Taxicab firms may tack on fee over fuel prices

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

The Nevada Taxicab Authority next month will consider allowing cab companies to add a fuel surcharge to their rates.

The board deferred action on a surcharge proposal at its May meeting, citing the need to further study fuel-price trends and projections before making a final decision. That study also would determine how much of a surcharge should be permitted, if any.

Taxicab Authority Administrator Bob Anselmo said the board is proceeding slowly on the surcharge proposal because taxi rates were just raised on May 1, when fares went up 10 cents a mile to $1.70. Customers pay the higher rate by being assessed 10 cents per one-seventeenth of a mile -- up from 20 cents per one-eighth of a mile.

"Part of the rate increase was to take care of the additional fuel costs," Anselmo said.

Anselmo said the issue is further clouded by differing fuel-purchasing policies among the city's 14 taxi companies. Some companies require their drivers to buy their own fuel, but pay them more than companies that buy all the fuel for their fleets.

"Fuel costs in Las Vegas have risen steadily over the past few months, but we're hearing that they may be coming down," Anselmo said. "I think the board just wants to be sure on what's happening with prices before acting on a surcharge plan."

The price per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is only slightly higher now than it was a year ago, according to statistics kept by the AAA of Northern California, Nevada and Utah. But the price has risen steadily in Las Vegas since the middle of February. This month it has climbed to near historic highs.

In the AAA's May survey, gasoline in Las Vegas was selling for an average price of $1.84 a gallon, Lisa Foster, a AAA spokeswoman, said. After peaking at $1.88 a gallon in March 2000, the price fluctuated, then fell steadily until it hit $1.61 a gallon in February. But since then, the price has soared again.

"Recently, it's dropped about 3 cents a gallon," Anselmo said. "But whether it will come down sufficiently to ease things for the drivers, I don't know. It's something board members will be looking at between now and the next board meeting, June 19."

The Taxicab Authority approved a fuel surcharge seven years ago after a unified group of cab companies requested it. Cab companies aren't as strident about the issue today because the largest company, Yellow-Checker-Star, operates a propane-fueled fleet and propane costs have not been as volatile as gasoline.