Discriminating Driver
Who is worthy of riding in a cab? I hailed a cab on upper Connecticut avenue last week and he stopped almost immediately for a white guy with a suitcase to see if he was going the same way. Wasn't. So we kept going. Some blocks later, we were in slow traffic as a Hispanic man waved for the cab. The driver didn't seem to see him, so I (always ok about sharing) pointed him out. "not good" or something like that was the driver's response.A few blocks past that, a white woman flagging a cab got him to cross two lanes of traffic to see where she was going.
I know, I know, it always pays to be white. But really!
posted by DC Cab Rider @ 5:19 PM
4 Comments:
What about "white guy without suitcase?" I think some of this has to do with whether or not the pax may be going to the airport (toting suitcases), hence larger fare?
Scarey shit?
Am I missing something here? This is an easy one: you write down the driver's license info and send a complaint to the commission.
Yup, he is probably discriminating, but here is one place where the law can not reach him. Shared riding is at the discretion of the driver, within certain constraints (the five block rule being the most important). There is nothing that requires the driver to pick up any more passengers once he has the first one.
Yes, what he was doing was wrong, but anyone would be hard put to make a case against him. Something could be done in a court, but as far as the Taxicab Commission, Office of Adminstrative Hearings or Human Rights Office goes, I doubt that there would be much that they could do.
You, as the first passenger have no standing to file a complaint, as you were not denied service. You could serve as a witness, should someone file such a complaint that he could actually have heard. If you filed a complaint, it would be deemed a 'third party complaint'. The DCTC can not pursue third party complaints nor can the Human Rights Office. There is very little that the courts could do. The offended party must complain.
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