The cost of a typical D.C. cab ride will rise by 44 percent, and even more for riders stopped or slowed by traffic jams, under a plan approved Tuesday. The D.C. Taxicab Commission on Tuesday tentatively approved a fare increase from $1.50 per mile to $2.16. It also intends to raise the waiting charge – the meter costs racked up when a cab is stuck in traffic or traveling below 10 mph – from $15 an hour to $25.
The changes mean the cost of a typical cab ride – between two and three miles – would jump by about $2. A five-mile cab ride would cost nearly $4 more, $16.92 rather than $13.15, the commission estimates.
The fare increase, which would take effect in February if given final approval next month, is less than the city’s cab drivers wanted. Drivers said the increase falls short of what they felt they were promised by Mayor Vincent Gray, who they helped elect by giving his supporters free rides to the polls in the last election. “It really is a travesty. They’re just going through the motions,” said cab driver Carolyn Robinson, who supported Gray’s campaign. “It’s unfair to drivers, because this is a spectacle.”
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Even before the increase, plenty of people in the city were driving cabs for a living. The District has an estimated 8,600 licensed drivers and 7,300 taxis for a population of about 600,000, a per capita service that dwarfs other cities. Chicago has 6,800 cabs for 3 million people and New York City has 13,000 cabs for 8 million people, according to the D.C. city council’s transportation committee. “We have more cabs per capita than anyone else in the world,” said Carolyn Robinson, a driver for more than 30 years in the District.
Consumer groups hailed the lower-than-expected rate change as a victory. Even though the base fare is going up, several surcharges for things like luggage handling or extra passengers were eliminated, they noted.
In exchange for the higher fares, the taxi commission is pressing owners and drivers to modernize the city’s cabs. Under the proposed rules, all new taxis must be less than 5 years old. Existing cabs can’t be older than 7 years or have a mileage higher than 400,000.
“This is a great first step in reforming our dysfunctional and mismanaged taxicab industry,” said Jack Jacobson, spokesperson for the consumer group DC Taxi Watch. “We commend the leadership of the commission on behalf of consumers, and look forward to working with the commission to build public support for these reforms.”
The commission plans other upgrades for the cabs, including requiring them to allow credit card payments. They also include encouraging cab drivers to use “environmentally friendly and fuel efficient green taxicabs” and improving cabbies’ “education, professionalism and customer service skills” — all changes that consumer, hotel and restaurant groups have demanded.
