New Fuel Surcharge Not Helping Miami Cabbies
MIAMI (CBS4) - The taxi cab lot at Miami International Airport looks like a parking lot. Cab drivers sit and talk on the phone, play games, and take leisurely lunches. Still all of them are starving - for business. Rubin Gallo stands at the end of a long cab waiting line and tells us "It's impossible at this moment."
Gallo say it's never been this bad and it's all because of high gas prices. CBS4's David Sutta found another cabbie named Hector sleeping in the backseat of his cab. He explained their predicament.
"The first $700 is going to the owner of the car. Plus we spent at least $250-$300 on gas right now. And me, you get home with $75-$80 on the whole damn week working 17-18 hours daily," said Hector.
Tuesday the county stepped in to help Miami-Dade cabbies like Hector by allowing them to add a $1.00 fuel surcharge to each trip.
"Everyone is suffering with this economy. And we know the taxi cab drivers have also felt the pain of making less money. This will help them offset the price of the gas hike." said Alejandra Castro-Nunez with the county's Consumer Services Department which regulates the cab industry.
By law the county can levy the fuel fee anytime gas lingers over $3.50 a gallon for three weeks. And that's just the beginning.
"Should it go up to $4 they can charge fifty cents more. Should it go up to $4.50 they can charge a dollar more," said Castro-Nunez.
Back at the cab stand driver Pierre Paul said the fee doesn't really helps.
"No. No. It doesn't help you," said Paul.
In fact most taxi drivers shrugged off the fee.
"When you get a customer that is going to give you a two dollar tip, and you charge them a $1 extra, they give you a $1 tip. Not me. They don't help me." said Hector
Despite airport passenger traffic being up, cabbies say because of the recession people are spending less. It means fewer cab rides, shorter trips, and now more heartache at the pump. Everyone at the airport is assuming it is not going to be long before you see these fuel surcharges outside of just cab rides. Already tow truck drivers in Miami-Dade can charge up three dollars.
