The Globe reports today on the difficulties that East Boston residents sometimes encounter when trying to take a cab home from other parts of the city. As the anecdotes in the article point out, taxi drivers don't want to come here because they have to pay the $4.50 tunnel toll going back, even though they're not allowed to tack it on to the fare.Eastie's city councilor, Sal LaMattina, has been on top of this issue for a while, and on Tuesday there was a hearing at City Hall on a proposal to codify in a "rider's bill of rights" some of the regulations governing cabs, including "printed receipts; clean passenger and trunk areas; air-conditioning, heat, and window control; and smoke-free, radio-free, cellphone-free rides," says the story.
Taxi drivers are required by law to take passengers where they want to go, but they sometimes tell those who are Eastie-bound to get out of the vehicle. On other occasions, drivers will attempt to add on all or half of the toll, which violates regulations. I don't take cabs that often, but the one time I did in recent months the driver was planning to charge me half the toll until I explained that he couldn't. He was nice about it, and said he didn't know any better, which may or may not have been true.
8 comments:
I ususally call tunnel when I am downtown and they never charge me. I rarely take other cabs. If I do, so far only one cab driver tried this deal on me....but I also know they are not allowed to turn me away.
Interesting timing for this article. Friday night, I got into a taxi on Beacon Street and the driver really didn't want to take me home to East Boston. He grumbled the whole way there. He stated that most drivers don't want to go to East Boston, don't get fares on the way back and that he should receive at least a $5.00 tip on the $9.15 fare... Now I unsderstand a bit more why. It's amazing that the "temporary" tolls are not only here to stay but, are on the rise again. Since it's not all that safe to walk home from the T on a late night, if it's still running, we'll really need to put the pressure on the City to do something about taxis and transportation.
Most people that I've spoken with agree: We don't want the cab drivers to get screwed, but it's often our only option to get home. There has to be something that can be done so the taxi drivers aren't punished for taking people to Eastie.
Perhaps, more than ever now, we should be pushing for ferry and water taxi service. Hopefully, even if the ferry stops, there will be water taxis running overnight? Maybe a little competition for riders and an alternative route to avoid the tolls will help move us to a better transportation policy.
I am a frequent cab rider and ALWAYS use Tunnel Taxi. I have a running joke that I am putting half of the drivers' children through college! That being said, it is frustrating to know that upwards of 30% of my fares going to Boston usually go to paying the toll. There should be a way to apply the Eastie resident reduced toll rates to fares going through the tunnel - and perhaps the taxi drivers should get a break if they are going back to town empty as well?
Hopefully Sal's going to do something here, because one of the other East Boston pols said it's not a big deal.
If Cab drivers do not want to drive Eastie residents from Boston to Eastie, this is nothing new to Eastie residents it's been going on for years,I say lets form a committee and protest on the eastie side of the tunnel and grab everybodys attention.
Does anyone know the rationale for charging taxi drivers the extra $1.50 when they go through the tunnels?
Also, does anyone know the history of the toll charges for the tunnels. The charges for the Allston/Brighton toll is a little over a dollar, but it is $3 here. Doesn't exactly sound fair to me but I don't know what the history behind the toll charges are. I'm not against having tolls but I don't think that someone coming in to the city from Newton should pay less than someone coming in from Lynn.
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