Some D.C. cab drivers are mobilizing for a strike on Halloween to protest the change to time-and-distance meters, sacrificing what could be one of their most lucrative days of the year and possibly impacting a popular anti-drunk–driving campaign.
“It’s very much on,” said Willie Wright, president of the D.C. Taxicab Industry Group and a driver himself. “The cab drivers are ready for this one.”
Wright called for the work stoppage, slated for 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, immediately after Mayor Adrian Fenty opted to ditch the District’s zone fare system in favor of time-and-distance meters. The D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association and an organization representing Ethiopian-American cab drivers have since joined the effort.
“There’s quite a few other drivers who belong to no organization,” said Nathan Price, spokesman for the professional drivers association. “They’re all fighting for their rights at the table, to maintain this free enterprise system.”
Most of the District’s 7,500 cab drivers are independent. The switch to meters, many fear, will usher a new taxi industry controlled by a handful of firms that will drive the independents out of business.
Wright and Price both said they expect thousands of drivers to strike. Other industry players played down the impact.
“Some drivers won’t work, and the other drivers willwork twice as hard and make up for it,” said Jerry Schaeffer, whose family manages and rents cabs in D.C.
The McLean-based Washington Regional Alcohol Program, meanwhile, continued Monday to promote its SoberRide program, which offers free rides to would-be drunk drivers on Halloween night. Arlington’s Red Top Cab acts as WRAP’s central dispatcher, working with nine area cab companies to get people home safely.
The intent is to serve calls originating in D.C. with District cabs, said George Pakidis, Red Top vice president. But in the case of a strike, he said, Virginia or Maryland cabs will be sent to pick up D.C. taxi requests.
