Photo by Samer Farha

Remember the taxicab zone system? Remember just how arbitrary it could seem, but also how a knowledgeable enough rider could game it so that a single ride only crossed into multiple zones in the most extreme of circumstances? Do you miss it? No? Well, some people do.

A Post poll finds that while 51 percent of D.C. residents seem to be happy with the switch from the zone system to meters—which took place in 2008—an increasing number of people are looking back at the zone system with nostalgia. According to the Poll, 37 percent of residents are unhappy with meters, up from 30 percent in 2010.

OK, so maybe people aren’t pining for the zone system, but it’s an interesting find nonetheless. Additionally, the racial breakdown is indicative: while 73 percent of white residents are happy with meters, only 32 percent of African American residents and 37 percent of Hispanic and Asian American residents are. Support is highest in wards 2 and 3, and lowest in 7 and 8. Residents making more than $100,000 a year love meters, those making less than $50,000 aren’t as enamored.

As for a bill passed by the D.C. Council mandating broad modernization of the city’s taxicab fleet, it looks like most residents are happy with plans for credit card payment options and a uniform color scheme—are are OK paying a 50-cent surcharge on every ride to help fund them. The poll found that 63 percent of respondents are supportive of the modernization and the surcharge to pay for it. And though differences exist when the answers are separated out by the race of the respondent, a majority of all respondents regardless of race approves of the modernization and surcharge.