Imagine it’s late Saturday night and you and some friends are trying to catch a ride back to campus from Adams Morgan. You can’t find a cab. The last train just left Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro station.
Avoiding this scenario may well become a necessary consideration as a result of the recent taxi strike. Cab drivers all around Adams Morgan are abandoning their 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. beats to protest proposed legislation that would restrict the supply of cabs available to D.C. residents. Initially crafted by Councilman Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, the legislation would limit the number of cabs by creating a ‘medallion’ system, where drivers must buy or rent the right to pick up passengers.
Though the proposal has recently been withdrawn — amid a rapidly expanding bribery scandal that resulted in the indictment of Graham’s chief of staff — Councilman Graham should not even have proposed it in the first place. Proponents of the bill argue that limiting the number of cabs available greatly reduces the size of the taxicab industry’s carbon footprint; the bill gives an incentive for this reduction by offering more lenient medallion standards for hybrid cabs. They may also argue this regulation would improve the quality of the District’s taxi services by basically preventing Joe the Plumber from driving a cab when he’s down on his luck.
These points are not well-founded. Any gains made in environmental standards will be more than offset by the reduction in overall competitiveness throughout the industry.
Instead of improved service, lack of free market competition may encourage complacency among existing drivers. Geographic coverage may contract as these companies emphasize high-margin customers in central areas. For the average student, this could mean fewer cabs actively searching for customers on the fringes of the city or significantly longer wait times for call-in customers.
Furthermore, D.C. cab drivers make only $1.50 per metered mile — the lowest in the nation according to News Channel 8. This is good for consumers, but bad for drivers. These people have families to feed and kids to send to college. Cutting further into their profit margins, or further threatening their livelihood is a terrible idea.
Further changes to the taxi system may only exacerbate this declination and students should speak out against it. After all, happy cab drivers make for happy rides home.
