Next time you sit down in a Washington taxicab, you might see the bright red lights of a meter. Don’t worry, you will still be charged the normal zone fee, as the meters are simply part of an eight-month experiment. But before the District moves forward on making all cabs metered, we suggest they make the system more fair for residents in far-flung, low-income neighborhoods.
In a sense, every contentious issue in D.C. revolves around the city’s racial and economic divides, and the experimental meters are no different. As proposed, the meters, which are in approximately 20 cabs across the city, charge $2.50 for the first sixth of a mile. Each additional sixth costs $0.25, with $15 per hour of waiting time. Currently, under the district’s zone system, a trip of only a few blocks costs the flat rate of $7, including the recently renewed gasoline surcharge.
On the surface, the meters appear to be a good deal, especially if you live near downtown and do not make long trips. However, for those who live in distant neighborhoods, trips using the meters will cost more than under the zone system. The meters will benefit executives, tourists and D.C.’s privileged more than the poorer blacks and Latinos far from the lights of downtown.
The only people the meters will clearly serve are the cabbies, who will be able to earn more during rush hour and on long drives-making trips far into Southeast and Northeast more lucrative for them.
“I can get $15 going up Massachusetts Avenue,” said Frank Johnson, whose cab has one of the experimental meters. Johnson said most of his customers liked the changes, and were less suspicious about the prices they were being charged.
However, according to Johnson, who has driven a cab in D.C. for 25 years, the debate over the new meters skirts the obvious.
“Cab drivers do not make their money off low-income people,” Johnson said. “When it comes to making realistic money, you have to pick up the businessmen and the tourists.”
Putting meters into cabs will probably not come to a vote in the city council for well over a year. First, the experiment must be completed, its data analyzed and the results published. In that time, the district needs to strike a socially equitable balance.
We propose that the initial charge be raised, and that the meters decrease their cost per mile as one drives further. As Georgetown students, we like the idea of meters and knowing exactly what we are going to be charged. But we cannot ignore the needs of the residents of the too-often overlooked areas of the city.
