Cabs Will Switch to Meters, But the Question Now Is How

Swain and taxi commission members have been revisiting a commission report that offers clues about where fares may be headed.

The report details what happened when 21 D.C. cabs were outfitted with meters from Oct. 1, 2005, until May 30, 2006.

Passengers were charged only zone fares. But as a test, the meters were set to calculate $2.50 for the first sixth of a mile, also known as the drop rate -- the amount that appears on the meter as soon as a passenger hops in -- and 25 cents for each additional sixth of a mile. (The $2.50 drop rate is used by a number of cities, including Atlanta and New York, although some local officials and drivers say it might be too low for a jurisdiction such as the District.)

According to the findings, after about 8,800 trips, the average meter fare was 53 cents lower than the average zone fare. But the difference varied by distance -- generally, short trips were cheaper with meters; longer trips were cheaper in the zone system.

For example, for a trip of less than a mile, the average zone fare was $8.03; the average meter fare was $5.50. For a trip of 10 miles to nearly 15 miles, the average zone fare was cheaper: $21.83 with zones and $24.05 with meters.

Increasing the drop rate from $2.50 to $4 produced even more variety. Under the $4 rate, the average zone fare was lower, by about 97 cents. But again, distance played a crucial role.

A trip of less than a mile was $7 with meters, $8.03 with zones. But a trip of 10 to nearly 15 miles came out to $21.83 with zones, $25.55 with meters.

Consultants for the taxi industry say they have long viewed the District in a category all its own and are surprised that the zone system is being scratched.

"People eventually gave up on D.C. ever changing," said Bruce Schaller, a former consultant on taxi issues who works for the New York City Department of Transportation. "It's a good move. Just the task of putting the meters into the cabs should be fairly straightforward. But people have to get used to them."

Ray Mundy, director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said fare discussions are bound to produce fireworks. "From the start, there will be a bit of awkwardness about the initial rate, and it will probably be set fairly high," he said. "The cab drivers will argue they have to make a living. They'll probably have to set a rate approaching $3 a mile."

He said one effect of the changes might be a streamlining of the system, including an eventual reduction of drivers and subpar vehicles.

"I would think the number [in D.C.] are 30 percent or more in excess," he said. "You could have 5,000 cabs serving more trips per day at a lower rate per mile, in practically new vehicles."

Mundy said the changes might also eliminate what he called "a cash-and-carry business" for some drivers. "They don't even want credit cards," he said. "They don't want anybody close to tracing what incomes they have."

Ed Rogoff, a professor of management at Baruch College of the City University of New York, said that every city has a different rate structure "because the political structure is different everywhere." Meters are "a fair system in theory," he said. "In practice, it requires a lot of supervision."

How the District handles the challenge, Rogoff said, will be watched with interest.

"With a lot of these things, the devil is in the details," he said.