meters or zones? cartographers to the rescue!

there has been constant back-and-forth around dc about whether fares from place a to place b would be cheaper or more expensive with meters in taxicabs, instead of the wonderful zone system that is the bane of some people's exsistence.

me personally, i don't care. i have been in 3 or 4 taxis since 2000, so i don't really have a dog in this hunt. i feel that i know the buses well enough to get anywhere with them, and when the weather is nice, i've been known to bike anywhere from rfk to tenleytown, so i don't rely on the stinking pricey taxis to get me around town!

but, as a public service, here's the tool that the brilliant cartographers at the washington post have been working on and were finally able to make public this weekend. i was happy to be able to help beta-test this project, and it's pretty cool. punch in any two addresses in the city, and you'll be able to compare the current zone fare to what's a damn good estimate of what the meter fare will be between those points. check it out...