DC taxicabs; No More New Tags

DC Taxicab Commission announced today, July 26, 2012 that Registration of new vehicles is suspended till further notice. Drivers and companies can only replace vehicles provided they have a current registration.

Later, the DC Taxicab Commission added some language that few people may be able to register  vehicles and get new tags: Here are exceptions to the original language:
 Provided that the vehicle was purchased between July 15, 2012 and July 26, 2012, and provide Proof of vehicle inspection before July 26, 2012.

D.C. taxicab upgrades delayed, Good and Bad

Both Creative Mobile Technology and Taxi Magic who lost their bid to VeriFone are protesting the Reward of $35 million contract. They both filed a complaint to the DC Contract Appeals Board, this will delay the Verifone to start installing smart meters with GPS tracking system, credit card swipe and among other things in all DC taxicabs.

This delay which could last for weeks or even months is good for drivers as well as customers. Almost all drivers and most of the customers don't like the idea of being tracked and watched by uncle Ran or uncle Sam when they are in DC Taxicabs and minding their businesses. It is also bad for drivers, if they do not keep up with the new technology of accepting credit cards and dispatching and having clean cars with good customer services they will definitely lose their business to Uber, Car2Go, Bikeshare, Zipcar, Redtop and many more. Therefore, the sooner the drivers upgrade their services the better for them to stay in business.

Final approval to Taxicab Modernization

On Tuesday, July 10, 2012, The DC City Council gave a final approval, a bill B19-630 sponsored by Councilmember Mary Cheh, that would require before the end of this year major changes to the city's taxicabs.The new requirements would include credit card readers, GPS tracking sysem, panic buttons, uniform color scheme and uniforn Dome lights that identify when taxicabs are occupied, on-call,off duty or available for passenger pick-ups.
According to Council member Cheh, The Mayor has confirmed that the cost of installing the new equipments and recalibrating meters will not come from the taxicab drivers, the only expense to the drivers will be to purchase a uniform cruising light which has been estimated at between $150 to $200.
The DC Council has scheduled a public hearing on this new taxicab system on September 24, 2012 to follow-up on the improvement and review how this new system is working. This means the commission will have a very tied schedule to meet this dead line.

$1 Fuel Surcharge Expiring

The DC Taxicab Commission has decided not to extend the one dollar gasoline surcharge beyond June 20. It will expire midnight Wednesday, June 20, 2012. This fuel surcharge was first imposed on march 3, 2011 when the average regular unleaded gasoline was $3.45 and now the current average regular unleaded gasoline in DC is $3.66, about 21 cents higher than when they first imposed the Surcharge.

Second Taxicab Modernization cleared at the City Council

On Tuesday, June 5, 2012, The DC City Council gave a preliminary approval, a bill B19-0630 sponsored by Councilmember Mary Cheh, that would require major changes to the city's taxicabs.The new requirements would include credit card readers, GPS navigation, panic buttons and uniforn Dome lights that identify when taxicabs are occupied, on-call,off duty or available for passenger pick-ups.

* This is not a final vote, but the majority of the council (9 to 4 ) agreed to go ahead with the bill to its final voting in the very near future.

First Taxicab Modernization Program begins January 1, 2013

This new regulation covers four major rules:
1. Effective immediately (June 1, 2012), No Salvage vehicles be put into service as a taxicabs in the District of Columbia. Salvage vehicles already in service will continue through the 5-year schedule for removal of older vehicles from service.  


2. Effective January 1, 2013,  5-year schedule removal of older taxicabs from service:

5 YEAR REMOVAL SCHEDULE
Disposal Year**	Age Policy***	Model Year
2013	15 years and older	1997 and older
2014	12 - 14 years	2000 - 1998
2015	10 - 11 years	2002 - 2001
2016	8 - 9 years	2004 - 2003
2017	7 years or older	2005 - below
** Vehicles must go out of service on Jan 1st of the year listed. *** Mileage is not a factor in this removal schedule.

3. Effective January 1, 2013,  No Vehicle that is more than 5 years old or with more than 300,000 miles will be allowed to be registered as a taxicab in the District of Columbia.

4. Effective January 1, 2018, any taxicab more 7 years old or with more than 400,000 miles will have to be taken out of service.

Taxicab Modernization, coming soon ?

The DC City Council passed yesterday the 2013 DC budget that allows to impose a 50-cent surcharge to help fund the D.C. Taxicab Commission and an ambitious modernization of the city's taxicab fleet.


Here is the proposal modernization of the city's taxicab fleet and it's summary from the Council.

Very Smart Taxicab Meter

The new DC taxicab rates will be effective from April 21, 2012 and there is no need to wait that date to calibrate for the new fare. There is such an smart meter called Pulsar 2030R that does the trick, it is small and highly sophisticated and it can be preprogrammed before the effective day, so the new rates will automatically show on the meter display at 12:01 am, April 21, 2012. 
Now as far as I know, USA Cab company already started this service of pregramming this meter to reduce the crowd and long line of drivers for calibration on April 21, 2012.   

New fare effective soon

   New fare will be effective on April 21, 2012. Every driver should start to calibrate their Taximeter to the new fare from April 21, 2012 till the end of May, 2012.
You can still use old rate till the end of May, but once you calibrate your meter to the new fare, then there is no more extra passenger surcharge unless you have a VAN. 


$1 Fuel surcharge per trip will still be charged to the passengers with the new rate or the old rate until it expires on June 20, 2012. 

updated proposed Age of Taxicab

This Proposal is not yet final,  if agreed by the DC Taxicab commissioners tomorrow then it will go back to the DC Register for 15 days public comments.

 * No Vehicle can be registered as a Taxicab that is more than 5 model years old or accumulated more than 300,000 miles and no vehicle may remain in service that is more than 7 model years older or accumulated  more than 400,00 miles.

following is the schedule of removing older taxicabs already in service. Disposal date was changed to January 1st of the listed disposal year instead of December 31st. With this change,  drivers yet again will loose ONE year of preparing and saving to replace and dispose their supposedly older taxicabs. They are already facing the lost of almost all extra surcharges, including but not limited to the extra passenger surcharge, fuel surcharge and personal service surcharge.

5 YEAR REMOVAL PLAN

Disposal Year**                            Model Year

 2013                                              1997 and older

 2014                                              2000 - 1998

 2015                                              2002 - 2001

 2016                                              2004 - 2003

 2017                                              2005 - below

** Vehicles must go out of service on January 1st of the year listed