As Deadline Nears, Few in D.C. Comply
By Sue Anne Pressley Montes and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Thousands of District taxi drivers have not yet installed the fare meters required by May 1 under a new law, and the Fenty administration says drivers face a $1,000 fine every time they're caught picking up rides without meters after the deadline.
Some installers say they doubt the expected demand can be met in time, setting up a showdown that could lead to thousands of cabs being sidelined. The drivers, who filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of replacing zones with meters, have avoided installing the devices until a judge rules on their suit, but the administration says the law requires them to abide by the May 1 start date.
Nathan Price, a cabdriver who is chairman of the coalition that brought the suit, said yesterday that it is "impossible" for meters to be put in the city's almost 7,000 cabs in such a short time. The District's insistence on the May 1 start, he said, is "a way of intimidation."
"To me, it's almost crazy to assume this is the way things are going to happen, because you don't know" until the suit is resolved, Price said.
Confusion marks every step of the attempt at the historic change. Most cabdrivers have balked at paying the estimated $350 for a meter until the court challenge is decided. Without a guarantee of paying customers, the three approved meter manufacturers are holding up shipping thousands of meters to the District. Some meter installers became licensed to do business only yesterday afternoon.
Everyone has been awaiting the outcome of the lawsuit filed last month by the D.C. Coalition of Cabdrivers, Companies and Associations, a group opposed to the change. The coalition argued in a March 27 hearing that Fenty (D) had exceeded his authority by ordering the switch from zones to meters.
Absent a ruling from D.C. Superior Court Judge Brook Hedge, city officials say they are moving ahead as planned.
"The May 1 deadline still stands," D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain Jr. said yesterday. On that date, a cab without a meter "will not be considered a D.C. taxicab," he said. Drivers are subject to a $1,000 fine every time they drive an unmetered cab.
Swain said there are just six licensed installers, at least some of which are cab companies, and they will have to operate "24 hours a day, seven days a week" to meet the deadline.
Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles said yesterday that the District "will not be unreasonable" if the judge's ruling comes "late in the game." He declined to speculate on extending the deadline.
"We have to move ahead because that's the law, so to speak," Nickles said. "What the judge says and when she says it is very important to us. Let's just see what happens."
A decision could come as early as Monday, a source familiar with the case said.
The issue has generated rancor since Fenty decided to switch to meters in October, after Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) attached a provision to an appropriations bill requiring that the District use meters unless the mayor ordered the zone system be left intact. Meter regulations were proposed in November, and the lawsuit was filed in early March. If the judge rules that Fenty did not have the authority to choose meters, that would send the contentious issue back to square one.
It is unclear how many cabs have been outfitted with meters. Manufacturers say they have thousands waiting shipment once drivers commit to the orders. Uncertainty has created a near-standstill. Almost a dozen drivers interviewed in downtown D.C. yesterday said they did not know a single cabbie who had installed a meter.
"The drivers are understandably a little confused as to what they should be doing because they don't want to spend money they're later told they didn't have to spend," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (Ward 1-D), who has oversight of the taxi industry. "There's a belief out there the court decision could go either way."
At the District Cab garage in Northeast Washington, Earl Hubbard has been installing meters at a steady clip, about 20 or 30 a week, he said. He has a waiting list of about 30 vehicles. Installation takes about an hour, he said.
"Right now, I've got a headache from here to California, I got so much work to do," he said, his hands deep inside a red Diplomat cab's engine as he hooked up a meter. "It's going to be impossible to get all the meters in by May 1. They have to give them some kind of extension."
Outside, rows of taxis waited for service so drivers could hit the road again. Most of those pacing outside the garage yesterday aren't installing meters until they absolutely have to. "Why spend $350 when it's all up in the air?" said one longtime driver, who didn't want to give his name for fear of repercussions by the city.
The owner of two D.C. cab companies said yesterday that none of his 135 taxis has a meter.
"If the court rules that a meter is not required, what will we do with the meters?" said Pritam Singh Ghuman, president of Gold Star Cab and a partner in Presidential Cab. "Who will compensate us? This is a democratic country. The mayor is not the final authority."
Centrodyne, one of the approved manufacturers, has shipped a few hundred of its Silent 620 printing taxi meters, at $344 apiece, from its South Burlington, Vt., headquarters to the District. But the company has orders for thousands more on hold because of the court issue, general manager Byron Corcoran said.
"We've been preparing for the large shipments; the dealers are preparing; we're just waiting," he said yesterday.
Pulsar, a meter company on Long Island, N.Y., likewise has shipped some orders to the District but is awaiting news from the court before shipping massive orders, an employee there said.
Meter installers, in the meantime, are gearing up.
Mushtaq Gilani, owner of Icon Cab, which has about 20 vehicles, has yet to install one device, he said, because his shipment has not arrived from the manufacturer. He hopes to begin this weekend.
"What I tell people is, 'You know the meters are coming, if not today, then tomorrow,' " he said. "I say, get ready for it and then whatever happens, you can go from there."
Staff writer Sopan Joshi contributed to this report.
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