Dear PoPville – DC taxi luggage issue (And Proposed Taxi Fare Changes)

Photo by PoPville flickr user thisisbossi

Dear PoPville,

I often take a taxi home from National and whenever I leave the airport, the cab driver charges me $2.00 for luggage. This is the case even when I am only carrying a medium-sized duffle bag, which is small enough to bring in the back seat and as carry-on luggage. The sign in the cab says that they will only charge for “large” luggage, and when I looked it up under DC cab regulations, it says that the bag must be 32 x 18 x 9 inches for the cab to charge you extra. I generally really like DC cab drivers, but I am sick of arguing with them every time I cab it home from National. Do you or your readers have the same issue, and any suggestions on how to handle this?

This problem will likely become moot soon. A couple weeks ago the Taxi Commission proposed:

Proposed amendments will: (1) increase the “additional mile” rate from $0.25 per 1/6 mile to $0.27 per 1/8 mile which represents a mileage rate increase from $1.50 per mile to $2.16 per mile [for both intra-city and interstate fares]; (2) increase the waiting time rate from $15 per hour to $25 per hour; (3) eliminate extra fees including luggage fee, large bag fee, trunk fee, unenclosed animals fee, personal service fee, additional passengers fee, and fuel surcharge fee and; (4) change the snow emergency rate into a flat fee.

Of course the “mileage rate [will] increase from $1.50 per mile to $2.16 per mile”.