Hundreds of cabs could soon be without credit card readers—-at least temporarily. The D.C. Cab Commission announced today that Gleike, which serves more than 700 cabs, will cease operations because of financial troubles, which has prevented the company from actually paying its cab drivers.

“Gleike has been under scrutiny since reports came to DCTC’s attention that the company was not making timely payments to owners, was not providing required technical support to system users and was not maintaining up-to-date record keeping,” the commission’s press release states. “The company has been unable to resolve these issue and thus could no longer meet PSP regulatory requirements. Gleike’s default on its passenger surcharge payments to the District may also result in DCTC’s exercising its authority to make a claim against the $50,000 bond posted by Gleike when it was approved as a PSP.”

Grand Cab canceled its contract with Gleike in the fall because the company was failing to pay its drivers. Gleike subsequently sued for breach of contract.

Drivers using Gleike as their payment service provider are required to make an appointment to get a new credit card reader installed by this Friday. In order to avoid law enforcement action, the drivers must keep documentation of the installation appointment inside their vehicle at all times. The release did not specify when the readers actually needed to be installed.

Transco, another approved payment service provider, will install the readers for former Gleike customers free of charge.

The commission recently announced that, after months, and months, and months of troubles getting cabs to comply with the new credit card reader regulations, an internal investigation found that 94 percent of the 6,500-cab fleet was adhering to the credit card laws.

For the timing being, that figure just dropped.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery.