Photo by PoPville flickr user Jess J

“Dear PoP,

I was outside Meridian Pint with a friend in Columbia Heights on Saturday night around 12 am trying to get a cab home. I live around 8th & E NE. I flagged down four cabs and all refused my fare, two saying “I don’t go to Northeast,” one who just said “no” and drove away, and the fourth saying he was on his way home to Silver Spring and my address was out of his way. I was under the impression it was illegal for cab drivers to refuse fares in the District, and when I brought that up to the first cab driver he said he didn’t care. After briefly driving off, he came back and tried to bargain a price with me and when I refused to do so, he told me that my choice was stupid and sped off. Unfortunately, I did not have time to take down his information to report him. Do you know of anyone else who’s had trouble getting home to NE (or anywhere else in the District)? And what can I do about this if it happens in the future?”

When I first moved to Petworth in 2003 cabs used to refuse to take me home all the time. It’s hard to describe how frustrating that feeling was. Fortunately that rarely happens to me anymore. At the time I think folks just recommended taking down their license number on the visor? Does anyone know what phone number/who to contact with that info? Have others encountered a tough time catching a cab to other quadrants of the city? Do folks who go the H St, NE or the Hill have a tough time catching a cab back to NW and vice versa? What’s the best advice for when a cab refuses to take you home?

Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour

“Dear PoP,

I started @BadCabDC after a lot of discussion with friends, complaints from clients and countless near-misses with DC taxis. The goal of BadCab is to set up an easy way for people to Tweet their concerns and experiences about dangerous taxi drivers around town. Seeing taxis swerve into oncoming traffic, running red lights, taking advantage of the meter fees and blocking lanes of traffic is becoming a daily fact of life here. As a lifelong DC resident, I know we can do better.

Ideally, if I get enough feedback from people, I will put together a report at the end of each month and send it to DCTC. The complaint processes for taxis is complicated and most people don’t bother going through the appropriate channels. I’m willing to make the effort to take the information and put it into the right hands.

I know that most taxi drivers are hardworking, professional people trying to earn a living. Unfortunately, there are a few bad apples that spoil the bunch. I’m hoping DC residents like us can point out the bad apples to DCTC so appropriate action can be taken by the city to ensure that we all get safe rides.”

This seems very promising given some of the difficulties we’ve had in the past. Back in April a reader wrote about a bad experience and we made some recommendations for good companies. On a side note, I heard rumors that DC may one day get a medallion system for cabs. Anyone think that’ll work/improve service?

You can follow @BadCabDC here and me @PoPville here.