Ok, I'm going to get on my soap box for a minute.
Taxi meters STINK. Seriously, whose idea was this?! It's awful. I swear, every time I get in a cab now, it's this whole conspiracy theory between me and the cabbie. Why is he taking 7th street rather than Massachusetts? Why is he going around the tidal basin, where did all this traffic come from? It’s horrible and I hate it. I miss the days when I could just get in the cab and not care if I got the scenic route or not.
Additionally, meters create very bad juju with cabbies. All the sudden I’m all sorts of bossy and tell the cabbie not to take Pennsylvania Avenue (because my gracious, do their need to be 7 cabbies waiting for people coming out of the Capitol Grille?!). And just for the record, I try to be nice to cabbies as they have to sit in a car all day which I’m certain is another level of Dante’s purgatory.
I have taken maybe a dozen cabs since the change (relatively few compared to many I know) and never once, not once, was my ride cheaper than under the zone system. So the whole, ‘it’s cheaper’ argument is a bunch of hooey. It costs $4 dollars just to get in the cab. So even if you are only going 5 blocks, there is $4 to get in the cab, with the meter running there’s oh, we’ll say $3, plus a dollar for gas gives you $8, plus a dollar tip is $9. It used to be a $6.50 base, dollar for rush hour, and a dollar for tip is $8.50.
If you are going more than 5 blocks forget it. A cab from downtown to the Hill, because your cabbie is taking 7th through Chinatown to “I” street, to Mass, up Constitution all the way up to 2nd street, in front of the Supreme Court and down Independence to get to the Longworth House Office building, is going to set you back, oh… 12 bucks.
Anyway, I hate the meters. I miss the zones and I’m interested to know if the District is keeping tabs on how well the meters are working. ALthough it doesn't much mater. We are stuck with them now. I’m confident the cabbies are making out like bandits – they’ll never go back to the flat rate.
Be careful what you wish for peeps. The grass is always greener on the other side - but just as hard to mow.
2 comments:
Ah yes, but you've been sucked into that DC phenomenon that gets you thinking that there are no actual residents of the city who do not work on the Hill or downtown. But poke around some of the less "central" neighborhoods, and you find normal people. They were probably bitter for a long time that the taxi zone system made sure that the cheapest ride in town was the one from the lobbyists on K Street to Capitol Hill...
So I am certain you need your own column. YOu write so well and your hilarious. I guess your going to have start strapping on your running shoes. Love ya..Meg
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