City regulatory officials released a list of 20 reasons the District’s taxicab zones should be abolished, including overcharging, discrimination, questionable accounting practices by drivers, and the fact that tourists and residents simply don’t understand the system.
The list, part of an order by the D.C. Public Utilities Commission to replace zones with meters, was released on Nov. 6, 1931.
The order would be upheld by the D.C. Superior and Appeals courts, only to be sidestepped by a single sentence slipped into a D.C. appropriations bill two years later that banned meters in the city’s taxis.
Nearly 75 years later, the same problems are being debated as the District struggles with a $600 million-a-year system some say is inefficient, confusing and corrupt and others insist is necessary to preserve small businesses and preserve customer service.
On Tuesday, D.C. Taxicab Commission officials said they “seriously considering” getting rid of the often-criticized system and switching to meters — possibly as soon as next year.
Emmett Clark, chair of the nearly 500-member D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association, said the current push to switch to meters is the first step toward a government “takeover” in order to hand control of the taxi system to corporate interests.
“They want to tell us when to work, where to work, where to gets our cars repaired and who to give our money over to,” Clark said. “Switching to meters is only a small fraction of an overall effort to end free enterprise in this city.”
Nearly 60 percent of the District’s estimated 7,200 cab drivers own their vehicles, perform their own maintenance and are responsible for their own finances, Clark said.
Causton Toney, chairman of the Taxicab Commission, said the only cost drivers will have to pay is the $350 to install a meter and have it inspected.
“We are trying to give the riding public what they want,” Toney said. “What that is remains to be seen.”
