D.C. taxis will be switching from a zone system to a time-and-distance meter system to calculate fares, according to a press release from Mayor Adrian Fenty's office.
Specifics of the switch, including rates and a date for the switch, have not yet been decided.
Under the current system, drivers calculate fares based on geographical zones. The zones are not a standard size or based on major geographic landmarks, according to the press release.
The change should ease costs for AU students, said Matt Mulling, a first-year graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Affairs, who once paid $20 to go from Dupont Circle to Adams Morgan because the route went through four zones.
"I find a lot of the times, taxis will do what they can to rip you off," Mulling said.
The meter system will feel fairer to passengers, said Mackenzie O'Donnell, a junior in CAS.
"I kind of feel like [taxi drivers] decide how much to charge based on how I look," she said.
She pays $25 to get from campus to the 9:30 club when it costs the same to get to locations that are much farther away, she said.
The new time-and-distance meters can be rigged by adding weights to the wheels to make them spin faster, unlike "accurate and tamper-proof" zone meters, which calculate zone fares using GPS, said Roy Spooner, general manager of Yellow Cab Company of D.C. The company is the only one in D.C. that currently uses zone meters. Most other major cities use time and distance meters.
Because the D.C. metropolitan area encompasses the city as well as parts of Maryland and Virginia, it is prone to gridlock. Arbitrary factors that increase the amount of time in the cab, such as weather and traffic, can increase the amount customers pay in the new system, Spooner said. Since zone meters calculate the fare from point to point, the price is always consistent, he said.
Traffic congestion will not be a problem for students as they tend to take taxis late at night, said Grenye O'Malley, a junior in CAS.
"The only times I've taken a taxi is when the Metro is not running," she said.
A public survey conducted by the D.C. Taxicab Commission showed residents favored a time-and-distance meter system over a zone system, according to The Washington Post.
The survey was slanted since the public was uninformed of alternatives, Spooner said.
"No one, including the mayor, wanted to take the time to see how really this works," Spooner said.
With a time-and-distance meter system, passengers will not know the price of the cab ride until they get to the end, leading to disagreements with drivers, he said.
The computerized program that runs the zone meters in Yellow Cab calculates the cost based on specific start and end points, so drivers cannot cheat passengers and increase fares by taking longer routes to the same destination, according to Spooner.
"Drivers are actually afraid of [people accusing them of cheating]," Spooner said. "We're following all the bad patterns [of other cities' systems]."
Since the time-and-distance meter system is universal and easier to understand, taxi fares will cause fewer fights with tourists who do not understand the zones, said Kelly Costello, a first-year graduate student in CAS.
"Maybe cab drivers will be happier and less bitter towards [tourists]," she said.
The meter system would be fairer to drivers of "gypsy cabs," independent taxis whose drivers do not report to a specific company, said Coby Glasserow, a senior in CAS. If cab drivers do not have to worry about zones, they can pick up any passenger and get the maximum amount of money, she said.
"In the amount of time it takes to get to Union Station, they can make two trips to Reagan," she said. "It evens out the playing field [between big companies and roaming taxis]"
