One of Anchorage's two taxi companies, Alaska Yellow Dispatch, wants to start charging a $1 fee for fare payments on a debit or credit card.
Company officials say the cab service wants to recover costs associated with processing credit cards. The company presented the proposal to members of the Anchorage Assembly this week.
"This would allow the dispatch company to impose an additional charge only on people that use a credit card, instead of an additional cost on all taxicab consumers," Jim Brennan, an attorney for Alaska Yellow Dispatch, told Assembly members.
About 20 percent of the company's customers pay with credit or debit cards, the company said. A memo provided to Assembly members said it costs Alaska Yellow Dispatch about $1 to process the charges.
Alaska Yellow Dispatch is petitioning the Assembly to approve the change after it failed at the city transportation commission earlier this year.
After a few months of examination, the Anchorage Transportation Commission voted 6-1 in May not to allow the new fee, said city transportation inspector Eric Musser, who serves as the secretary to the commission. Musser said commissioners weren't convinced the proposal was aimed simply at covering costs.
He also said that while companies around the country are charging swipe fees, most seemed to be based on a percentage of the fare, rather than a flat fee.
The dispatch company may find a more receptive audience on the Assembly. The chair of the Assembly, Elvi Gray-Jackson, said she and vice chair Dick Traini were approached by company lobbyist Frank Bickford and a few other Alaska Yellow Dispatch representatives about the issue.
"It just makes sense," Gray-Jackson said of the proposal. She said she uses a cab often and pays with a credit card, and also noted that the city charges credit card fees for paying bills online.
Assemblyman Bill Evans said during Wednesday's meeting that city officials "already crazily micromanage this industry."
"If they want to charge a fee, I think it should be up to them," Evans said.
But Assemblyman Patrick Flynn said he was more skeptical.
"It's part of your cost of doing business," Flynn said. He said he wanted to know more about whether individual drivers would benefit from the change.
An ordinance that would allow Alaska Yellow Dispatch to start charging the fee is expected to be introduced at a future Assembly meeting, followed by a public hearing.
The city's other taxi company, Checker Dispatch LLC, has not sought approval of a credit or debit card fee, though the ordinance, as drafted, would allow it to charge the fee.