7.05.2007

And I'm Sick of Listening to NPR, Too

Did you have a good holiday? Mine was fantastic. Good eats and cheap beer. What a country!

I did some party-hopping and depended on taxis to get me around. I even flagged one with a meter! It was cheaper than the zone system. Get on that, Fenty.

Unfortunately, getting into a cab was more difficult than I anticipated. I imagined that most of the cabs were around the Mall to get tourists from the fireworks back to their hotels. However, the cabs that did pass me by were especially frustrating. Why can't cabbies in this stupid city shut off their taxi light when they already have passengers? I mean, it's not that fucking hard. Other cities' cabbies are able to do with little to no fuss.

I know innovations like taxi lights and meters might be new and confusing to some in the city, but I bet people will figure it out in time. The 20th Century awaits! Excelsior!

23 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    It's the Twentieth already?


    (thanks for the laugh)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    Now you finally know how the black man feels.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    Yeah but the latinos always try to fit 20+ people inside a little van. Then 50+ inside their apartments

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  4. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    And no one will get anywhere near saltine alliance's lonely and racist molester van. He is pissed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    I think in cities that have meters, the light on the top of the cab is connected to the meter, so when the driver starts the meter, the light automatically goes out.

    The lack of meters in DC is probably the main reason why there is no consistency in how the lights work.

    ReplyDelete
  6. cabbies don't turn off their lights because they will pick up multiple passengers even when it is not on the way.

    i once took a cab from the rocknroll hotel to irish times, but the cab driver picked me up with a girl who was going to the other end of eastern market and he dropped her off before taking me and my friend (whom he refused to take to CUA, but would drop him off at a metro) to union station.

    but then, once we got out at union station and there was no one there for him to pick up next, he said "oh hey man, i'll take you up there now."

    awful. but im kind of glad he didn't meter that shit. i think that would have been an abundance of miles and totally illegal.

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  7. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    Uh, that was illegal. They can take you no more that 5 blocks out of your way (when they pick up other passengers), and they also must deliver you to any location in DC you asked to be taken to (and cannot refuse once you're in the cab).

    You should have a) insisted, b) not paid, c) reported the cab, d) a combination of the above.

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  8. [In a sedated, monotone voice]

    Good... morning... you're.... listening to N.... P.... R.....

    And now... a story about the mating habits of emus....

    ReplyDelete
  9. anon -

    i am now aware of my taxicab rights, unfortunately, at the time of the event i was just a mere college sophomore and didn't take cabs much. oh, if i had known what i know now...

    why isn't there an orrientation class when you get to college about this shit?

    ReplyDelete
  10. @miss bee

    because fr. o'connell is more concerned with keeping the cua kids away from progressive media and the green line

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    This blog gets whinier every day.

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  12. the title of the blog was no indication?

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  13. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    Yo saltine whats poppin my cracka?

    You and your crew still using the elevator then jumpin the gate and getting free metro rides over at the Tenlytown station?

    ReplyDelete
  14. If you track the periodic discussions on zone vs. meter in the DCist comment threads, you'll occasionally find that the most vocal support given to the zone system are from people who've mastered it and feel (perhaps correctly) that they'd lose out with meters.

    Of course, if you put a dollar value on the time it takes you to "master" the zone system, it may not be worth the trouble. It's an ideal activity for people with no self-esteem! Celebrate and Discover!

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    I think this city has way more things to be hateful about than METRO. I'd like to see you write and comment about something more apalling than a track detour or a 5 minute delay on the red line.

    Did you know that The Post published every single DCPS school teacher's name and salary information on their webiste?

    Check it out.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/interactives/dcschools/scorecard.html


    Pick a school, any school and then click on the Schedule A Personnel Data Link.

    If you ask me, that's kinda crazy!

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    Big shout out to TYRONE the custodian for pulling in a cool $29,573 a year.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousJuly 05, 2007

    29k just to mop the floors?

    Where do I sign up?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great post. "Excelsior!" was the perfect ending. I actually guffawed.

    The DC "zone" system is designed to ass rape anybody who doesn't live within the first zone. The map is confusing as hell, especially when you're drunk at 4am in Adams Morgan and everything is spinning as it is. Take a gander:

    http://dcliving.com/washington_dc_living/000055.html

    The pointy square that is DC somehow falls over on its lower left quadrant. Different adjacent zones are the same color. No recognizable landmarks - who the fuck picked "Soldier's Home" and "St Elizabeth's Hospital" as noteworthy? Designed to ASS RAPE.

    Fenty is actually doing something about this bullshit by pushing for a redesigned map (click PDF link):

    http://newsroom.dc.gov/show.aspx/agency/ddot/section/2/release/10524

    Wow! A map you can read. What a very un-DC concept. Until I saw this map, I had no clue that by walking two blocks south on Wisconsin, I could save $2.00 on fare if I wanted to get dropped off in Georgetown.

    Hopefully they require it to cover the entire back of the passenger seat so it's easy to read after binge drinking.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousJuly 06, 2007

    Denizen,

    I actually checked for the new map. It's not there yet.

    I can't tell you hoe many times I've taken a cab and demanded, insistently, that I gbet dropped off BEFORE NEBRASKA.

    I got student loans. That extra $1.50 adds up.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I just checked out my old elementary school. The custodian there make just over 40k, and there are several teachers hovering around 100k. And here I thought teachers were poor.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousJuly 06, 2007

    No doubt! We gets down like that. You really should roll with us sometime. Free rides on metrorail all day everyday! Shit. I aint even bought a farecard since way back in 92.

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousJuly 06, 2007

    Wowwwwww.

    I never knew there were saltine alliances here in the district.

    I thought that was only a midwest thing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Meters might be cheaper in DC 3:00 in the morning but when you sit in a typical DC traffic while picking your nose, the meter keeps ticking no matter what and then you start dreaming about the good old zone system days.

    But I am all for what the public wants, I don't care if its either zone or meter, either way I know I will make a shit load.

    ReplyDelete