Tag Archives: taxi

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


Off Duty by DPinDC

If I were to win a warehouse full of money and suddenly lose the pressure of planning for retirement, there are some peculiar jobs in this world that I would love to try my hand at. How about a toll booth operator on the Dulles Toll Road, a gas station attendant, or a high school janitor?  Or maybe one of those guys who rides on the back of a trash truck, listens to his headphones and jumps from curb to curb at five in the morning?  A movie projectionist has always been a dream job of mine, especially at a theater like E Street where I could watch amazing flicks all day long.  Or how about a crane operator, swinging tons of steel around in my own little game of SimCity?

If you look carefully at the jobs that I mentioned, you’ll notice a common theme: to be by myself with just a small dash of human interaction.  There are those who thrive on being around others and shrivel when they are alone, and those who are built for a life of solitude.  While you’re enjoying your power lunches and chattering nonstop into your bluetooth earpiece, I’ll be eating at my desk and making sure your corporate machine keeps humming like a German car.  We can chalk our differences up to genetic evolution, or perhaps correlate them directly to how many hours we spent playing video games as kids.  Regardless, it’s no wonder that I love photography, another lonely profession.

It took me a while to realize what I love about today’s photo.  While I was first drawn to its cinematic quality and the capture of an every day city scene, it soon dawned on me that this is the work of a lonely photographer, shooting a lonely cab driver who is reading a newspaper full of photographs taken by other lonely photographers.  I see that I’m not alone in this world of loneliness.

The Daily Feed
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Taxi Hits Bike in Georgetown

Bicyclist hit by Dulles taxi at 31st and M St, Georgetown

Update: More details on the accident from WashCycle.

I walked by this scene at 31st and M in Georgetown last night: squad cars and yellow tape around a Washington Flyer taxi, its windshield badly cracked, a mangled bicycle under its tires. Vnangia tweets that the accident was fatal. MPD had officers directing traffic around the scene (which got a bit confusing for drivers and pedestrians alike as the traffic lights were still running at the time, nearly causing more accidents), and M Street was backed up significantly. (But then, when isn’t it?)

Also mentioned on Georgetown Metropolitan. No mention on the MPD-2D mailing list. Anyone else see what happened?

The Daily Feed
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Get Off the Phone!

Photo courtesy of
‘passenger’s view’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

The New York Times has an article out today discussing how cabbies have ignored the cell phone ban in New York City, which forbids taxi drivers to speak on cell phones, even with hands-free devices.  Here in the District, we have a hands-free driving law that went into effect five years ago, in July 2004, and it bans motorists from speaking on the phone without a hands-free device except in emergency situations.  I’ve noticed that taxi drivers are some of the worst offenders in our city– it seems 50/50 that I’ll be getting into a cab with a driver who has a cell phone in his hand.  The cell phone ban is rarely enforced in New York, and that seems to be the case here in DC as well.

Taxi drivers claim that they are better equipped to handle a cell phone and a vehicle because they are professional drivers, and that having a cell phone breaks up the monotony of 12-hour shifts.  But when a driver is distracted by a phone, he’s more likely to miss traffic signals or drive erratically (try this fun Times game to see how difficult it really is to use a phone and drive at the same time). What to do if your taxi driver is talking on the phone?  You can always ask him to hang up, or get out of the cab if it is affecting his driving.  If you’d like to log a complaint, take down his name and vehicle license tag (which should be displayed prominently), and report it to the DC Taxicab Commission.

Petworth, The Daily Feed
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Your Heat On Yet?

Taxi looking for warmth

Taxi looking for warmth

We here at the Wayan homestead are in a fight over the heat. As you can see, Taxi, like I is chilled by these 50 degree freezing(!) nights than only make it to 72 in the day. Yet my hot pregnant wife is refusing to heat the house.

While I have no hope of hot air, what’s the verdict in your home? Heat yet?

Or do you just snuggle with cold feet, determined to save a few pennies while embracing the fall chill?