell.