District Of Columbia § 50-301.01 - Findings.

Passenger transportation by public vehicles-for-hire, particularly by taxicabs, is an integral and important component of public transit within the District.

The business of transporting passengers and baggage for hire by taxicab is an important public interest requiring governmental supervision, regulation, and control.

The taxicab industry in the District has been and is currently marked by an absence of modern vehicles, quality service, and innovative technology.

Considering the importance of the taxicab industry to the overall public transportation system within the District, there should be established a means of funding and regulation for the furtherance of coherent, efficient, and enforceable regulation, and for the establishment of sound taxicab transportation policy.

Recommendations have been made over the course of several decades by various private and commissioned studies, task forces, public and private groups, individuals, and Congressional committees and subcommittees urging regulatory and operational reform of the taxicab industry.

Based upon the consistency of recommendations made over the years relating to regulatory reform of the system of taxi supervision, and based upon the Council’s own evaluation of the present structure of governmental regulation, the Council finds that improved regulatory, educational, and enforcement performance is in the public interest.

The taxicab industry within the District is largely comprised of thousands of individual licensees conducting business on a self-employment basis.

In view of these findings, the Council believes that the citizens of the District will benefit from the enactment of the Taxicab Service Improvement Amendment Act of 2012, effective October 22, 2013 (; 59 DCR 9431).