Two long years ago, gas prices in the city were hovering around an eye-popping $2.59 for a gallon of regular. That may seem like chump change these days, but back then, it had a lot of people worried. At the top of that list were D.C. cabbies. Worried that the rising cost of gas would cut into their profits, the D.C. Taxicab Commission responded to the price spike by implementing a $1.00 per ride surcharge to offset additional fuel costs. When the extra fee expired in January of 2006, the Commission decided to roll out a somewhat haphazard set of fare increases across the board, ranging from $1.00 to $1.70 depending on distance.

Over the past year, we’ve all gotten used to the new fares. With gas prices jumping up yet again, however, the D.C. Taxicab commission announced that, starting today, a new $1.00 surcharge will be added to all cab rides within the city. The charge does not apply to trips to or from Maryland or Virginia, or to the flat fee charged to and from area airports. As of now, the surcharge is set to expire on September 19th. Are we silly to predict that when it does, another fare increase will be following close behind?

Photo by Daquella manera