DC cab drivers - are some racist?

[veganred]

I just have to vent....

I've lived in DC now for 6 years. Over the last 6 months I have seen and been told of a few of my black (African American) friends having trouble getting a cab to pick them up in Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Woodley Park, and U Street area. A friend of mine had to help a black girl hail a cab because no one would stop. I thought this was an isolated incident until a few weeks later a black friend came into the bar and asked me to help him get a cab home. A well dressed retired social worker who served this city stands on Columbia Road in Adams Morgan and can't get a ride home????????

Since that time, I've heard this over and over. This really upsets me. Most of my friends live in this area and are going in a close nearby business or home.

Has this been an issue? I'm really bothered by this.

PS: I try to be politically correct using terms but I hope I used the appropriate terms, if not I am sorry.

LN

[smtpgirl]

1. Yep, the cab drivers are racists

and rip-offs too. I have lived in the Metro DC area all of my life. About a year ago, I needed a ride quickly and decided to hail a cab. That cab driver tried to drive me all through the Kalorama area, with him thinking I did not know where I was.

I got pissed off and asked him to drop me off. Luckily it was about 2 blocks away from where I needed to be.

[veganred]

2. Know the "zones"

I know them well and tell them how much. I had one try to rip me off an extra zone to a place I go to often. I refused to pay and offered to get the police. Another made me cross the street which was the wrong direction and took an extra zone which I complained.

LN

[smtpgirl]

8. I live in the "country" of Upper Montgomery County, MD

that cab ride was probalby the 10th in my whole 46 years of existence.

My car had broken down at 10th & G Sts, NW and I called my friend for help, needless to say he was on his way home via the Metro.

The Metro does not stop in Kalorama, I was closer to the Washington Cathedral & the US Naval Observatory, not a bad neighborhood, but the cab was faster and I didn't need to walk 15 blocks.

[ThomCat]

3. It happens all the time here in NYC too.

Cab drivers are blatantly racist in who they pick up and who they pass by. x(

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. Ironic for such a diverse city, isn't it?

[ThomCat]

10. Not at all.

Racism had prejudices of all kinds have always been alive and well here. It may not always be as blatant here, but it's always here.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Cab drivers are vulnerable. They don't want to go to high crime areas. nt

[ThomCat]

12. Midtown manhattan isn't a high-crime area

but I've stood and watched cab drivers pass black passengers right here. And white people live in high crime areas too.

I think that is an excuse, and a poor excuse too.

[Captain Hilts]

15. I agree. I've helped blacks get cabs. In DC the geography is different.

and, no, I don't think it's an excuse either. But that's why they do it.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

13. Yes, but you'd think people would get used to diversity in such an environment.

[LostinVA]

14. Thom had no trouble with Haruka and me along

Two short white women and a white guy on crutches.

And yeah, DC cabbies are quite racist.

[Mike Daniels]

4. Given that I've yet to see one white cabbie in DC after living here 10 years

I can only guess that the majority of these offenses are minority cab drivers being racist to other minorities.

As for me, the only problem I've ever run into with DC cabbies is their refusal to drive you to your destination on weekend evenings if you ask them to drive too far away from the high volume foot traffic areas.

[smtpgirl]

6. didn't want to say it, but how true

[Captain Hilts]

5. Yes, and it doesn't matter what race they are. They don't want to drive to SE. nt

[smtpgirl]

9. Yep and they won't go to PG County either

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

17. Can't blame them one bit for that, quite frankly.

I certainly don't want to hang around in SE, especially after dark.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. I live in DC as well...

Possibly, but at least half (probably more) of the cab drivers I come across are also African-American. And I take cabs quite frequently.