The Honolulu City Council approved a fuel surcharge Wednesday and it’s also working on a fare increase as well.

Usually Romeo Mitran is behind the steering wheel of his taxi, but Wednesday he walked into Honolulu Hale to steer the city council.

"I am self employed. I work 12 hours a day and I cannot afford to pay health insurance," testified Romeo Mitran, Taxi Cab Driver, to the city council during its meeting.

Mitran was born in Romania. He moved to Hawaii two years ago chasing the American dream.

"Hawaii has a lot of opportunities and if you are working hard and trying to improve yourself than you will succeed," said Mitran.

Right now he's just trying to pay for fuel. The council recognized that and unanimously approved a fuel surcharge to help taxi cab drivers offset the high price of gas and it's considering a fare increase as well.

"I think the primary thing is we need to be fair to both the public that rides the taxi cab as well as the taxi cab operators so they get a fair return on their job," said Dennis Kamimura, Honolulu Licensing Administrator.

Right now cab fares are based on gas prices from 2004 which were around $2.00. The increase will only reflect 2006 numbers which are $3.08 because the consumer price index is always a year behind. That's where the fuel surcharge comes in which would put an additional fee per trip to help make up the losses.

"This is a good start but it's not the end of it more things have to change,” said Warren Kobatake, Taxi Cab Driver.

Cab drivers, who are mostly immigrants, think the real American way to help is to end government regulation and let competition take control.

"Let the business be free. Let the business compete. That way any cab is competing with the other cab, trying to give better customer service, trying to be on time, trying to do everything possible to earn the business," said Mitran.

The exact amounts of the fuel surcharge and fare increase haven’t been finalized but the cost for a trip from the airport to Waikiki would likely go from $32 to $36. The rate increase could go up as early as July. The fuel surcharge will likely go into affect at the start of next year.

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