Denver’s taxicab giants — Colorado Cab and Metro Taxi — each say gasoline surcharges passed on to the public are the only way their drivers can cope with the crippling cost of fuel.
What they don’t agree on is how much it should be, with each side saying the other is charging consumers too much.
Colorado Cab, which is known as Denver Yellow Cab and Boulder Yellow Cab, last week received approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for a 25-cent- per-mile surcharge, a fee that works out to $5 for what the company says is the average distance for a trip. The company’s new charge will be $2.50 per mile.
Metro Taxi is awaiting PUC approval for its surcharge — 30 cents per flag drop — the immediate cost to a rider when they enter a cab and the driver activates the meter. The drop charge currently is $2.60 and its per-mile fee is $2.25.
Yellow charges $2.50 on the flag drop.
Yellow’s increase “is simply too much money. I’m shocked,” according to Metro general manager Kyle Brown. “I can’t do the math and simply can’t agree with it.”
Metro’s request is “going to hurt the little old lady who’s only making a $4 trip and not the guy going 50 miles who’s using up the gas,” said Ross Alexander, Yellow regional general manager.
Each agrees that a surcharge was inevitable. The increases can last for 120 days.
Denver’s average price for regular unleaded gas on Monday was $3.566, according to AAA and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Statewide, the average price of gasoline has increased by 27 percent since Jan. 3, and by 25 percent in Denver.
“Simply stated, as gasoline prices have increased dramatically over the last year, the drivers’ income has likewise eroded,” Metro Taxi says in a filing made Tuesday with the PUC seeking its surcharge.
Drivers say the temporary surcharges alleviate very difficult decisions caused by the climbing gas prices.
“It’s been very hard and getting harder,” said Gabre Gabre, a driver with Freedom Cab, who adds that he’s had to drive an extra four hours a day to make up for gas prices.
“If they keep going up, then maybe I stop driving,” Gabre said.
Freedom and Union Taxi have not requested approval for a surcharge.
It’s the first time in three years that cab companies are asking for the fuel surcharge.
“It’s staggering how fast prices have climbed,” Alexander said of the surcharge. “If there’s no end in sight, then we’ll likely ask for it to be permanent.”
The highest average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Denver was $4.006, on July 17, 2008.
It was $2.68 per gallon in Denver a year ago, according to the report.
The per-mile rate taxis charge is set by the PUC and varies by a company’s request. The cost of a cab to Denver International Airport, however, is fixed, depending on the distance traveled.
The surcharge requests do not affect the price of a cab to the airport, said PUC spokesman Terry Bote, though that rate could be impacted if enough cab companies complain and the three-person PUC board opts to review the policy.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com
Fixed prices to DIA
Cab fares to and from Denver International Airport are fixed according to region and are not affected by any surcharge increase. Here are the fares to the three zones.
Boulder: $84
Tech Center: $57
Downtown Denver: $51
Source: Colorado Public Utilities Commission
