Comments on: Dear PoPville – Heads Up on New Taxi Rates and Shenanigans

By: queenedix

queenedix — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:41:38 +0000

Had my first awful experience in a new-meter cab today. The driver was very nice, but the fare was so expensive I almost couldn’t believe it. He took me down 11th from Park and took Florida to 14th, and stopped at 14th and Eye. This fare would usually be $8-9 or so, even in traffic. My fare today was over $17. There was moderate traffic, so I checked the Post fare calculator thinking this was outrageous–but the calculator says this trip is now $15 or so in traffic.

I only took a cab today because I didn’t want to be late for a meeting (which ended up being canceled anyhow) but a 50% increase in fare overall is truly outrageous.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:11:17 +0000

had an awful cab driver a week ago. Spent the first half of the trip driving 10mph, hitting every light because he was messing with his phone. tried to take me up 18th street through the construction while bypassing 14th and 15th (i was going to columbia and 18th). He stopped at a green light to argue with me about the route when i called him out. at the end of the ride, the cab fare was 8.50. he took my $20 and turned off the meter. he asked me how much change i wanted back and was unhappy when i told him i wanted all of it — noway will i tip someone like that. he tried to give me $8 back. when i told him the meter said $8.50 before he turned it off, he said that the meter was reading how much my change was. I demanded my money, noted that he turned the meter off and didn’t have his license displayed anywhere in the cab and told him that we could call the police to find out how much was owed. he parked the car, ran into a liquor store and got my change. I’ve never seen a fat man run so fast.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:23:14 +0000

Indeed, because it is so difficult to ID the drivers, its basically impossible to report them – and this is of course what DCTC wants as an industry lobby. Cabbies that have given me trouble routinely refuse to give their license #.

By: Annonny

Annonny — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:13:58 +0000

WTF? Cabbies complain gas prices are too high to make a living so they get a surcharge. Cabbies then complain rates are too low to make a living so the rates get raised. And the surcharge is still in place?!?!?

Ugh, this kind of confusion/rip-off/bs is the reason why I use cabs only as a last resort.

By: Colin77

Colin77 — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:00:11 +0000

Good article on the suckitude of DC cabs:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/why-you-can-8217-t-get-a-taxi/8942/

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:50:52 +0000

I sort of understand that it takes time to recalibrate the meters, but a hard changeover date would be much better in the future.

It’s this grey area of a two week transition that’s causing hell.

By: Soozless

Soozless — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:43:36 +0000

What’s Uber?

By: csp

csp — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:37:46 +0000

The old rates go up in increments of 25 cents, the new rates go up in non-round increments.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:33:40 +0000

Do the newly configured meters look different or is there another way to tell that drivers are charging the new rate without doing a ton of mental math? How would one avoid being fooled into being charged the new rate AND the surcharges?

By: Post Loko

Post Loko — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:19:18 +0000

Today’s Post Local is on it…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dcs-taxis-third-world-rides-in-a-world-class-city-just-got-pricier/2012/04/23/gIQAq7WBcT_story.html

And they have a fare calculator, but its still including the fuel surcharge: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/dc-taxi-fare-calculator/