Associated Press
Travelers arriving at McCarran International Airport make their way through the taxi queue in Las Vegas on Friday, March 1, 2013.
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 | 12:55 p.m.
The five-member Nevada Taxicab Authority board voted unanimously today to implement zone-based pricing for cab rides between McCarran International Airport and Strip destinations.
The new fare structure will be rolled out as a six-month pilot program and go into effect Jan. 1, 2020, the authority said. Traditional time and distance pricing will remain in effect for trips outside the specified zones.
The zone-based pricing plan was among recommendations from a series of informal discussions between members of the taxi industry and the Nevada Taxicab Authority, officials said.
A fixed-rate will be charged when travelling between the airport and one of three zones. The zones share a common eastern boundary at Interstate 15, with extensions incorporating major casino resort properties east of the freeway.
Approximate north/south zone boundaries and fares are:
• Zone 1 — Sunset north to Tropicana, $19
• Zone 2 — Tropicana north to Flamingo, $23
• Zone 3 — Flamingo north to the Stratosphere, $27
“Instituting flat-fare zones between the airport and the Las Vegas Strip corridor provides the riding public certainty and transparency in the fare they pay, helps eliminate the scourge of long hauling and levels the playing field between drivers and between taxi companies,” Taxicab Authority Administrator Scott Whittemore said in a statement.
Members of the taxi industry plan to set aside a small assessment from each airport trip to develop a marketing fund to create an awareness campaign to announce the new initiative, officials said.
