The cost of a New York cab ride rose by 17 percent on Tuesday, which several residents and visitors seemed to take in stride.
The fare increase -- the first since 2006 -- follows an increase in US fuel prices, which averaged USD$3.77 a gallon last week, up from about USD$2 in 2000, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Some city cab drivers say they pay USD$4.50 a gallon at Manhattan fuel pumps.
Tourists seemed untroubled by an increase that raised the average price of an evening rush hour cab ride to USD$12.21 for a 2.8 mile journey, according to the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. Back in 1952, the same journey cost 83 cents.
"When you're spending so much money already, it's a drop in the bucket," said Teresa Henderson, 63, who was visiting from Adelaide in Australia. "And it's worth it - a 45 minute walk took us five minutes in a taxi."
Henderson's sister, Maria Webb, agreed, "They absolutely deserve a raise," said Webb, 59. "They have to drive in this mad traffic."
New Yorker Christopher Keating, 42, said slight increases over time would have been better than a steep fare increase.
"A 17 percent hike all at once is a little hard to swallow," Keating said. "They may deserve a raise, but it seems like it would make more sense in smaller increments, year to year."
The increase took effect at midnight, but drivers have until September 30 to recalibrate their meters and change the rates listed on the sides of their cars.
After a USD$2.50 initial fee, every fifth of a mile will cost 50 cents, up from 40 cents. The flat rate from John F. Kennedy Airport to Manhattan rose from USD$45 to USD$52.
At area airports, the new fares raised a few tempers.
When cabbie Leslie Nequay picked up his first passenger at Kennedy Airport, he warned the businessman in his back seat of the new USD$52 flat fare.
"He got very, very angry," said Nequay, an immigrant from Ghana who pays USD$115 a day to rent the cab from its owner, plus about USD$40 a day for fuel. "He didn't believe me. He said I was trying to rob him."
