A pilot program devised to herd the crush of D.C. cabs that overrun Adams Morgan on a typical weekend night into an organized taxi stand has been temporarily abandoned by its organizers after the effort fell flat.
The D.C. Department of Transportation issued formal notice Friday that the 90-day pilot program had been postponed, but the taxi stand was actually discontinued in December, about 30 days in. DDOT has since pulled its directional signs from the 18th Street area, said agency spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc.
“Basically we piloted it, it didn’t work, and now it’s been postponed,” she told The Examiner.
The plan was to operate two taxi stands — one on the north side of 18th Street behind the SunTrust Bank, and the other on the south side between Kalorama and Wyoming streets. Taxis were barred from trolling 18th Street for fares between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., when massive crowds swarm Adams Morgan’s nightspots and take to the streets in search of rides.
The problems with the program were numerous, observers say:
Some cabs refused to participate.
Others were frightened away by the large contingent of hack inspectors manning the stands.Signage was unclear for drivers and pedestrians.
Drivers didn’t know the rules and there was little information provided or outreach conducted.
Many people looking for rides simply bypassed 18th Street for adjacent side streets, spurring cabs to crowd neighborhood roads.
“I tend to think it’s a little bit like cold fusion or the Bush tax cuts or the Washington Wizards actually being a good basketball team,” said Bryan Weaver, chairman of the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission. “In theory it could work, but in practice it didn’t work at all.”
The No. 1 factor, said Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, was the weather — “that people had long waits in the cold for taxicabs was impacting the whole program.” Also, he said, there was a noticeable decline in taxicab presence, which was driving down patronage at Adams Morgan businesses in the midst of a struggling economy.
Kristen Barden, executive director of the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District, said the taxi stand idea was a “win-win” for businesses and patrons. Its downfall, she said, was the cold weather and that, “We just didn’t get the cooperation of the drivers.”
The stand may be revisited in the spring, organizers said. Graham referred to it as being in “suspended animation.”
