Delegates in Twin Cities face fare hike

Republicans planning to use taxis for transportation at their convention may want to pack some extra cash.

The Minneapolis City Council is considering a resolution that would require passengers to pay a $1 surcharge per cab ride during the Sept. 1-4 Republican National Convention. A subcommittee will vote on it Wednesday. Final approval rests with the full council and Mayor R.T. Rybak.

{mosads}City Council member Gary Schiff, the measure’s author, said he’s not worried about irritating visitors to the Twin Cities by targeting them for fare increases. “Republicans will be very generous and heavy tippers,” he predicted.

Schiff said he wanted to tailor a fare surcharge so that most Twin Cities residents would not be affected. “I’m targeting it to a time when most city residents won’t have to pay it,” Schiff said.

He suggested most residents won’t be taking cabs that week because it will be “next to impossible” to grab one during the convention because taxis will be so busy shuttling visitors around the city for convention parties and events.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are trying to cash in on the GOP convention in ways beyond cab fares. They are also selling licenses to bar owners who want to extend their hours of operation during the convention. Only a handful of bars have so far applied for the licenses, possibly because of their $2,500 cost, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

While the Twin Cities are seen as a liberal enclave, Schiff said he wasn’t deliberately trying to target Republicans with the fare increase. If Democrats were holding their convention in the Twin Cities, he would have raised the same resolution, he said. “Or if it was Alcoholics Anonymous or the real estate leaders of America,” he said.

Schiff said he wants to ensure that cab drivers struggling with higher gas prices benefit from the thousands of Republican delegates and public officials expected to attend the convention. He said hotel owners and those renting apartments during the convention are profiting, and cab drivers should also be able to do so.

Twin Cities taxi drivers could be busy, since the convention is being held in St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center but many visitors will be staying in hotel rooms in Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs. The resolution under consideration would affect Minneapolis cabs, but not those in St. Paul.

St. Paul is not considering a taxi surcharge during the convention, according to James Lockwood, a spokesman for the mayor’s office.

Democrats will meet a week before Republicans for their convention in Denver, where no taxi companies have requested a fair increase, according to Terry Bote, a public affairs officer with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Minneapolis, on July 16, raised some taxi fares. While the price of starting a trip remained constant at $2.50, the per-mile cost increased from $1.90 to $2.20. Wait times also increased from 35 cents per minute to 40 cents per minute.

According to a staff report done for the City Council, this would increase the approximate price of a 10-mile trip from $21.12 to $24.06.

In the District of Columbia, starting a trip costs $3 and each additional mile is $1.50. The District also has a gas surcharge, plus extra charges for each additional passenger.

Taxis are more complicated in Denver, where different firms charge different rates. The least expensive is Freedom, according to Bote, which charges $1.80 for beginning the trip and $1.80 for every additional mile.