Las Vegas taxi rides getting more costly

Wednesday, June 18, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

The Taxicab Authority of Nevada on Tuesday approved a fare increase that would make Las Vegas the fourth most expensive city in the country to get a cab ride.

Board members approved a 10-cent-per-ride increase in the "drop charge" -- the initial fee a passenger must pay for a ride. The board left intact the charge of $1.80 per mile and the traffic-delay fee of 37 cents a minute on Clark County companies' rates.

The new rate takes effect July 1. Clark County's 16 cab companies made 2 million trips last month, a 6 percent increase over the the number of trips in the same month a year ago.

Based on April survey research from the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association presented by a Taxicab Authority staff member, a three-mile ride in a taxi in Las Vegas would climb from $8.47 to $8.57, moving the city from fifth to fourth on the list of the nation's most expensive cab rides.

San Francisco, where a three-mile cab ride costs $10.10, leads the list, but Las Vegas rides are more expensive than in cities like Chicago ($7.70), Los Angeles ($7.60), New York ($6.70) and Orlando, Fla. ($6.30).

Only one cab company executive lobbied on behalf of an immediate rate increase. Jack Owens, general manager of Yellow-Checker-Star, said his company is still reeling from the travel downturn following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Owens told the board that his company -- three individual cab companies that operate as a group and is the largest cab operator in the state -- has faced a 100 percent increase in insurance costs to $800,000 a year. He also said fuel costs have climbed 25 cents a gallon in the past year. YCS' fleet operates on propane.

Owens said a rate increase of 35 cents a trip would help his company break even for the additional expense of insurance and fuel.

Questioned by board members, Owens also said YCS operates with an 11 percent profit margin.

Cheryl Knapp, general manager of Whittlesea-Blue Cab Co., suggested that the Taxicab Authority continue working on a fuel surcharge formula that would automatically trigger fare increases when fuel costs rise by a certain level. Board members said they plan to review such a plan at future meetings.

Two unions that represent cab drivers in Clark County -- the Industrial Technical Professional Employees Union and the United Steel Workers of America -- supported a rate increase because it means a slight raise for drivers. Most cab companies pay their drivers by commission, usually ranging between 40 percent and 43 percent of the fare.

Union cab drivers said that a fare increase would help offset some of the losses drivers say they incurred when the Taxicab Authority approved additional cabs for the companies earlier this year. Drivers say that additional cabs spread the overall income to more drivers and cuts into each individual driver's income.

Taxicab Authority staff analyst Rick Boxer had recommended no rate adjustments for the companies, stating that two rate increases were approved in 2002. In February 2002, the board raised the drop 10 cents, the mileage rate by 10 cents a mile and the traffic-delay fee by $1 an hour to $21 an hour. In August, the board raised the drop charge by 40 cents.

Boxer said it was too early to analyze the financial effect of the August increase on a year-over-year basis and that lack of information was one reason an increase wasn't recommended.