The Meters

The other day I was quoted a fare by a cabbie that was so grossly out of step with the actual cost by zone that I nearly refused to pay him anything at all. I was wearing a suit, I was visibly harried, and I was traveling from one part of downtown to another—I didn't look much like a tourist. But why not lie to me or the next guy on K Street about the division of zones or the taxi fuel surcharge? The worst that happens, he's challenged by a grumpy passenger.

No, I'm not sympathetic to the complaint that cab drivers in the District can only make it as independent contractors under the zone system when, as everyone who lives here has experienced (as well as everyone who has visited, whether they know it or not), cab drivers thrive by exploiting information asymmetries built into the zone system. So a big hand to Mayor Fenty for ordering the District to fall in line with every other major city in the nation by adopting the meter, thereby ensuring his hold on the office of the mayor—and our hearts—for as long as he shall live.