Hybrid System Gains Ground As D.C. Cab Fare Vote Nears

The city's taxi board is to recommend Tuesday whether to keep fare zones or switch to meters. But a combination system is gaining attention. (By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)

For the first time in decades, the District is poised to change the way taxi fares are calculated.

Armed with a survey showing widespread discontent with the system, the eight-member D.C. Taxicab Commission will vote Tuesday whether to recommend that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) stick with zones or switch to meters, which every other major U.S. city uses. But in interviews with commission members last week, it appears a third option is gaining momentum.

It's the "zone meter" or zone-fare calculator. With signals from a Global Positioning System, the device calculates fares based on existing zones. At the end of the journey, the device prints a detailed receipt, giving riders the reassurance they are not being cheated. Zone meters were installed in about 300 Yellow Cabs in the District over the past year.

Some see the zone meter as a first step toward improving a taxi system that has operated with little regulation for many years. Others see it as a middle ground in an issue so touchy that many public officials avoid commenting on the subject.

"I'm definitely for zones, but I see zone meters as a compromise. . . . We're going to put it out there. We'll see what happens next Tuesday," commission member Theresa Travis said.

Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain Jr. said he will make a statement only after the vote. He declined to release the results of recent Zogby surveys of D.C. residents and cabdrivers until the meeting. The polls were taken in lieu of holding a public meeting, scheduled for Aug. 1, that Swain canceled because of fears that crowds would overflow the room. After a closed-door work session last week, Swain collected copies of the report from commission members and whisked them away.

According to a source who has read the report, the results lean toward change: Of more than 600 cabdrivers surveyed, 183 said they liked the common time-and-distance meters and 177 did not want meters at all. But more than 300 favored the zone meter. Almost two-thirds of the D.C. residents polled expressed dissatisfaction with the existing system. Forty-eight percent agreed there should be meters; 49 percent disagreed.

The subject has been controversial for years, creating a long line of stymied public officials, numerous surveys, heated public meetings -- but no change. Most recently, in 2002, the commission voted 4 to 2 against switching to meters.

This time, a longtime critic of the zones, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D.-Mich.), has forced the issue, adding a provision to legislation last year that gave the District until next month to require meters in city cabs. But the mayor can opt out by executive order.

Fenty said he understands the taxi fare system "is a very serious issue" and hedged his bets.

"People's livelihoods are at stake in the taxicab industry," he said yesterday. "But also the whole hospitality industry is a huge part of any big city, especially the nation's capital, where people come here by the millions each year and use the taxicabs."

He said he has heard about the zone meter but has not been briefed on it.