We’re about to get taken for a ride — twice!

Double-barrel cash grab on New York City taxis

Published on March 29, 2024, 7:17 p.m. ET

Big Apple taxi passengers have been quietly paying a congestion price fee for years — and now another fee is about to be piled on when the full pricing plan comes into effect this summer, The Post has learned.

The double-barrel cash grab could add more than $5 to many rides — and drivers are fearing their income is about to crash.

Current and Additional Pricing Plan

Since 2019, every yellow cab ride has had a $2.50 congestion fee slapped on — while trips using app-based car services such as Uber and Lyft have had a $2.75 fee.

The toll applies to any non-shared trip that starts, ends, or travels through Manhattan south of 96th Street.

Now, the final phase of the controversial new congestion pricing plan will stack an additional fee of $1.25 on traditional cabs and $2.50 on app-based rides.

This could lead to a total fee as high as $5.25 for rides starting or passing through the affected parts of Manhattan.

Drivers Express Concerns

Drivers say the multiple layers of fees will be hard on an industry still finding its post-pandemic footing.

“The one they put on years ago is hurting the business. It’s gonna be worse now,” said Destiny Maduka, a father of two who’s driven a hack for 22 years.

“This one they are adding is gonna kill us.”

Another cab driver, Abdul Isaiah, said he’s still feeling the effects of the 2019 surcharge.

“I lost customers and never got them back. Even up to today customers are talking about it because they feel it too,” the married father of four.

“I heard they are going to enforce another one and we are still complaining about the last one. I didn’t think it was right then and I don’t think it’s right now.”

Most Uber drivers declined to comment.

Impacts on Uber

Despite the fees, ridesharing behemoth Uber has unapologetically endorsed the Big Apple’s congestion toll proposal.

“Congestion that slows travel times and frustrates riders and drivers is bad for business. In fact, our top cities are ones where robust public transportation options serve as the backbone of a daily commute,” Uber wrote in a company blog post last year.

Funding Improvements to NYC Public Transit

The fees have raised nearly $1.5 billion from 2019 to 2023, and have gone toward the MTA’s Subway Action Plan and outer borough train service.

The New York State Legislature signed the congestion pricing plan into law in 2019, mandating that the program must raise $1 billion each year to help fund improvements to the city’s public transit system to help it better serve its nearly 4 million daily riders.