Facing rising gas prices, the town's six taxi companies are asking selectmen for permission to increase their fares 50 cents per mile.

"It's killing us," Ahmed Rifai, manager of London Taxi of Norwood, said of his fuel and insurance costs. "The business is going down and we have a lot of expenses."

London Taxi, Norwood Town Taxi, VIP Taxi, Anjoul Cab of Norwood, Norwood Taxi Inc., and Family Taxi are asking the board o raise rates from $3.60 to $4.60 for the first mile and from $2.50 to $3 for each additional mile, Rifai said.

Selectmen voted Tuesday night to hold a public hearing and consider the fare increase, asking the companies to provide them with a copy of 90 days' worth of trip logs in September.

"(Rates) haven't been raised in years," selectmen Chairman Michael J. Lyons said yesterday. "I'm certainly willing to listen. For obvious reasons, anyone who drives for a living or who drives, it's getting more expensive than it used to be."

Lyons said the board's request for the trip logs is not related to the potential fare increase.

"It is something that has been bubbling on the surface for a couple months now," Lyons said. "We're trying to figure out a critical mass on how many taxis are in town and it should be market driven. Of course we want to make sure there are enough taxis to meet the need, but we're also a little worried about the concept of people having taxi licenses in Norwood using the taxi licenses elsewhere."

The board's concerns were prompted by Family Taxi Owner Hoa Tran's application to operate additional taxis, which the board denied Tuesday after Tran's logs for the past week showed he made only 10 pickups and dropoffs in Norwood.

Tran could not be reached yesterday for comment, but said during the board meeting that since he only has one taxi, he is unable to transport many local clients who call him looking for a ride.

Rifai said most Norwood customers are either going to or coming from Logan Airport or taking short trips to surrounding towns.

"We do a lot of work in surrounding towns and in Norwood, but all (of the money) is coming back to Norwood because we live here," said Rifai, justifying the outside trips.

Rifai said he would have no problem providing the records to the board.

"A lot of people they tell us 'You're hurt' and the people, the customers tell us 'you should raise your prices,"' he said, when asked if a fare increase might stop some customers from using the taxi service.

The other five Norwood taxi companies did not return calls or could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Boston Taxi Drivers Association is also pushing to hike rates and increase the fee for stepping into a cap to begin a trip from $2.25 to $2.75.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/norwood/news/x2043510750/Cabbies-ask-town-for-hike-in-rates