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Yesterday a 50-cent surcharge was tacked on to taxi fares as part of the state's MTA bailout, starting a cab ride with a $3 base fee... and no one is happy about it.
Yesterday about a dozen drivers stood outside of Penn Station in protest, with signs that read "Ax the tax," and "Even Homer Simpson would call it a Duhception." Many of them believe the extra cost will come out of their tips, and 45-year-old cabbie Victor Salazar told the Daily News, "We're hustling every single [moment] of our shifts. We're in the nickel-and-dime business. Everything counts."
Meanwhile, the NY Post talks to cab riders, some of whom vow to cut down on their vehicular vice. One woman told the paper, "I think the surcharge is ridiculous. I was very irritated when I got into the taxi today." Will hailing a cab become more of a luxury now? Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance told the NY Times: “On shorter fares, riders will opt to walk or take the subway."
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Yes. It will come out of your tips. Sorry! (I'm not sorry)
Meh, whatever. I take the cab only on weekends when I'm ratassed.
If you take the cab every day, you can afford it. So stfu.
They will opt to walk or take the subway?! God forbid they do what most New Yorkers do.
So the MTA (read: out-of-control, union-crazy, overtime-loving, overpaid sorry excuse for public employees) basically has a grip on any means of transportation in NYC, huh? I hear they're gonna start taxing walking now.
"the MTA basically has a grip on any means of transportation in NYC"
No, but the state of New York does.
The MTA is run by the state of NY though. The two definitely walked hand in hand to figure out ways nickel and dime people to make up for the MTA's inefficiency.
Bridge tolls would've been much better; there's a reason that this was the third choice for people with a brain.
It will come out of their tips, just like the 'prime time' surcharge does.
How about charging a fare on the buses and subways that actually pay for what you are getting? If it's five dollars a shot so be it. Enough of this pushing off the MTA's stupid high payed jobs for doing something that a a well trained chimp or a third grade student dropout can do. If you can't afford taking public transport then walk or work out of your home.
this tax will be paying for the MTA improvements.
that is what the MTA wants you to believe.
Less cab rides and more walking is good for us anyway.
I took 3 taxis today in order to get my sick toddler to the doctor's office, then to the hospital, and then home again. In two of the taxis I tried to use a credit card and it wouldn't go through. Coincidence?
For $3, I shouldn't have to bring my own Febreze.
the article says no one is happy about it - but are you forgot to count the MTA - they're laughing their ass all the way to the bank on this "tax"
i prefer to take a cab. no worry about anything else.
Yuan
Bisnis Internet
I haven't taken a cab in a couple of years. They are a ripoff and I don't enjoy hearing crappy music or even worse the cabbie having a phone coversation in Arabic probably planning an attack on something. I walk or take a bus or a subway. I get around just fine.
What the city should do is charge bicycle riders a $2 a day "convenience" surcharge (they are using city streets instead of riding the MTA after all) - and, charge pedestrians a walking surcharge of $1 a day, (plus the $2 if you ride a bicycle). If you have one leg, then obviously you would only have to pay $.50 and unicyclists would also have a discounted rate - $1.
The city could easily set up turnstiles that charge this fee when entering and exiting any of the 5 boroughs.
Now I know what you're all thinking right now, and I have a plan for that too. Residents choosing to balloon into town would be charged a $65 balloonist mooring penalty - on top of the pedestrian surcharge - to discourage this sort of attempt at fee evasion and avoid balloon congestion in the city.
These fees would not have to be paid for by city employees, celebrities, New York Yankees players or friends and relatives of city employees. (Mets players and fans will have to pay an additional $.50 surcharge, as would gays, Irish and people who have a middle name beginning with the letter "J")
It's time EVERYONE started paying to finance the MTA, not just the people who choose to use it.
But wait, I'm a gay bicyclist/pedestrian with a middle name of Joseph. I wouldn't mind if you were talking about Arabic speaking helicopter passengers working for a company with under 15 employees, but what about meeeeee?!?!?
(the preceding has been a parody of a typical gothamist comment)
What's really unfair is the employer tax for the MTA which is hitting freelancers right in the pocket. My wife works out of the house and doesn't commute at all or have any employees (and I walk to work, for what it matters). Yet we got a form from NY State telling us to start coughing up the MTA surcharge tax for the MTA. How is that right?
Really? It's just 50 cents, people. If you are getting in a cab, you should have a good idea of how much money you can spend on such a luxury. And if paying an extra 50 cents is gonna cause a problem, you shouldn't be taking the cab to begin with,
It's the principle. The rationale is always it's just a nickel or a dime.
The federal income tax also used to be 1%, too. But what's a percentage point here or there? Well over time it becomes 15 to 33 percent.
im kind of whatever with the fifty cents, but over the weekend i had a cab driver telling me because of that fifty cents he would have to restart the meter if he dropped someone off on the way.
I'm not thrilled about extra taxes on cab rides, but I certainly don't feel bad for cabbies losing tips. I've never in my life seen a cab driver show a rider sympathy in the face of losing out on an extra dollar. You're completely at their mercy when they decide which policies to follow and which ones to ignore (like refusing to take you where you ask). If cabbies want better tips, how about doing something crazy like offering better customer service!
Abbot, just about allhacks make no money- and they have to hustle hard to get it in 12-hour shifts, plus pay the rental (if they don't own their car, which most don't), high insurance, gas, plus they need to return the car to the garage after having it washed/cleaned. Don't hate the player. They're tring to make a living. Hate the game instead. Like Biggie said, "Mo money, mo problems".
50 cents is 2.5% increase for a 20 dollar fare...
I disagree that the cost of a ride in US is too high compared with most cities in Europe where it costs around 30% more than the larger cities in USA.