Cabbies seek rate hike, citing gas prices

Advocates for thousands of city yellow-cab drivers said Thursday they will ask City Hall to hike taxi rates by about 15 percent as a way to counter skyrocketing gasoline prices.

A formal request for a rate increase is expected to be sent to the Taxi and Limousine Commission early next week and would be the first hike since 2006, according to Bhairavi Desai, an official with the Taxi Workers Alliance.

"It's not just about gas, it is also about lease expenses having gone up," Desai said Thursday, noting that it now costs some drivers about $850 a week to lease their cabs from owners, up from $600 in 2004.

"Drivers not only have low earnings, but also no health care and other benefits," Desai said.

While the current $2.50 charged when the meters start after a passenger enters a cab wouldn't change, the mileage rate of $2 a mile would jump under the request to $2.50, and waiting time charges would increase from 40 cents to 50 cents for each minute, Desai said.

While those individual fare components would hike 25 percent under the proposal, driving patterns and driving time would keep the overall fare hike to 15 percent, Desai said.

The proposed fare hike was panned by one industry spokesman, who said it would deter riders and dry up revenue.

"In a bad economy, it is a bad idea," said Fernando Matteo, spokesman for the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, a trade organization. "I think it is going to hurt ridership and hurt people who are struggling to make ends meet."

Under current TLC procedures, any increase -- if it happens -- would be months away because public hearings have to be held and other evidence gathered before the commission acts, officials said Thursday.

The last time the fare increased was in 2006 when the TLC shortened the waiting period for each 40-cent charge from two minutes to one minute. The initial meter charge and mileage rate have remained the same since 2004.

Because taxis travel at different speeds during different times of the day, it is hard to say what a typical ride costs. But last month the TLC reported the average yellow-cab ride costs $11.96 and covered a distance of 2.71 miles. The average time for a ride was almost 12 minutes, said the TLC. A 15-percent fare hike could raise that cost to $13.75.