You may not have noticed if you took a cab somewhere over the weekend, but taxi rides are now slightly more expensive because the city’s only taxi-service provider, Skeena Taxi, raised its fares late last week.
According to one of the owners of Skeena Taxi, Bill Langthorne, taxi fares will be going up five cents “on the flag.” This means the amount of money being charged before the meter starts running is going from $2.95 to $3.00, and the amount being charged on the meter is increasing a small amount as well. Langthorne says that the increase on the meter will be hardly noticeable to the average rider.
“If you went from [downtown Prince Rupert] to Port Edward, that might cost you another dollar. If you are in town you might notice an extra 30 or 40 cent charge if you went from one end of town to the other,” says Langthorne.
Langthorne says that with increasing gas prices, they needed to raise rates in order to keep costs down.
“It doesn’t even offset the increased price of gas, but we didn’t have any say in the matter, [the provincial government] says, this is what we’re allowing so this is what you get,” he said.
The last time Skeena was allowed to raise its fares, provincial rules said that taxi companies who were being allowed to raise their rates were required to alert the public of the price change through some sort of advertising. That is not required any more.
According to Langthorne, he applied with the price increase a month and a half ago, by the beginning of the month he had heard word back that he had been approved and he notified City Hall, which he was required to do.