Photo by NCinDC

Surcharges — riders hate ’em, but drivers say they can’t live without ’em.

At a hearing today before the D.C. Taxicab Commission on a proposed rate increase, few cab drivers seemed happy at all that the city’s per-mile rate may soon increase from $1.50 to $2.16. Without the current surcharges on everything from additional passengers to handling bags that would be scrapped under the new arrangement, there’s simply no way they’ll be able to make ends meet, they loudly complained today.

“By eliminating all the surcharges, they offset the so-called increase in the per-mile rate,” said Haimanot Bizuayehu, a representative of the Small Business Association of D.C. Taxicab Drivers, after the hearing. Added to the fact that taxicab drivers are still suffering from the loss of income that occurred when the District switched to meters in 2008, he said, the rate change could drive many out of the business altogether.

Bizuayehu would rather see per-mile rates settle at $2 and surcharges remain while a formal study is conducted to determine what fares would be most appropriate for the District.

Drivers at the hearing also complained of a proposal that would force drivers to replace cars every five years and immediately rid themselves of any car that’s currently seven years old. Many drivers complained that they wouldn’t be able to afford the cars, and some argued the surrounding jurisdictions allow decade-old cars to be used as taxicabs.

Put together, many cab drivers lamented what could come of the lives they had built for themselves by driving cabs.

“This is a threat, not just to me but to the future of my kids,” said Getahun Tadesse, an immigrant from Ethiopia whose two children are in graduate school. He also complained that the commission lacked any real representation from the industry.

“It’s a mockery of democracy to pass rules governing our way of life without any representation from us,” he said.

D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton said that he would meet with his fellow commissioners tomorrow to review the two proposals and take into consideration the testimony at today’s testy hearing. He said that he didn’t expect substantial changes to the fare hikes, but that the proposal on vehicle age might see some tweaks. (In a separate but related move, the D.C. Council will soon debate a bill that would mandate the modernization of the District’s 8,500 cabs, likely paid for by — you guessed it — a surcharge.)

But if Larry Frankel has his way, none of the proposals currently before the commission will go anyplace fast. Frankel, who filed a lawsuit against Mayor Vince Gray and Linton last year to force them to appoint industry representatives to the commission, said after the hearing that he was on his way to file an injunction against the rate increase proposal.