Them's fighting words

The Wash Post had a big article today about how DC's taxi rates are the lowest in the nation and that DC cab drivers have lost 30% of their income since we switched away from zones to the meter system. WELL. Let me tell you:

* DC's cabs also are amongst the last cab drivers in most major cities who don't take credit cards.

* I have stopped using DC cabs for trips leaving my house because they will not reliably come when they are ordered. I have had cab drivers explain to me that it's not really worth it for them to swing by Petworth on their way in to town. Instead, I have to use a car service for when I absolutely need to have a ride at a certain time, because when I've ordered cabs, and they don't show, I hear from the dispatch that no cabs are in my area. Uh, that's why I ordered a cab.

* I regularly take shit from cab drivers who don't want to give me a ride home from U Street to Petworth because it takes them away from the lucrative U Street corridor. Never mind that they can be back in Columbia Heights in about five minutes, or back at U Street in about seven minutes.

I would argue that they're not that desperate for customers, despite what they say.