Taxi Panel Hands Meter Issue to Fenty

No Stand Taken on Replacing Zone System; Consideration of Hybrid Suggested

A deadlocked D.C. Taxicab Commission avoided making any recommendation yesterday to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty about whether to stick with the current zone system or switch to meters. Instead of taking a position, the commission suggested that Fenty look at existing city regulations that might allow a hybrid system that uses a device called a zone meter.

The commission's decision -- or non-decision, as some observers called it -- came on the heels of a recent survey that shows cabdrivers solidly in favor of the zone-meter or zone-fare calculator, a device that uses the Global Positioning System to calculate fares based on zones. Another survey found that a majority of riders were dissatisfied with the existing system.

In a half-dozen votes, the commission declined to recommend time-and-distance meters, zone meters or any kind of meter at all. A motion to recommend that the mayor simply retain the zone system also failed.

Under a legislative provision by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a longtime critic of zones, Fenty (D) has until mid-October to order meters in D.C. cabs or issue an executive order that would leave the zone system intact. "I will continue to study all information available and be prepared to make a final decision before the October 17 deadline," Fenty said yesterday.

Commissioners disagreed on what they had done by throwing the decision into Fenty's lap without a recommendation.

"What we did is, we punted," said Commissioner Thomas E. Heinemann, a proponent of the time-and-distance meter who abstained on the final vote. "We were deadlocked."

But Commissioner Sandy Allen, who supports zone meters, said the decision "lets the mayor go back and look at a regulation already on the books." She said the commission could make adjustments to zone boundaries, often criticized as arbitrary.

Changes to the District's zone system, unique among big U.S. cities, have been proposed for years, always meeting emotional objections from drivers who value their independence and from passengers who consider zone fares more equitable. Many drivers sent e-mails to the commission members in recent weeks, arguing that their livelihoods were at stake.

Existing regulations allow cabdrivers to install meters voluntarily. Yellow Cab Co., for example, has put zone-fare calculators in 300 cabs during the past year. The zone meter uses the Global Positioning System to calculate zones, and passengers are furnished with a printed receipt.

Most drivers and about half the passengers questioned recently about systems for calculating fares said they are ready for a change.

Of nearly 700 drivers surveyed, more than 300 favored zone meters, and 183 said they preferred the time-and-distance meters used in other U.S. cities. Just 177 wanted no meters at all.

The 611 riders surveyed by Zogby International were almost evenly split on change: 48 percent thought the zone system should be replaced; 49 percent disagreed. But 53 percent found the zone system hard to decipher, and 67 percent rated service fair or poor, compared with 33 percent who considered it good or excellent.