NEW YORK: Taxi Workers Alliance has announced at a meeting that the Taxi and Limousine Council's (TLC) proclamation that manufacturers have guaranteed to produce 300 hybrids per month for taxi use is not a substitute to the urgent need drivers have right now for a fuel surcharge. Taxi Workers Alliance said that it will still take four to seven years for the total fleet to convert. But drivers are losing incomes now.

While the TLC sits and watches, drivers are losing over $1,000 per month in gas up costs compared to just 18 months ago. Thirteen other cities, NYC black cars and car services, and multi-nationals such as airlines have all enacted their own surcharges. As usual, TLC's yellow cab drivers remain neglected and ignored. "We're pretty sure that if Commissioner Daus was in charge of health and human services, he would relocate the homeless into burning buildings. Drivers don't decide which vehicle to buy; it's up to the taxi companies.

Many owners, including owner-operators, are in the midst of paying off the car they presently own which might still have another two to three years before it reaches retirement age. So, it is not feasible for them to park a still valid car and spend money for a new hybrid. Lastly, as the TLC well knows but ignores, drivers leasing hybrids end up paying higher leases; the savings go in one hand and out the other," the representatives of TWA expressed.

The TLC rejected the petition by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance for a fuel surcharge, citing a 2.3% increase in travelers to NYC airports. Meanwhile, gas has practically doubled since the last fare adjustment, from $2.30 in December 2006 to over $4.40; at the time of the last overall fare raise (our only one since 1996,) gas was $1.80. The NYTWA is continuing its fight for the surcharge.