Chicago cabdrivers say high gasoline prices are cutting into their meager profits, but they didn’t get any help Wednesday from City Hall.
Aldermen declined to take immediate action on a request from cabbies to impose a 60-day surcharge that would tack up to $2 on the price of a fare.
“We’re up to our ears in extra expenses,” cabdriver Wolfgang Weiss said afterward. “I think they’re just backpedaling. … We’re going to keep the pressure on.”
Ald. Thomas Allen (38th), chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Public Way, said he understood the cabdrivers’ plight but noted that gasoline prices fluctuate greatly.
Allen said the committee would work with the administration and the tourism industry to gather more information and “try to fashion … some meaningful response.”
The drivers also want a general rate increase, which last occurred in 2005, but they focused Wednesday on the surcharge to give them immediate relief from the recent run-up in gas prices.
Norma Reyes, consumer services commissioner, said city officials are open to the idea, but they need to gather more data and make sure drivers don’t end up losing customers as a result.
“This is an emotional issue for a lot of people,” Reyes said. “We need to make measured responses.”
Drivers said they are spending $10 to $15 more a day to fill their gas tanks than they were just a few months ago.
Cabdriver Jamal Shirdon said he works up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, but he can barely make his rent.
“It is very hard to support my children,” Shirdon said.
Driver Kenneth Cooper said some drivers have started taking the spare tire and jack out of their cars to lighten their weight in hopes of getting better fuel mileage.
Others ignore calls into outlying neighborhoods to avoid long, unpaid drives.
Noting that the City Council has pushed for minimum wage increases for other workers, Cooper said taxi drivers are often overlooked because they are newly arrived immigrants who do not vote.
“Stop exploiting the poorest of the poor, those who have no say or vote,” Cooper said.
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WHAT THEY SEEK
The cabdrivers asked for a graduated surcharge that would increase with the amount of the bill.
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FARE PRICE SURCHARGE
Less than $5 $0.50
$5.01 to $10 $1
$10.01 to $20 $1.50
$20.01 or more $2
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