Your cab ride just got a little bit cheaper: Taxi authority drops gas surcharge

What goes up must come down.

For taxi riders in Philly, that means that the 50-cent gas surcharge, which went into effect on June 2 in response to skyrocketing gas prices, will be eliminated at 12:01 a.m. on Monday.

"The drop in gas prices has been precipitous," said James Ney, head of the Philadelphia Parking Authority's Taxicab and Limousine Division, which regulates fares in the city's 1,800 cabs and 2,000 limos. "It was the right time."

At its monthly meeting yesterday, the authority board voted to drop the surcharge, which had raised the base fare in the city from $2.70 to $3.20. The surcharge had helped defray for cab owners the cost of gasoline, which reached an all-time high in the city of $4.14 per gallon back in July.

As of yesterday, the average price of fuel at city pumps was $2.03 per gallon; in some suburban and New Jersey communities, prices have plunged far lower.

"We predict they'll continue to fall until at least February, rebounding toward Memorial Day," says Jason Toews, co-founder of PhillyGasPrices.com, a comprehensive, pro-consumer guide to finding cheap fuel.

The authority's order to institute the gas surcharge also directed the authority to stay abreast of daily price changes, ostensibly to make sure the surcharge was still warranted. "The fuel charge," the order read, "may be lifted by this Board or upon recommendation of the TLD in the event the ten (10) day average cost of regular gasoline in the City of Philadelphia recedes to below $3.50 per gallon, or otherwise in the best interests of the public."

Philly gas prices, though, have been below $3.50 per gallon since Sept. 30 - which, as of yesterday, was 46 days past the time that the surcharge could have been lifted.

The authority explained yesterday that cab owners had had to absorb the cost of escalating gas prices for two months before the 50-cent surcharge went into effect, so allowing the surcharge to remain in effect a little longer seemed both warranted and fair.

"They had to bear the initial, additional cost without any help," Ney said. *

To read more, go to Ronnie Polaneczky's new blog at: www.philly.com/philly/ blogs/what_happened/What_

goes_up_must_come_down.html.