By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 15, 2008

A group of D.C. taxi drivers staged its second strike in as many weeks yesterday, in a continuing effort to force Mayor Adrian M. Fenty to reconsider his decision to switch from zoned to metered cab fares.

The strike, called by the Coalition of Cab Drivers, Companies and Associations of Washington, D.C., began at 6 a.m. yesterday and was to end at 6 a.m. today, said Nathan Price, coalition chairman. It was unclear how many cabdrivers participated in the work stoppage.

Area hotels quickly called in limousines and other hired cars to take up the slack, as they did during a 12-hour coalition strike Feb. 4. But striking drivers caused at least one late-morning traffic jam in the downtown area.

D.C. police said about 100 taxis slowed traffic for about 45 minutes in the vicinity of 13th and E streets NW by attempting to block intersections. There were no arrests.

"They were doing a rolling parade of some cabs, but when we arrived, they moved on," said Cmdr. David Kamperin of the 1st Police District. "Traffic was cleared up pretty quickly."

The strike was the latest coalition effort to prevent a switch from zoned to metered fares. The city's 6,000 cabs are scheduled to begin using meters April 6.

The coalition launched what some members said would be a series of weekly strikes on Feb. 4. Initially, some coalition members had called for drivers to strike this past Tuesday. But coalition leaders decided to postpone the strike when they realized that Tuesday was a primary election day, saying they did not want D.C. residents to have a hard time getting to the polls.

Yesterday's strike was not publicized beforehand. Price said news organizations were not alerted because "the media will not give us the proper coverage on the truth."

"This is not about jobs and money," he said. "It's all about the service, how it's going to be impacted when we go to meters. Nobody's listening to this story."

The District is the only major U.S. city that has zoned fares for taxi service. But Price said that in other large cities relatively few cabs are operated by a few large companies and that taxi service does not extend into neighborhoods, as it does in the District. He and other coalition leaders say that switching to meters will put many independent operators out of business.

"In other cities, taxis serve only train stations, downtown, and the airport," he said. "We're trying to maintain a level of service in the neighborhoods of the District of Columbia."

Yesterday's strike apparently did not cause many disruptions at D.C. hotels. Liz DeBarros of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C., said she had heard "not a peep" from the 92 hotels that make up the association.

At the Willard Hotel, spokeswoman Meredith Goldberg said managers there were accustomed to taxi strikes. "It happens in D.C. ever so often, so we cope with it," she said.

Yesterday, the hotel's transportation vendor supplied cars at no cost to guests traveling within the city. Hired cars were also available at prices comparable to taxi fares.

Larry Frankel, a cabdriver for 12 years, did not participate in yesterday's strike. Frankel, who calls himself "an ad hoc leader of a small grass-roots group of cabdrivers who live and vote in the District," said he is angry about what is happening to the local cab industry with the fare change. But he said he is unwilling to strike because the action alienates the riding public.

"The strike is only villainizing cabdrivers worse," he said.