A 25-cents-per-mile rate increase has made Yellow Cab the most expensive taxi company in the metro area.
The Public Utilities Commission in late September approved Yellow Cab’s request to increase its fares by 25 cents a mile.
The company sought the increase to help pay for an updated dispatch system and to buy 23 handicapped-accessible vehicles, said Deborah Collette, a spokeswoman for the PUC. But about 80 percent of the fare increase is going to drivers to help offset the rising cost of gasoline, said Ross Alexander, president of Yellow Cab.
The company increased its lease rates to cab drivers by an average of 5 percent. The average lease rate, which drivers pay to operate the cabs, is about $345 a week.
Yellow Cab now charges $2.50 for the first one-ninth mile and 25 cents for each additional one-ninth mile, or $2.25 per mile after the first one-ninth-mile charge.
Metro Cab charges $2.60 for the first one-eighth mile and 25 cents for each additional one-eighth mile, for $2 a mile.
Freedom Cab is the cheapest in the metro area, charging $1.80 for the first one-ninth mile, then 20 cents per one-ninth of a mile or $1.80 per mile.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
