Evening star., 1933-09-30
TAX|CAbS TO RAISE
RATES TONIGHT BY
. SHORTENING ZONES
Operators of 1900 Cars in
Plan to Provide Drivers
Better Living. ~
30c FOR SOME RIDES.
THAT NOW COST zoe
Agreement Follows Long Series
of Conferences Conducted by
Peoples Counsel Keech.

An increase In taxicab rates In the
District, accomplished by q shortening
Of the present flat rate zones, adopted
by a majority of the owners and
operators of cabs now in service, will
go into effect at midnight tonight.
The new rate and zone schedule,
signed by operators Of more than 1900
cabs now in service, will result in a
general increase in charges, designed to
provide drivers with more livable in
come than now prevails. The effect
will be that taxi riders will pay 80
cents for some rides that now cost 20
cents, corresponding increase for
other trips, but in some cases there will
be no change in the tariff.
The change will increase as much as
so per cent the present charge for COM
paratively short trips where zone lines
are crossed, but in some of the longer
trips there will be an increase of only
10 cents and in some cases none at all.
Twelve Operators Agree.
The revision Of the zone rates was
agreed to by more than II of the major
operators after long series of confer
ences conducted by Richmond B.
keech, peoples counsel long an advo-
cate of a living wage for the taxi
drivers.
When signed agreements for the
change in the zones were received by
Keech late yesterday afternoon, the re-
vised schedule was filed with the Pub
lie Utilities Commission in the names
OF the various operators. This act was
all that was required to place the
change in rates, since the commission
hac ~, %ov
Records of the commission show that
as compared with 4,1OO last year, and
recent surveys indicate that more than
300 of the cabs licensed since July !
are not in actual operation. By this
calculation, therefore. the vast major
ity of the cabs are subject to the in
creased tariff charges.
The charge in the new first zone will
be 20 cents. The boundaries, roughly,
are from D street southwest to Florida
avenue on the north, and from Twenty
second street to the west to Eighth
street northeast on the east.
The second Zore in the new system
will have charge of 20 cents within
its own area, which will be bounded,
roughly. by Wisconsin avenue on the
west, Macomb and Klingle streets,
oldSOcll dttllQ6 dllu OcIdlQl StlCcl Cll
the north; Twelfth street, Mount Olivet
the east, and NJ and P streets on the
south. The third zone within which
the charge will be 20 cents is bounde
by Conduit and Foxhall roads, Nebrask
avenue, Albemarle street, Broad Branch
road, Military road, Butternut street
Blair road, South Dakota avenue north
east, Bladensburg road, Twentieth streess
northeast, Benning road, Minnesot
avenue southeast, Sixteenth and W
streets southeast.
Zone Lines Determinants.
The increase in fares will come atlr
when zone lines are crossed as C
driver follows the most direct route
his destination. If cab passes thro /
zone into zone in making trip,
cents will be added to the regular -
and in passing all the way throl
other zones on an outbound trip the
will be an addition of 20 cents VIII
zone lines are crossed.
The agreement has been signed b
members of the Independent Taxi Own:
ers' Association, operating Dlamone
cabs; members of the Greylon Cab AS
sociation, White Cab Corporation, Sea
curity Cab Co.. Minute Cab Co., Cap1toh
Yellow Cab Co., Bell Cab Association
Blue Light Cab Corporation, City Cav
CORPORATION, Premier Cab Association
General Cab Corporation, Prudom Can
CORPORATION and a number of other in.
dependent operators.
There will be an extra charge OF q
cents for personal service such a.
when the driver leaves his cab to carry
a message for customer or when ne,
runs an errand for hire outside the reg
ular business of transportation. Fol
the transportation of trunks there VIII
be an extra charge of SO cents, but
there will be no additional charge 1of.
the carrying of hand luggage.
Waiting Costs Extra.
An extra charge of 10 cents will be
made for each five minutes of waiting
for a fare. For stops more than five
blocks off the direct route there will
be an extra charge of 5 cents. Stops
along the direct route will cost 10 cents
extra.
AS an illustration of how the new
system will work, the fare from the
downtown section to Union Station OF
the United States Capitol will remain
at 20 cents The fare from the down.
town section to Sixteenth and Crltten-
den streets. or to Massachusetts, ano
Wisconsin avenues, would be 80 cents.
Travelling outward from the center OF
the city, the fare within the first zone
would be 20 cents, to point in the
second zone 30 cents. to a point IN the
third zone so cents and to a point in
the fourth zone 10 cents. Conversely
travelling to the center of the city from
q point near the District line, the
charge would be 20 cents for the fourth
zone, 40 cents to a point in the third
zone, so cents to point in the second
zone and 10 cents to point in the first
gone. ...
Certain arbitrary charges are fixed
for travel not in line with routine
calls. For instance, from the downto1n
zone to points north and east of South
Dakota avenue the charge would be 70
cents: from the first zone to the Chevy
Chase Club, 80 cents; from the first
zone to points north of Bradley lane.
$1.l0; from the first zone to points
north Of Mount Olivet road, so cents;
from the first zone to the Washington
Airport, so cents: the first zone to Fort
Myer and Arlington National Cemetery,
80 cents; and from the. first zone to
Walter Reed Hospital, SO cents.
STAEE unN0RS PATRIcK