Elsewhere: Taxi Fares Going Up

The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission has voted to double the cost that the meter charges when the taxi is idle.  “Idle” is currently defined as:

120 seconds (at a rate of twenty cents per minute), when not in motion or is traveling at less than 6 miles an hour

It will now double to forty cents per minute.

I’m OK with this change.  The average fare for a ride will go up by about a dollar, but to be honest, cabs in NYC are fairly cheap.

I just took a cab ride in Chicago from the hotel to the office, a distance of about a mile, and it was seven dollars.  That same ride in NYC would cost less than five dollars.

The sad thing is that they approved this change in October, and it won’t take affect until December, well after the gas prices have gone down from their summer highs.  I’m sure the drivers could have used the extra money this past summer.