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Spacing

Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

5 comments

  1. Re: taxi drivers refusing short-distance fares, this article is ridiculous.

    I’ve also had taxi drivers refuse long-distance fares (i.e. downtown to Mississauga) because they would have to drive back empty.

    This is just another case of a vendor trying to control demand as well as supply.

  2. I would have thought that the current fare setup would favour short trips. On a short trip, most of your fare is the $4 that you pay just for getting in the door.

  3. Usually one long-distance fare is enough to cover the cab driver’s payment for the car for the day (if the driver is not the owner) plus gas. Anything on top of that is actually money in their pocket. Part of the problem is that the cab driver would make the short trip, collect the fare and then return to the line-up, but now way at the back, waiting to get to the front again, hoping for a longer distance fare.

  4. Thanks for clearing that up, Rob L. That answers the question of “Why some city taxis refuse short trips” much better than the Star article with that as the headline…

  5. I spoke to a lot of cabbies when I was in NYC in the summer, when gas prices were at their height. Bloomberg hasn’t increased cab fares for years. Cabbies told me they would ignore fares during rush hours if they thought they wanted to go to the airport – they made much more money on short trips.