Mayor Adrian Fenty’s top aides are developing a plan to allow vehicle inspections at the city’s gas stations rather than limiting drivers to the lone District-run facility in Southwest.
The mayor has directed the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the Environment to look at decentralizing emissions inspections, shuttering the DMV’s facility at 1001 Half St. SW and eliminating most safety inspections. Detailed recommendations should be ready by March, said Janis Hazel, DMV spokeswoman.
“Yes, the administration is very seriously looking at decentralization,” said George Hawkins, District DOE director. “It would provide more options to residents and reduce overhead costs to the government, which is what’s spurring the look.”
Drivers say the Half Street station has improved in recent years, with better service and generally short lines. But residents from the corners of the city are nevertheless tired of traipsing to Southwest for their biennial checkup.
“I think I can say with some degree of confidence that most people who live in Ward 4 and in Chevy Chase D.C. would be interested in that convenience,” said Gary Thompson, an upper Northwest advisory neighborhood commissioner.
The District’s facility is expected to run a $1 million deficit in fiscal 2008, according to DMV projections, as the cost of a visit has remained stagnant. But preliminary talks of adding gas stations to the mix, which may reduce the city’s expenses, have raised red flags:
» The $200,000 price tag for a dynamometer, the equipment required for emissions testing of older vehicles, might be cost-prohibitive for the average service-station owner, Hazel said.
» The price of an inspection would need to increase from $25 to up to $45, she said, to cover ramped-up enforcement and to ensure the work is cost effective for gas stations.
» The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found that decentralized inspections are less effective at cutting pollutants, Hawkins said, and the city will “have to make up the reductions some other way” to meet federal air-quality standards. That could include things such as planting trees or adding hybrid vehicles to the city’s fleet.
Another possible obstacle: The number of District service stations has plummeted in recent years to roughly 90, or one per 6,500 residents, according to a 2006 report from AAA.
“It’s a viable option but we’ve got to make sure that there are facilities to handle it,” said Paul Fiore, director of government affairs with the region’s service station trade association.
Closer inspection
» As of 2005, 17 of the 34 emissions programs nationwide were decentralized, 13 were centralized and the rest were a combination
» Of the 224,655 vehicles inspected in D.C. in 2004, nearly 9 percent initially failed
» About 300,000 vehicles are registered in the District
