When I cabbed it to the Kennedy Center to see Mame this weekend, I ended up in one of the taxis with the new zone meters. I was a little surprised, as I had just read an article about them in the Washington Post last week. Also, I’ve been babbling about the concept of GPS meters to calculate zones for about a year now.

For those who don’t know about DC’s taxis: Taxi cabs in Washington, DC proper do not use a distance-and-duration-based system used by most (if not all) places. Ours use predefine zones and a schedule of charges based on the number of zones you cross. Cab fare will be the same regardless of how bad traffic may be, or what route the driver may choose. The Achilles heel of this system has always been the fare was manually calculated, and sometimes I’m not sure either driver or passenger felt 100% sure the correct fare was charged. The subject of meters versus zones has been contentious. Generally, the local politicians and many citizens seem to prefer the meters… the drivers seem to prefer the zone system.

Personally, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with DC’s taxi cab fares. On the plus side, I never worry about a driver taking a route that could be faster, but a longer distance… I still pay the same no matter what. I have also gotten pretty familiar with the zones, so I always know what my fare should be. In fact, I occasionally will walk a block or even just cross a street to move to the next zone for a cheaper fare. On the down side, I have occasionally had to “correct” a driver’s fare. Sometimes, drivers innocently miscalculated the fare. Other times, the devilish grin made me think it was intentional. Confused tourists are notoriously taken advantage by less scrupulous drivers.

Overall, I think the zone meters solve the negatives of the zones, while keeping the positives. If the zone meters become the standard (as I hope), it will be too bad all of Jimbo’s work will be unnecessary.