A D.C. cab at night. (Photo CC by Flickr user Daquella Manera)

(Armando Trull -- WAMU) Paying your Washington, D.C. taxicab fare using a credit card may be priceless, but those plastic transactions are still being denied while a judge sorts out a lawsuit. An upgrade to taxicab meters in D.C. has been put on hold over alleged irregularities in the bidding process.

The $35 million contract to install new electronic card readers on the entire fleet of D.C. cabs has been challenged by two of the companies that were finalists, but then lost out on the bid after being barred from the final phase of the process.

The concern by city officials now is that if the judge's decision happens after Oct. 15, it won't be sufficient time to outfit all of the cabs in the District with the new meters prior to January's presidential inauguration.