Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2008-04-22 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Monday backed the mayor’s authority to force District taxis to install time-and-distance meters, giving the city’s nearly 7,000 cab drivers just 10 days to make the switch from zone to meters.

The ruling was in response to a last-ditch suit filed by a city cab association challenging the meter edict.

It’s believed the bulk of the city’s drivers have procrastinated on installing meters until the decision was handed down. With Judge Brook Hedge’s 23-page decision, time is running out, however. Unless the mayor shifts his timetable, cab drivers beginning May 1 will be fined $1,000 apiece for not having proper equipment in place in their car.

Fenty’s aides would not say whether the deadline would be pushed back.

But the mayor, along with D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain, are expected to announce implementation details this morning.

D.C. Council member Jim Graham, who oversaw the Taxicab Commission’s budget hearing, which also fell on Monday, said he sympathized with the taxi industry’s plight.

“It’s quite understandable that the taxi drivers hesitated not knowing whether they should spend the approximately $350 or not. It’s human nature to want to hesitate,” he said, adding he’d relay his reservations to Fenty.

Graham also suggested that Swain consider using some money from a $280,000 Department of Motor Vehicle fund — comprising out-of-state taxi driver fees — to offset the meter installation cost that drivers will now have to pay. It’s a call Swain said he’d have to think about.

As part of Hedge’s decision, rates set by Fenty also will remain intact.

“Unlike most industries where you can pass on additional costs to the consumer, you can’t do that here,” Graham said.

Concerns arose during the hearing about whether Swain’s tiny agency would be able to take on the task of finding and then fining drivers who hadn’t installed the meters by the deadline.

To this, Swain said there will be an initial challenge.

“But we’ve had conversations with the Metropolitan Police Department, Capitol Hill Police and Parks Police, and they’re very interested in helping to monitor the meters,” he said. “I think we will have enough resources to go ahead and attack this problem.”

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com