For cabs, higher fares and hybrid future

Credit card machines also mandated for Boston

A cab ride across Boston just got more expensive, though potentially less annoying and polluting.

A Boston taxi trip will now cost $5 for the first mile and $2.80 a mile after that, up from $2.40 - one of the highest rates in the nation. At the same time, cabdrivers are being required to phase in an all-hybrid fleet, to install credit card machines, and to stop, except in special circumstances, chatting on cellphones with passengers in the back.

"It's a constant source of customer complaint to us that the driver was on the cellphone, which is why it [the ban] was originally conceived," said police Captain Robert Ciccolo.

Police announced the changes yesterday, including the requirement that taxi owners trade in their vehicles for hybrids as the cars are retired from service.

The current fleet of 1,825 taxis - including about 50 hybrids - should be turned over within seven years, saving taxi drivers $1,000 a month on gas and cutting carbon emissions from taxis in half, according to the Police Department.

"Requiring taxicabs to go hybrid is an essential step in not only improving air quality, but also improving the quality of our taxi fleet," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a news release. "I am confident that these new regulations will greatly improve taxi service in Boston for all residents and our many guests."

The new standards could bring Boston into the 21st century of taxi travel, but they would not break ground nationally. New York began phasing out conventional taxis for fuel-efficient hybrids last year and expects a full conversion by 2012. All New York cabs should have credit card machines by October.

Boston cabs will now charge higher rates than New York, San Francisco, Chicago, or Miami, according to data available online for those cities.

Still, the taxi rates did not go far enough to satisfy the drivers, whose take-home pay has been squeezed by the price of gasoline.

"We're pleased that the drivers are now going to receive a meter rate increase, but we feel that it's long overdue and that we were looking for $3 on the mile," said Donna Blythe-Shaw, an international staff member for the United Steelworkers union.

The union is affiliated with the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, which represents about 1,200 of the city's 5,500 taxi drivers. But those drivers are not city employees and have no right to bargain for a contract. The Police Department sets the city's taxi rates, issues licenses, and determines standards for drivers.

The Steelworkers union and the taxi association have been pushing the police in private talks and public hearings to increase their rates, which remained unchanged since 2002.

At a June hearing in Roxbury, taxi drivers asked for a 50 percent per-mile increase and a hike in the starting fare of 50 cents.

Instead, the city increased the starting fare by 35 cents, but also accelerated the rate passengers would pay after that and the pace at which they would pay it to 40 cents for every one-seventh of a mile. A 5-mile trip would now cost $16.20, a 16 percent increase. The city also agreed to the drivers' request to extend the distance that they can run the meter before charging a flat rate from 12 to 20 miles.

The city had been flirting with the idea of requiring hybrids and installing credit card machines during discussions with the association this summer. But the issue of cellphone usage never came up, Blythe-Shaw said.

The new rules say that when a passenger is in a taxi, the driver can use a cellphone only to verify his or her destination, to receive a call for service, or to report an emergency. Drivers could be pulled over by police for talking on their cellphones or sending text messages while behind the wheel. Repeat offenders could have their licenses revoked.

Though there was some language on the books before, it was not fully enforced, and police will now be able to escalate sanctions against drivers repeatedly stopped for violations, Ciccolo said.

But as taxi drivers began reviewing the changes, released late yesterday before the Labor Day weekend, they were confused.

Elaine Driscoll, police spokeswoman, said hands-free devices are also prohibited, although the rules did not specify that.

"That's typical hackney," complained one driver, Charlie Buote. "They leave a lot of things vague so it's up to their interpretation of the day. It's very frustrating."

Police expect to notify everyone fully of the changes before taking sanctions.

"You can't just change a rule one day and say everybody has to do X and go out the door and start punishing people for not doing it," Ciccolo said.

Patrick B. Moscaritolo, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, said: "Everybody's having to give a little here. The passenger has to give in terms of paying a little bit more. The owner has to give in terms of investing in these newer vehicles. And the drivers have to give in terms of looking at this job as a profession, rather than as a sideline."

Though some taxi drivers are embracing the use of hybrid vehicles for the boost in mileage, many remain skeptical and resist the idea of a requirement.

"What we oppose is the time frame - and the fact that these cars have not become mandatory for other governments and agencies," Blythe-Shaw said.

She was pleased, however, that the city offered to extend the time frame for owner-operators who have less ability to absorb the cost of a hybrid than a large cab company.

Meters will be changed beginning Wednesday, and the conversion could take three weeks, meaning passengers will pay different rates in different cabs for a short while, Ciccolo said.

Globe Correspondent Casey D. Ramsdell contributed to this report. Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.