Many D.C. Cab Riders Are Eager For Meters

"A lot of complaints can be handled immediately," Drummond-Jackson said. "You can tell if somebody made a mistake and thought they were being overcharged."

If it is not easily resolved, however, the commission contacts the driver by certified letter and asks for a response to the complaint within 10 days. "If there is a clear indication something went wrong," she said, the driver is ordered to attend a hearing before an administrative law judge. A driver can be fined $25 for overcharging and $100 for failing to produce passenger manifest records.

But frequent riders such as Sunny Yoder, manager of a D.C.-based association, said they long for a businesslike approach to the city's cab system. The District is different from every other major U.S. city in that the vast majority of its 7,500 drivers are independent contractors who seem to make their own rules. Most do not accept credit cards, for example.

"It feels like anarchy to me. Nobody's in charge. There's no adult supervision," Yoder said. "And the drivers and vehicles are highly variable. There are some terrific ones, and their cabs are clean. And there are some that are incompetent, surly and downright scary."

She would like to have "a certain level of confidence that somebody's looking out that these people who are driving are okay and that the fare system is being applied." Some riders feel so cheated that the ill feelings linger for a long time. Constance Rime is still smarting over an argument she lost to a driver.

Headed to Reagan National Airport from her office in the 1200 block of Maryland Avenue SW, a trip she has taken many times, she expected to pay no more than $15, tip included. The driver had a different idea. "It isn't even a five-minute trip, and he charged me 20 bucks," she said. "I told him, 'This isn't right,' and he acted like he couldn't speak English."

Rime paid the $20. "What else are you going to do?" she asked. She did not file a complaint. But the next time she had to go to the airport, she rode Metro.

"I was still so mad," she said. "I thought, 'You're not going to get my money, honey.' "