(Matt McClain/ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST ) - Taxicab driver Larry Frankel of Taxi By Larry works the streets for fares in the District, where a meter-based fare system implemented in 2008 has caught a backlash from drivers.
For Larry Frankel, veteran D.C. cabbie, driving a taxi is like fishing. You have to know the spots.
When Congress is in session, he prowls Capitol Hill at lunchtime; during the evenings, he cruises out-of-the-way restaurants; and in the wee hours, around closing time, he lurks in front of the most popular bars.
Taxi fares compared across the U.S.
At the end of an eight- or 10-hour shift, what he has to show for it amounts to about $12 an hour after expenses.
Plus, an aching back.
“Basically, we’re getting slammed out here,” he says, swinging his 2003 Grand Marquis to the curb recently. “If cabbies are a little grumpier these days, there’s a reason. We’re hurting.”
The District of Columbia implemented a new meter system and fares three years ago, and today few, if any, major U.S. cities offer such a sweet deal for the riding public. On the other hand, as Frankel, 58, and his cabbies have argued loudly ever since, the flipside is that cabbies are being shortchanged with virtually every fare.
Now the divide over taxi rates is about to get a thorough hearing after three years of strikes and lawsuits from drivers, and the dispute reflects the broader national debate over what is a fair wage and the virtues of market forces.
The price of a taxicab ride in the District ranks among the lowest for major U.S. cities, according to a survey by The Washington Post. They’re lower than any surrounding jurisdiction, too. And, unlike many cities that limit competition through licensing, the District generally has ensured a plentiful supply of cabs and cabbies.
The result is the kind of grimly efficient system that economists often tout: Prices are low for consumers, and while cabbies might complain, there are plenty of people still willing to get into the business. It does, after all, offer flexible hours and independence. Most of them work as independent contractors who lease or own their own cabs.
But whatever the virtues of cheap cab rides, the rate change has stirred the ire of the city’s roughly 8,500 cabbies, many of them African Americans and immigrants from Ethiopia, Pakistan and Iran. Since the meter system replaced the old “zone” system in 2008, their earnings have dropped about 30 percent, they say, forcing them them to worklonger hours, sacrifice time with their families and endure the aches and ill health that come with them.
“We sit for hours at a time — 12 hours a day — and we don’t have time for exercise,” Nathan Price, chairman of the D.C. Professional Taxicab Drivers Association, told city officials in remarks that echo across the city’s fleet. “Having less money means it’s harder to eat right. When you’re working longer hours, you don’t have time to see your family. The stress keeps adding up. And it’s killing us.”
The cabbies, as a result, are calling for solutions that many market economists consider abominations: Even though there’s no shortage of people willing to work as cabbies, they want the D.C. government to raise fares. Some, moreover, are calling for restrictions on the supply of cabs or drivers. In Frankel’s terms, this would mean fewer fishermen.
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