Yellow cabs call for $1.50 fuel surcharge

(New York -WABC, May 16, 2006) (WABC) -- Getting into a yellow cab could soon cost you more, a lot more. Drivers are now officially filing a petition to add a $1.50 surcharge per ride to help them offset high gas prices.

Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett is live in Midtown now.

If this goes through it could cost you $4 before you even leave the curb. To be sure, there are passengers who are not exactly thrilled about all of this, but the taxi drivers themselves say it's crucial.

Taxi Driver: "I have to work extra hours to make up for the gas. It's true."

Cabbies say they're struggling, that the high price of gasoline has left them no choice but to petition the city for a fare increase, asking the Taxi and Limousine Commission to impose a $1.50 surcharge whenever the average price of regular gasoline in New York City goes over $2.50 per gallon.

Fernando Mateo, Federation of Taxi Drivers: "Drivers today are making $30 to $40 less a day than what they were making two years ago."

The proposed increase would raise the initial charge to $4. Add to that the standard charges of $2 per mile and .40 cents every two minutes; the $1 evening rush hour surcharge and the .50 cent nighttime surcharge.

Commuter: "No problem. I'm okay with it."

Some people we spoke with said it seemed fair, but others, many others, said it's way too much.

Commuter: "No one's raising my salary $1.50 for the price of gas."

The Commissioner of the Taxi and Limousine Commission now has 60 days to decide whether or not to move this forward. If he does, there will be a public hearing and it would have to be approved in the end by five of the eight members of the TLC.

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