A taxicab drive from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Baltimore City’s Inner Harbor could cost customers an additional $5 a trip as cab drivers are asking for a fare increase to soften high fuel costs.
“Gas prices are now sky-high, and it’s really cutting into drivers trying to earn a living,” said Emmett Willis, president of Glen Burnie-based Associated Cab Co.
Legislation before the Anne Arundel County Council would raise taxicab fares by 50 cents a mile. The rate increase would only affect cab rides originating in the county.
Willis, who spearheaded the effort for the fare increase, said cab drivers are paying $25 more a day in fuel costs since the fares were increased in 2006.
“I don’t think [the fare increase] will be a discouragement to businesses, and it’s better we do this than not to have an industry at all,” said Councilman Daryl Jones, D-Linthicum, who is the sole sponsor the bill that goes up for vote Oct. 6.
Anne Arundel’s taxicab industry, consisting of 13 companies and 520 cabs, operates mostly in the northern neck of Anne Arundel, centering around the BWI airport district.
Anne Arundel taxicabs do not have a fuel surcharge, because the county raised the rates in 2006 to cover gas prices, said Anne Hatcher, the county’s chief of licensing.
But this past summer, some cab drivers said the county had a fuel surcharge and duped customers into paying a higher fare.
“People may not be aware of it, but a number of jurisdictions have gasoline surcharges — we do not,” Hatcher said.
Jones originally proposed raising the fare $1 a mile, adding 50 cents to the first one-10th of a mile and increasing the surcharge added to BWI airport customers by 10 cents.
But County Executive John R. Leopold said he opposed such high increases, and now he and Jones have apparently mediated an increase that could win approval.
“They actually tacked on more than what we wanted, and that was just too much for the consumer,” Willis said.
Fare increase
Anne Arundel Councilman Daryl Jones proposed to raise the fare for taxicab rides originating from Anne Arundel:
- Current fare: 20 cents per 1/10 mile; about $28 for a 13-mile trip
- Proposed fare: 25 cents per 1/10 mile; about $33 for a 13-mile trip
