Mayor Adrian Fenty will sign an executive order today ditching the District’s taxicab zone fare system in favor of the time and distance meters used in every other major U.S. city.
The long-awaited decision was based on a “clear majority” of resident support for meters in the city’s 7,500 cabs, Fenty said during a news conference at the corner of Alabama Avenue and Naylor Road Southeast – the intersection of four zones. It is time for the zone system, he said, “to come to an end.”
D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain said the commission will meet within two weeks to set a timeline for the switch. No other decisions, such as meter fares, have been made.
“It’s just going to bring us into the 21st Century,” Swain said.
Riders have complained that the zone system led to overcharging and inconsistent fares. But drivers – some of whom have threatened to strike if meters are ultimately chosen – fear a meter system will force consolidation oftheir industry under a select group of well-financed cab companies.
“I’m shocked,” said Motz Zarooq, a driver with Anacostia Cab. “I never expected him to go that way.”
Fenty was forced by Congress to decide on the fare issue by Wednesday. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., slipped a provision into a D.C. authorization bill requiring meters, though it also provided the mayor with the authority to opt out.
“No matter when this decision came to us, this is a decision that had to be made,” Fenty said.
