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Puking in a Chicago taxicab may soon cost you $50
Of all the tasks a cabbie has to deal with, cleaning up someone's vomit has to be the worst possible one. It's tough enough when you have to clean up your own mess, but having to scrape puke off the back seat of your car must be pretty miserable. The problem is so bad, that Chicago cabbies are asking the city for permission to charge $50 for anyone that loses their liquid dinner in their vehicle.
Cleaning a soiled cab takes several hours, and a professional vomit cleaning kit costs almost $100. The last thing you want is to try picking up passengers in a vehicle that stinks of puke.
The "vomit surcharge" is just one of many fare hikes the drivers want. The other fees include a $1.50 credit card surcharge, $1 for each additional passenger and a 22% per-mile fee increase. The proposals are under consideration, but there appears to be little support for it.
Gallery: "Gross" Food
![Roast cuy [guinea pig]- served roadkill style](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.gadling.com/media/2007/10/63966403_965eb5fda3_b_thumbnail.jpg "Roast cuy [guinea pig]- served roadkill style")
Filed under: North America
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GB Sep 26th 2009 5:33PM
The quality of Chicago taxis has plummeted in recent years. There has been an influx of new drivers that don't know the city streets and are incapable of even basic courtesies. Many of the cabs are filthy and poorly maintained. Cabbies regularly drive while jibbering on cell phones, breaking traffic laws and endangering pedestrians. Solicitation is illegal in Chicago, but cabbies frequently pull to the curb and honk at passers-by in attempts to solicit rides. When confronted, tempers are quickly lost and fist-fights with passengers are common. The requested fare hikes (and puke charge) should be wholeheartedly shot down by the city council, at least until the taxi companies start delivering a higher standard of service appropriate to a premier American city like Chicago.
Karl Sep 28th 2009 2:07PM
Chicago a premier American city? Haha.
Ryan Sep 28th 2009 3:17PM
$50 that's it? I have seen cabs here in Texas that will charge you $200 for the same situation and quite frankly I cant say that I blame them. Regardless of how crappy the ride may be, it's still a service you agreed to use. Realize that if someone throws up in their cab, they cant just go on with business and go pick up the next person. I'm just glad I don't have a need for cabs here. Good luck Chicago!
website design Sep 29th 2009 4:25AM
In Australia there has been a mandatory charge for throwing up in a taxi for years, I think it somewhere around $150 to $200. If you throw up in somebodies cab you should be forced to pay for it to be cleaned.
Unexpected Traveller Sep 29th 2009 11:42AM
I didn't notice the mandatory charge while in Australia ... what if the cab is filthy when you get in? I blogged about this: http://unexpectedtraveller.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/taxing-my-patience/
The Unexpected Traveller