East Boston Man Gets Wild Ride After Refusing To Pay Taxi Toll
EAST BOSTON (CBS) - An East Boston man says a taxi driver took him on a wild ride because he refused to hand over extra money for tolls. "He wouldn't let me out of the car, so that's when it got a little scary," says Matt Karolian.
He took the cab from downtown Boston early Monday morning. When the taxi pulled up to his East Boston apartment building, the driver asked him to pay for a toll, even though they had not gone through one.
"I offered to pay the fare in full, as it read on the meter, and he refused that and said I had to pay the $5.25 toll that he was going to experience going back into the city," says Karolian.
WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports
In fact, Boston Hackney regulations read, "The passenger pays no toll from Boston to East Boston." Apparently, the cab driver didn't believe that. "He booked out of the apartment, with me in the car, was going in excess of the speed limit, started running through stop signs. I was trying to open the door. When I did that, he'd kind of swerve a little bit to close the door."
The taxi driver took him to the East Boston Police Department, where an officer had to explain to him that Karolian was right.
Even though Karolian had to walk four blocks home, he says it was worth it. " I think more people are learning now that they don't have to pay the toll, and hopefully this sparks a conversation about how we get people to and from the city in a safe and easy way," he says.
There is one spot in East Boston where taxis can pass on some of the toll money to passengers. If you go to Logan Airport, expect to pay $2.75 for the toll.
