A taxi, Leon Swain, and me

Taxis

A taxi, Leon Swain, and me

by David Alpert • March 19, 2008 4:34 pm

My car got towed last week (for accidentally violating a Pepco temporary no-parking notice). When I got back today I immediately went to get it out of the impound lot, at 2nd and Q ~~Southeast~~ Southwest. I got into a cab, but upon hearing the destination, the driver claimed not to know where that was (bogus) and refused to transport me.

Photo by Daquella manera on Flickr.

This is my first direct experience with this (taxis are usually happy to go to Dupont), but I'd read plenty of articles. It was certainly the kind of fare a cabbie doesn't want; it's just $9.80 (two zones) for a five-mile trip across all of downtown, and ends in a bad neighborhood.

However, the law says I get to go (and besides, if I'd been going to the Cannon House Office Building, only one zone and almost as far, I bet he'd have taken me). I decided to see if DC's taxi enforcement was really a joke, as some had written, or not.

Sitting in the taxi, I called the number on the Passengers' Bill of Rights. I reached an operator right away, who assured me that the driver ought to know where it is. (Obviously. It's a grid, after all.)

She asked me to relay the driver's license number, posted on the right visor. However, the visor was flipped up (as it often is). When I reached over to flip it down, the driver grabbed the visor and refused to let me see his license.

Hearing this, the operator transferred me to her supervisor, who turned out to be Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain. Swain asked to speak to the driver, which I set up via speaker since I didn't want to hand my phone to this man.

Swain asked the driver why he wouldn't transport me, and the driver replied that he wanted the fare in advance. This hadn't come up earlier, but I had no objections; besides, having read the Taxi Bill of Rights many times while bored in a cab, I knew the driver was entitled to the fare in advance. (I was about to shell out $240 cash to get my car back. $10 was not the issue.)

Swain then told the driver to show me his license placard, which he did so I could read it over the phone. We then confirmed the driver's name. Before closing the call, Swain told the driver in no uncertain terms that he expected to see the driver in his office this afternoon, as soon as he had dropped me off at 2nd and Q, Southwest. Thanks, Leon Swain!

Will this driver face actual penalties? I don't really care. I didn't want to ruin his day; I just wanted to get my car back. I do hope that this deters other drivers from refusing to transport passengers. Blog posts I'd read in the past say that DC's enforcement is lax. Is this kind of treatment new? Old and ultimately ineffective despite appearances? Something else?

18 comments

Tags: DC, Leon Swain, taxis

Historic post preservation: "A Taxi, Leon Swain, and Me" (Sep 25, 2008)
Taxi rules are too confusing, even for Congressmen (Jul 14, 2010)
Taxi fare mashup (Jan 22, 2008)
Lower DC taxi fares (Jan 19, 2008)
Bus driver assaults cyclist, MPD uninterested (Mar 4, 2009)

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Must have been a bit of an awkward ride after all that.

by Jake on Mar 20, 2008 10:01 am • link • report

Yeah, let's just say the driver didn't say much when I got out of the cab (I thanked him and said I hoped that nothing too bad would happen; he just pressed the button to automatically close the door, which this cab could do).

by David Alpert on Mar 20, 2008 10:55 am • link • report

great story -- good for you getting just what you were due, without having to be especially confrontational.

in new york, the T&LC has regular spot inspections, with latino & black inspectors requesting trips to yonkers, bad neighborhoods, etc. they fine the drivers on the spot if they're refused. if the driver accept the unpleasant fare, the inspectors halt the car after a block or two.

by travis on Mar 20, 2008 2:20 pm • link • report

Good for you! I've been tempted to do this many-a-time. Want to post that number so we can all program it into our phones?

by Dino on Mar 25, 2008 6:35 pm • link • report

202 645 6018 (that's the number on the sign in the photo)

Or you can email: dctc@dc.gov

More info: http://dctaxi.dc.gov/dctaxi/cwp/view,a,3,q,615373.asp

by Bill on Mar 25, 2008 6:47 pm • link • report

What Bill said; also, it's on all the Riders' Rights signs in the taxis, which is where I got it from.

by David Alpert on Mar 25, 2008 6:57 pm • link • report

And they want us to sign their petition for zone meters...

by Jeffrey on Mar 25, 2008 7:23 pm • link • report

Too bad he doesn't work during the evening hours. There have been too many times where I've had a cab refuse to drive me home to Capitol Hill because he is interested only in ferrying GW and Georgetown kids between Georgetown and U Street/Adams Morgan/Dupont for the easy fares.

