Gas prices threaten to sink car services

By Tommy Hallissey

In the last 12 months Joaquin Pujols' gasoline bill rose 75 percent. Simultaneously, the livery driver's daily profit shrank from about $105 to as little as $60. With three kids to support, he tried to make ends meet by driving more than 12 hours a day. It wasn't enough.

The gasoline squeeze will soon force Mr. Pujols to end his threeyear run as a cab driver for Seaman Radio Dispatcher, based in Upper Manhattan.

"I can't support my family," he said recently. "To make $100 you have to do over 12 hours. I could do better with a wage job."

Medallion cab drivers have had a city-mandated price increase that has helped to offset their high fuel prices, but for livery drivers like Mr. Pujols, the spike in the price of gas has exceeded any fare hike the market will bear.

Driver after driver spoke of the toll gas prices have taken. Josue Gomez spent $15,200 in gasoline last year alone. Roman Reyes has been working up to 14-hour days. Now that scorching hot weather has arrived, Jose Melendez is worried that the gas needed to run the air conditioner in his car will cost him an extra $10 a day.

"We are like a slave - seven days a week," Mr. Pujols said.

The city Taxi and Limousine Commission says the average yellow cab driver is making $14.51 an hour, but livery cab drivers say they're harder hit despite the fact that they don't cruise the way yellow cabs do. Those that spoke to The Press talked of making less than $10 an hour.

"Four months ago I was doing good, but now you have to put in longer hours to reach the point you reached before," said Mr. Reyes.

Florence Meyers, owner of Target Car Service on Fieldston Road, says high gas prices make drivers hard to come by. "I came in this morning and five of my cars are sitting here and I pay an awful lot in insurance," she said.

Ms. Meyers said she recently raised prices modestly, but the livery cab market couldn't survive a doubling in fares to match the gas spike. "It's not a Target problem; it's an industry problem," she said.

Drivers also said as fares have risen, riders have been less generous. "You're getting less tips, but you're losing more with gas, it's a losing situation," said a worker at Target.

Gas prices have been rising for years, but recent months have seen a precipitous spike. In 18 months the average cost of a gallon of gasoline in New York has risen from $2.40 to $4.20. In New York, a gallon of gasoline rose 89 cents in the last three months to a total of 20 cents above the national average.

That extra 20 cents is hitting Miles Private Car's bottom line more than their competitors' since the company is one of the few that pays for the gasoline its drivers use. "We're one of the last dying dinosaurs," said Joseph Spadafora, the company's owner. "It's affecting us terribly."

People are less apt to use a cab today as we enter a recession, Mr. Spadafora said. Fearful of scaring away customers, local cab companies have kept prices in check for now. "I don't think the cost of the ride can be kept down much longer," Mr. Spadafora said.

He said the market could bear a price increase, but likely the lower class would be squeezed out. "A $10 ride to a $12 ride affects the cleaning person more," Mr. Spadafora said. "I think the price resistance will come from there."

Ms. Meyers worries it might be the independent taxi companies that go out of business, if gas prices continue to skyrocket. "I hate to think it, but the handwriting is on the walls," she said.

This is part of the June 12, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.