The Extra Buck Stops Here
When the MTA tries to hit the city and the public up for more money (again), local lawmakers balk -- but when New York's financially taxed taxi drivers cry out for a little relief, those same lawmakers jump to their defense.
Makes a certain amount of sense, actually.
15 City Council members are standing with cab drivers and asking the Bloomberg administration to get behind a proposed $1 fuel surcharge. The extra dollar would be applied to riders' fares and would help cabbies deal with rising fuel costs they claim are making it more and more difficult to earn a living. Some drivers complain that the price of gas is so high right now that it's preventing them from paying the monthly lease fees for their cabs and medallions.
The surcharge proposal was shot down earlier this year, and Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman Matthew W. Daus insists it's still not needed. He claims the extra dollar tacked onto fares would just be an unnecessary burden to riders, but says the commission will keep an eye on the situation.
For the record, it's not hard to sympathize with the plight of the city's cab drivers, but it'd be even less hard if one of them would stop to make a pick-up just before the 5PM shift change once in a while.
Please?
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