The taxi-fare increase — now it costs 40 cents for each minute in stopped or slow traffic — went into effect yesterday, and New Yorkers are incensed. Or at least so the Post would have you believe. Murdoch's paper rounds up quotes from pissed-off passengers, like Lisa Navarro, who thinks it's "horrible," and Aisling McEvoy, who finds it "appalling." Navarro explains: "I think [drivers] are rude. I don't think they should get any more money." So are the drivers raking it in now? Consider some stats:

• Amount of money a cabdriver takes home for every dollar of fare, according to Schaller Consulting's 2006 Taxicab Fact Book: 57 cents
• Amount of money spent on maintenance and gas for ever dollar of fare: 24 cents
• A cabdriver's average take-home pay for a ten-hour shift, before the fare increase: $158
• A cabdriver's average take-home pay for a ten-hour shift, after the fare increase: $175.10
• A cabdriver's average hourly pay, after the fare increase: $17.51
• A living hourly wage for someone living in Brooklyn with one school-age child, according to the Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement: $18.96
• A living hourly wage for someone residing in Queens with one school-age child: $20.54
• Percentage of cabdrivers who have health insurance, according to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance: 20

— Gabriel Thompson

Ticker Shock at Real Taxi Hike [NYP]