Cabbies hope for “more respect’

Henry Joseph chatted with fellow cabdrivers yesterday in Georgetown with a sense of relief and optimism about the first day for fare meters in D.C. cabs.

For once, Mr. Joseph said, he wouldn’t have to feel his neck burning as customers glared from the back seat, convinced they were being ripped off by him and the city’s complicated zone-fee system.

“We’ll get more respect,” he said. “People don’t understand the zone system, and they think that you’re trying to overcharge them.”

Yesterday was the deadline for the companies that operate the roughly 6,500 cabs in the District to equip them with time-and-distance meters — or face $1,000 fines per violation.

Thousands of cabs still don’t have the meters — as many operators awaited the outcome of a lawsuit against the decision to drop the city’s zone system. But cab service in the District appeared unaffected yesterday.

It was not clear how many meters had been installed, and phone messages left for D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain were not returned.

At Union Station and three other cab stands downtown, most of the cabs appeared not to have meters.

Metropolitan police and inspectors from the taxicab commission issued warnings to drivers without meters, though they do not come with a penalty. Drivers start receiving fines June 1.

Swift Cab Co. driver Wondu Dinka and others received a warnings from inspectors in the morning as they waited for fares outside the Renaissance Hotel, near former site of the Washington Convention Center.

Mr. Dinka, who has an appointment to install his meter next week, said he wasn’t bothered by the warning and he supports meters as a way to improve relations with customers.

“The meters help,” he said. “There was no transparency between the passenger and the driver.”

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat, in October mandated that all cabs switch to the meters to eliminate the city’s quirky zone system that perplexed tourists and even some residents.

Under the zone system, a nonrush-hour trip for one person from Union Station to the White House costs $7.50. With a meter, the midday trip yesterday was roughly $8.50.

A zone-based fare from Union Station to the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown is $9.80. The meter-based fare roughly $15.50.

Advocates for the meters say they are better than the zone system because they account for traffic and charge about the same amount for trips of the same distance.

Under the zone system, some short trips that cross several zones are more expensive than longer trips in the same zone.

Anju Rao, 30, of New York City, works in the area and said he rides in cabs about three times a week. Mr. Rao said he prefers the new meters because he has a better sense of how much it costs to travel and he never understood the zone system.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s easier to know what you’re paying for.”

Several other frequent riders also said they favored meters because they calculate fares more fairly.

But some are worried they may have to pay more money because of traffic or that drivers may take long routes to get to some locations.

“It may cause a problem because of traffic,” said Veronica Young, 57, of Upper Marlboro, who works in the District. “And drivers can take several different routes.

Opponents of the meter system Wednesday were denied a request in the D.C. Court of Appeals to delay the deadline to switch to meters while they contest a ruling in D.C. Superior Court upholding the mayor’s decision.