by KYW's Steve Tawa

The Philadelphia Parking Authority held a hearing on Thursday on its plan to raise fares in mid-March (see related story). And dozens of taxi drivers showed up at the Convention Center to complain about the PPA's plan.

The average cab ride is now $9.15 and will go up to about $9.87 -- about eight percent -- according to the PPA. That includes raising the charge per mile from $2.10 to $2.30.

The current airport flat rate, $26.25, goes to $28.50. Ronald Blount, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania, says that will hurt drivers:

"If I'm a customer and the fare is 26 (dollars), I'll give you 30. If it's 28, I'll give you 30. You won't get any more money."

Blount says the overall rate increase will cut down on the number of cab riders:

"If you don't have volume, you won't make money. If you don't get anybody in the back seat, you're not going to make a penny."

He says not only will taxi ridership drop but competition will become stronger since other options are available:

"The shuttle is charging $10, the limos charge $35. For five or six dollars more you can get into a limousine instead of a taxi."

Jim Ney heads the Parking Authority's taxi and limo division:

"The credit card equipment in the rear passenger compartment defaults to at least a $2 or $3 tip. Then there's 'other,' for those who want to give more or less."

Ney says that shortly after the PPA took over regulating Philadelphia's taxi industry in 2005 it enacted a steep increase of 22-24 percent, the first taxi fare increase in 14 years. He calls the latest hike a "modest, incremental" one:

"We didn't want to impose that type of increase again, or have the drivers go without a cost of living increase for another 10 or 15 years."