WASHINGTON — More often these days, taxi riders reach for their credit cards when it’s time to pay the fare.
But in Montgomery County, it’s the drivers that may be getting ripped off.
Seven council members on Friday wrote a letter to regulators, suggesting the Barwood Taxi Company could be avoiding the new taxi law and over-charging drivers.
“We want our Department of Transportation to verify that this is a fair fee for our taxicab drivers to be paying to Barwood when somebody uses a credit card,” said Councilman Roger Berliner.
Following the enactment of the new taxi law in July, Barwood restructured its charges to the drivers for licensing its cabs.
Councilman Marc Erlich called the restructuring an apparent attempt “to circumvent the new rules which limited the cab companies to adding 1 percent to credit card processing fees charged by banks.”
Officials at Barwood were not immediately available for comment after the council sent the letter to the Department of Transportation.
