^[1]And speaking of taxis ^[2], don’t forget that up until midnight tonight will be the last time you will have the privilege to sit in bumper to bumper traffic in an NYC taxi for the bargain price of just $.20 per minute. Starting tonight the surcharge for vehicles moving slowly will rise to $.40 per minute. And to add insult to injury a “slow moving vehicle” is now defined as one moving under 12 mph as opposed to the current 6 miles per hour. How often to you really get above 12 mph in a taxi for an extended period of time? I thought so. It’s pretty safe to say we are being screwed.

In good transportation cost news, the MTA has decided to not raise fares ^[3] for subways, buses, Metro North, LIRR and/or bridges and tunnels during 2007, which was originally part of their plan. Since we were just hit with a pretty big hike in 2003 and another big one for the unlimited Metrocard users in 2005, not to mention the memory of the “Awful ^[4]Transit ^[5] Strike ^[6] of ^[7] Late ^[8] 2005 ^[9]” it’s a good thing that the MTA is trying to stay on our good side for just a bit longer. But expect fare increases, perhaps to $2.25 or $2.50 per ride in early 2008. Note to self: Buy a bike!