By Sue Anne Pressley Montes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Taxi drivers told a D.C. Council committee yesterday that they fear losing income with the switch April 6 from the zone system to fare meters. They also stressed their preference for a zone fare calculator that would preserve the decades-old zone system and reassure riders by providing a printed receipt.

Despite their objections, the historic change to meters, less than six weeks away, appears to be moving on schedule. Leon Swain Jr., chairman of the Taxicab Commission, said the "final rulemaking" for the new system will be announced Friday.

"My job is to make sure we move off the dime and get something done," Swain told Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), chairman of the oversight committee on public works and the environment.

"Change is always met with a bit of resistance," Swain added. "It is not the intent of the D.C. Taxicab Commission to shortchange anyone or shut down anyone."

But a dozen drivers who spoke before the committee yesterday made it clear that they are anxious about the coming days and what the change will mean for them and their families.

"There are many drivers who have done the same thing that I have done. We have taken care of our families, put children through college, bought property and various other ventures that we would not have been able to do if we hadn't made driving our cab a business," said Stanley Tapscott, a cabdriver who is a Taxicab Commission member. "Time-and-distance meters will take the opportunities away from the drivers."

Tapscott accused "the powers that be" of wanting to reduce the number of cabs in the city. The District has the highest number of cabs per capita of any U.S. city, a total of about 6,000 licensed vehicles.

Tapscott and others argued that meters will reduce drivers' revenue so much that they will not be able to maintain their cabs, forcing them to work longer hours or to work for a cab company rather than for themselves.

Drivers have staged two one-day strikes to protest the impending change and have hinted at other actions to come.

During yesterday's three-hour hearing, Graham asked drivers about "the growing problem" of illegal competition from taxis and limousines from Maryland and Virginia. Police are investigating at least seven attacks on cabdrivers and their vehicles in the past month, and police suspect that the same individual might be targeting cabs from Maryland that are in the District.

Graham also asked about the importance of cabdriving for immigrants and, historically, for African Americans, and about the role of the Taxicab Commission in recent months. He said the zone calculator that the drivers favor "has much to recommend it."

"However," he said, "that was not the decision the mayor reached."

Nathan Price, who heads the Coalition of Cab Drivers, Companies and Associations, told Graham that meters will "cause a starvation of these drivers." Berhane Gebrehiwot, a driver, said meters will force most drivers to concentrate on the downtown area, where short trips will quickly add up, rather than serving far-flung neighborhoods. Several said that drivers had been left out of the decision-making.

Dawit Dagnew, a driver since 1984, said he has no backup job. "This is the only job in this country I know to do," he said.