by Katie on Mar 25, 2008 7:30 pm • link • report

That's awesome! Congrats, glad it worked out.

by Andrew on Mar 26, 2008 8:39 am • link • report

I think many times riders just don't have the time, or maybe just don't want to have a confrontation (like me), so the cab drivers get away with. Thanks for taking the time to make the call and congratulations!

by Tim on Mar 26, 2008 8:49 am • link • report

Nice. A much better approach than my "No, you're going to f()*@#@ take me where I want."

by MB on Mar 26, 2008 8:51 am • link • report

I've met Mr. Swain, he's a good guy. I avoid taking taxis at all cost because of previous issues i've had with them, but Mr. Swain has never been anything but gracious in my dealings with him.

by beth b. on Mar 26, 2008 9:05 am • link • report

Interesting post-I have had many dealings with the taxi commission. Leon has also called me personally in response to an email I sent him to talk about the taxis changing over to meters. He was very nice and I was surprised to get a call from him. But I also filed a complaint by emailing the commission about a cab driver I had to call the cops on. They followed up with me but said they called the driver and his wife said he was out of the country so he couldn't come in to talk to anyone-didn't that work nicely in his favor. It is great to know the human rights number works-thanks!

by rose on Mar 26, 2008 9:49 am • link • report

Back in the late 90s (or was it 2000????) I was representing a woman from Anacostia in a civil action. She would often have to come to my law office, which at the time was located at the corner of 19th and K. Coming there, she would always take a bus - since cabs weren't available in her neck of the woods. To get her back home, I'd have to stand out front, hail the cab myself (cause D.C. taxi's back then WOULD NOT pick up an african american woman) and then tell the cabbie where he was going.

This usually worked. I'd have a ticked off driver, but most weren't dumb enough to tangle with an attorney on K street.

Except one time. He absolutly refused, and refused to show me his license number. I didn't call the D.C. Taxi Line - we sued him (or actually, we sued the cab company) that afternoon and negotiated within a week a $10,000k settlement for my client (i didn't take any as it was pretty easy to do and her underlying case was worth far more, so i was more than happy to do this favor for her).

I don't know if cab drivers talk amongst each other, or what, but I never had another problem getting her a cab at the corner of 19th and K.

by countertop on Mar 26, 2008 5:37 pm • link • report

Thank you for posting this! A few days after I read this the same thing happened to me! Although, I actually was going to Capitol Hill; from the West End. I called the number and got a message (I think it may have been too early in the morning), but just calling was enough to scare the driver into actually taking me where I had asked to go.

by MP on Apr 9, 2008 4:08 pm • link • report

Wow - must have been the same guy that drove me to DCA last week. Told me to sit in the back sit and be quiet - he'd had enough out of me! when I asked him to stop reading the newspaper while driving. Then he threatened to drop me off in the middle of GW Parkway to find myself another cab! I'm calling Leon!

by J-Coll on May 1, 2008 8:10 pm • link • report

On one hand you can apologize for cab drivers' aggression and moodiness. But moodiness is no excuse for being rude or unfair to your customers. If you pay for a service - you certainly don't expect the person you're paying to remind you that he's doing you a huge favor by putting up with you - that's why there is a taxicab commission in place to enforce rules that favor both parties - the hack and the passenger.

Two weekends ago I negotiated a fare with a cab driver before getting in his car - we made it clear that I would pay him exactly $60, including tip - and he agreed on it. When we arrived at our destination he asked why I wasn't paying him a tip - I was already out of the car and explained that the we already negotiated a fair price for the journey including tip. His response was to get out of his vehicle (while popping his trunk) and ask me face-to-face why he shouldn't get a tip - I entertained his question - and told him to F Off (while shutting his trunk).

It ended there - he got back into his car - and I went home...wishing I hadn't tipped the guy anything. The fact that he thinks he can use intimidation (opening the trunk cannot be a good thing) is troubling. I know they're stressed out ... especially after dealing with all sorts of people in their vehicles - but get another job if you can't deal with it...I'm sure you'll pass the USPS personality tests.

I suggest negotiating fares before the driver arrives to your destination...don't count on the meter.

by Michael on Nov 24, 2009 4:55 pm • link • report

Note the most important fact of this story: you got in the cab before you gave your destination. This conversation doesn't happen -- and you're standing in a cloud of smelly exhaust as the car peels away -- if you answer "where are you going" before you get in.

by Jeff on Jul 11, 2012 1:43 pm • link • report