Town council approves taxi fare hike

The town council approved a $2 increase for in-town rides for Winthrop Taxi, the only taxi company within the town’s borders.

Winthrop Taxi owner Shawn Cluen said the increase from $8 to $10 for in-town rides is necessary for the company to keep its head above water as the taxi business faces rising fuel, insurance, maintenance, and other costs and competition from rideshare services like Uber and Lyft.

While the council did approve the fare hike, several councilors – including Council President Jim Letterie and Precinct 3 Councilor Joseph Romano – said the council should look at changing its ordinance so it no longer has control over setting taxi rates.

While Letterie said the council’s role in the rate setting was once necessary to help protect consumers, it now seems outdated in the current market where there isn’t town regulation for rideshare rates.

While Romano said he supported the council getting out of the taxi rate game, he did make an amendment seeking to keep the rate increase to $1, from $8 to $9 for in-town rides. He said the smaller increase would make it easier for regular customers to adjust if there was an additional rate hike if the town potentially does away with setting the rates. Romano added that the $9 rate would also make it more likely that drivers are tipped by their passengers.

Resident John Morgan also spoke against the rate increase, noting that while the taxi service provides invaluable service for many senior citizens, many are on a fixed budget.

Councilor-at-Large Max Tassinari said he supported the $10 rate because if Winthrop Taxi could not afford to stay in business, it would severely affect many of those senior citizens and other regular passengers.

“We had an increase about two years ago of a dollar, and that was disappointing to the employees and the staff at the taxi office and to the drivers,” said Cluen. “We are down three drivers now, and we are trying to bring them back.”

In addition to losing rides to the rideshare companies, Cluen said insurance rates are due to go up by the largest percentage he has seen in 25 years this fall.

Cluen said his business has also been hampered by the loss of taxi stands in the town.

Romano, Letterie, and Precinct 1 Councilor Pat Costigan voted against raising the in-town fare by $2.