Those celebrating Barack Obama’s inauguration may find it difficult to get a cab as most taxi drivers, citing standstill congestion, closed main streets and impatient passengers, are opting to stay home.
Nearly all cab drivers who do intend to brave the crowds are planning to take advantage of the evening partygoers in farther-out neighborhoods.
“This taxi will not be in” Washington D.C., said 86-year-old Robert Studevent, who is a 63-year veteran of the taxi trade.
“You must think I’m really stupid.”
Making money will not be worth it even if the meter is running in deadlocked traffic, he said.
“The driver will get cursed out and the passengers will leave the cab sitting in the middle of traffic — and I wouldn’t blame them,” he said.
Like most cab drivers in the District, Studevent does not work with a dispatcher service, and wouldn’t know which streets are busiest or unexpectedly shut down for the passage of a VIP.
The big dispatch services, Taxi Transportation and Yellow Cab, work with fewer than 1,000 of the nearly 7,500 taxi cabs in the city.
“We’ll have our drivers out there, but we’ll be reporting back and forth so they can say, ‘I can only get you this street, or as far as that building,’ ” said Reginald Luckett, a driver and dispatch supervisor for Taxi Transportation. He added that extra operators will be on duty to handle the heavy passenger flow.
For the few drivers left on the packed streets, one perk could be extra tips.
“They’re here for Obama, so all I’ll do is talk to them about Obama!” said Mesfin Mtg, a cabbie for 16 years.
But drivers such as Isaac Gidey and Kidane Gebretensa, parked outside of the Holiday Inn at 15th Street Northwest and Rhode Island Avenue, are less sure.
“We like to make money,” Gidey said.
“But that’s not the day to do it,” his friend added.
