The D.C. Taxicab Commission is floating a proposal that would require the city's 7,000 taxicabs to do what has made Uber so popular: use an app that allows riders to e-hail them.

Last week, officials announced a plan to have all cabs adopt a "One City, One Taxi" app, developed for the city to allow riders to e-hail cabs. All drivers would be available on the app while on duty.

Taxicab Commission chairman Ron Linton says the app is being proposed to give consumers what they want. "Consumers, at least a significant number of them, want to be able to summon a taxicab using an app on their cell phone," he says.

Linton says the app will also allow pricing flexibility — "lower or higher than the metered fare depending on what the situation is." Right now, regular taxicabs that are hailed on the street may only charge the standard base fare of $3.25 plus $2.16 a mile.

Many cabs can be e-hailed already, because individual drivers have signed up with any of the five tech companies whose apps have been approved to operate in Washington. But Linton says the new app would not conflict with any of these arrangements.

"What this does," he said, "is allow the industry to have a mass of vehicles so that it's response time and its reliability will be what consumers want."

Yellow Cab — the largest independent cab company in the District — already has an e-hail app, but its general manager Roy Spooner says he's not sure this is something the government should mandate. "It is well intentioned and enticing, but it really should be left to the taxicab ownership groups and private enterprise," he says.

Since launching its low-cost ride-sharing service UberX in D.C., Uber has put a dent in taxicabs' customer base, spurring calls to either deregulate the cab industry so it can compete with Uber — or subject Uber and other ride-sharing services to the same rules faced by taxicabs.