subject: When Are Cab Fares Increased By A Fuel Surcharge? [print this page] Taxi fares start running from the minute that you first get in the cab. However, there are some things which can make the starting rate which are charged by taxi services higher than it is at other times. The most common factor which can affect the starting rate is a fuel surcharge. There are many times when a taxi company will tack a fuel surcharge onto the cost of a taxi ride. It can be confusing sometimes to figure out when this type of charge will or will not be applied though.
Once you learn one simple rule, it will be easy to know when you're going to be facing a surcharge. The primary rule is that when the fuel prices in your area start to rise, the cab companies will start to add a fuel surcharge onto their base rates. This won't necessarily happen when the prices rise just for a day, but when you see prices go up for a suspended period of time you can expect the taxi companies to start adding fuel surcharges onto their fares.
Fuel surcharges are an important part of the pricing structure of cab companies. This is because of the way that drivers for taxi companies make their income. They are required to pay for their own fuel over the course of their day's work. This means that when fuel prices rise, it can cut into their income significantly.
Cab companies are like any other company where they want to keep the best possible employees working for their organization. However, very few employees are likely to want to keep working for anybody when they suddenly find their pay slashed. In order to keep their employees satisfied, cab companies add on a fuel surcharge to the price of the fare so that they will keep earning their expected wage even when fuel prices rise.
There are few industries where a pay cut will be delivered as a result of something which is completely beyond their control. This would be considered unfair by most people, so it should come as no surprise that fuel surcharges are used to help equalize the earnings of cab drivers. Most of the times when a cab company is charging a fuel surcharge it will be mentioned either somewhere posted in the cab, or on their website. If you're ever curious about whether a surcharge is being assessed, simply ask the cab driver.
