![]() ![]() A five-mile trip with a five-minute wait time costs $13.92 in Chicago and $18 in New York. New York fares start at $3 and add 50 cents per 1/5 mile or 60 seconds. 5 Chicago fares start at $3.25 and add 20 cents for each additional 1/9 mile or 36 seconds. Two of the nation’s 10 biggest cities-Dallas and Houston-charge less for a ride than Chicago, according to the website Taxi Fare Finder. 3 Actually, Chicago raised its starting fare in 2012, but mileage fees haven’t risen since 2005. You must also pass a drug test and be fingerprinted. 2 A chauffeur’s license requires taking a $305 class and paying a $16 application fee and a $9 annual renewal fee. Ease up on the fees and nuisance traffic stops and give us a chance to get by.ĭmitry Samarov, cab driver (until recently)Īdapted from Where To? A Hack Memoir by Dmitry Samarov (Curbside Splendor, $16), out September 9 1 About 6,700 taxis operate in Chicago. Leaving it up to the companies or individual cabbies would be utter chaos.īut that doesn’t mean the city should micromanage our every move we’re not children. Chicago’s citizens deserve to have an idea what their ride will cost them. All cab drivers these days are either owner-operators 6 or independent contractors. This is a unique business because we provide public transportation-an alternative to the CTA-yet are not city employees. Some think the city should get out of regulating fare prices altogether. I don’t expect New York rates 5, but we’re killing ourselves for a pittance out there. I’m sure you know the statistics: Chicago has the lowest cab rates of any major city 4 in America. As of this writing, cab rates have remained unchanged for six or seven years 3. You want us to work less? Then raise the fare rates to at least keep up with the cost of living. ![]() There’s got to be some way to streamline the process a bit and let us get on with the task of getting by. This is just one of a dozen superfluous steps in the yearly headache every Chicago taxi driver is subjected to for the privilege of continuing to earn his living. As it stands, every year when I renew my chauffeur’s license I have to go back and pay $12 for the cashier to push a button on her computer and print out my motor vehicle record, then carry it back to BACP and present it to them. There’s no reason that the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates cabs and cab drivers, shouldn’t have access to driving records, for example. Instead of adding more bureaucratic hoops 2 for us to jump through, why not get the secretary of state (that’s what we in Chicago call the DMV) to join the 20th century (I know the 21st would be a stretch). You want to better police reckless drivers, as though all the tools to do so weren’t already in place. It’s a 24/7 business, and it demands a work force 1 that can accommodate and bend with its ever-variable needs. It’s not a nine-to-five job, and it doesn’t pay enough to make it worthwhile when limited to a strict set schedule. You want to restrict the hours that a cabby can drive per day, but that’s one of the few freedoms we have: We choose when we work and when we don’t. Clearly there’s plenty of room for improvement, but some of what you have in mind keeps me up at night. I keep hearing about how you’re planning to overhaul the city’s taxi industry. ![]()
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