Dear PoPville – Taxi Cab Refuses Ride

“Dear PoPville,

I had an extremely frustrating taxicab experience Saturday night. My husband and I were leaving a bar in Chinatown late Saturday night. We hailed a cab and while I was saying goodbye to our friends my husband tried to get in. The driver instead rolled down the passenger window and asked my husband where we were going. We live in Brookland and taxis often don’t want to drive us there because it is a quieter area and hard to pick up return fares (I’ve actually had a cab driver tell me after I got in and told him my address that his check engine light just came on and he would never make it so I should just get out).

My husband started to tell the driver where we were going when I realized what was going on and told him not to answer but to get in the cab – that it is illegal for taxi drivers to not let a person in once they have stopped. When the driver heard me say that he sped off. Am I right that it is illegal for cab drivers to refuse to pick you up or make choices based on where you are going? I was furious and took down the taxi’s license plate number – is that enough to file a complaint with?”

and while we’re on the topic of cabs:

“Dear PoPville,

I’ve used Yellow Cab or Diamond Cab since I’ve lived in DC. I’ve never had a problem calling a cab to come pick me or a visitor. But at my current home, it basically doesn’t happen. The dispatcher will say she is calling a cab and then no one accepts it. Considering this has happened at least ten times in the year I have moved to North Petworthish, I need a new cab comapny or driver to call who will actually show up.”