D.C. cab riders will keep paying 50 cents for every bag a cabbie puts in his trunk, in addition to paying higher per-mile rates, under a new plan proposed by regulators Wednesday.
The D.C. Taxicab Commission tweaked its December proposal, which eliminated almost all extra surcharges but raised rates from $1.50 per mile to $2.16 per mile. Now the fare increase also comes with a bag fee and a fee for extra passengers if the cab is a van. The plan will become law in 30 days unless the commission alters it again.
“Be reminded that this is only the first phase in the commission’s work to move the District of Columbia’s taxicab industry forward and toward becoming a first class system,” the commission wrote in its decision.
D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, said last month she would ask commission Chairman Ron Linton to stall the fare increase until after the D.C. Council passes a bill overhauling the city’s taxi system, requiring drivers to accept credit card payment and use GPS, among other updates.
Taxi cab drivers said Wednesday they felt betrayed by city leaders, especially Mayor Vince Gray, for their lack of concern for cabbies’ livelihood. Cabbies threw their weight behind Gray in the 2010 mayoral election, driving voters to the polls for free.
“If it wasn’t for us he wouldn’t be a mayor,” cab driver Tadelle Tilahun said. “He sold us.”
Others directed their anger at the taxi agency they feel doesn’t listen to them.
“Where are the commissioners?” asked driver Mohammed Momen, addressing a dais, where only one of the commission’s five members sat. “We have been waiting [for a fare increase] for the last five years. And we are struggling, struggling, struggling.”
Hotel and restaurant groups say taxi service in the District is too poor to merit extra pay. A recent survey by Cheh’s office of 4,025 District residents agreed: 78 percent said D.C.’s taxi service was “fair” or “poor.”
