Taxi board approves increase in fares

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

The Nevada Taxicab Authority on Tuesday approved an increase in the cost of a cab ride by 20 cents a trip as a fuel surcharge to cover the rising cost of gasoline.

The increase will take effect as soon as Taxicab Authority officials can change the meters on the 2,500 vehicles in the fleets of Southern Nevada's 16 cab companies, a process expected to take about five days. It was the second fuel surcharge ever approved by the Taxicab Authority, with the last one allowed in 1991.

Cab customers will now pay $3 on the "drop," the base charge all customers pay. The charge of $2.70 per mile will remain the same.

The Taxicab Authority board unanimously approved the increase. Even before the increase, Southern Nevada cab rates were among the highest in the nation.

Lia Roberts, chairwoman of the Taxicab Authority, said she had no misgivings about raising already high cab rates because some of the money generated eventually would go to drivers.

The fuel surcharge was proposed by the Taxicab Authority staff after gasoline prices reached $1.81 a gallon for two consecutive weeks, the threshold level that triggers an automatic review of the issue for the board that oversees taxi operations in Clark County.

While the staff recommended raising fares by 20 cents a ride, cab companies asked for as much as a 40-cents-per-ride increase. Bill Shranko, operations manager of Yellow-Checker-Star, the largest cab company in Las Vegas, said his company has taken a $600,000 hit because of rising fuel costs in the six months since the Taxicab Authority last considered -- and rejected -- a fuel surcharge.

Two unions representing cab drivers supported the rate increase, saying that some of their members would benefit. Different cab companies have differing policies on how drivers fuel their vehicles. Some split the cost equally with drivers, other companies have their own fuel depots where cabs are filled and some have contracted amounts they pay drivers for fuel.

The new rates will affect all cabs, even those that operate on alternative fuels.