Microevolution in DC

The other day I referred to reverse evolution--degeneration of derived traits to more ancestral forms. Today I'd like to introduce another evolutionary term and metaphor for what is unraveling here in DC. Microevolution is what we think of as "Dawinian Evolution"...the slow process of natural selection, but which the traits most adapted to the environment or conferring the highest fitness survive and reproduce more, thus becoming more abundant in the population. Changes (mutation) occur about 1x10e-8 cell divisions, so the chances of having a beneficial change that actually gets passed on to offspring (i.e., its a mutation in the germ cells) are pretty slim. Thus evolution in a Darwinian sense occurs very slowly over time (hopefully I'll find a DC metaphor to explain Macroevolution on here one day).

Incremental Change

In my 1.75 years here in DC I've noticed that 1. its a pretty liberal, educated, and techno-savvy town, 2. nothing gets done because of politicking, and 3. its expensive to take taxis everywhere. I was elated to hear that Fenty has ordered the switch to fare meters for our taxis. I usually take a taxi 1 or 2 times a week at most. Usually so I don't have to walk home drunk from Dupont and get mugged. The ride is 2 zones, or $8.80 in non-peak times. Its $10 during peak. FYI...the ride is 1 mile; less as the crow flies. Even worse is $6.50 to go 5 blocks to the Metro. Add in fuel surcharges (like during the summer), and I just walked or bus'ed everywhere.

So here we are...about to install these state-of-the-art (in 1891) taxi meters on all of our cabs. At the same time, NYC is moving ahead with a system that includes four main components:

1. A credit card/debit card payment system (about 10% of taxis in DC accept cards)


2. Passenger Information Monitor [PIM], essentially a TV screen that will be installed in the back seat to flash advertisements and entertainment to riders as well as a live map, facilitated by GPS, that will show passengers where they are;


3. Trip Sheet Automation that uses AVL [Automatic Vehicle Locater] technology — the equivalent of GPS—to automatically collect data about each individual cab ride; and


4. text messaging for the driver that will flash messages from TLC when the cab is stopped, or going very slowly, according to TLC's Web site.

Shouldn't we be looking to the future for our "enhancements" to the taxi system, such as NYC is doing? Maybe Congress can mandate we make these changes 25 years from now when taxis are completely obsolete.