What will $5 get you?
When Affordable Taxi opened in 1999, owner John Throckmorton set $5 as the base fare for a ride. It was a reasonable amount at the time. After all, a five would pay for two …
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![Henry Brewer, owner John Throckmorton and Pam Throckmorton of Affordable Taxi, the only service based in Mexico. [Dave Faries]](https://epsilon.creativecirclecdn.com/mexicoledger/original/20210826-172547-Taxi%201.JPG)
What will $5 get you?
When Affordable Taxi opened in 1999, owner John Throckmorton set $5 as the base fare for a ride. It was a reasonable amount at the time. After all, a five would pay for two pounds of bacon, five dozen eggs – maybe six – or a movie ticket.
Twenty-two years later inflation has withered the buying power of a $5 bill. It takes $8.15 on average for the same purchases, with a notable exception.
The base fare at the Mexico taxi service remains at $5, plus mileage.
While the business has been buffeted by recession, a lingering pandemic and the emergence of rideshare services, Throckmorton resisted upping the ante.
"We are still able to make a go of it," he said. "People are glad we're here."
Affordable Taxi's fleet is small – two cars for trips around the area, another for longer distances, such as Lambert International Airport. The drivers frequent Walmart, grocery stores and medical centers and older riders are the norm, although they cart some regulars to and from work.
"We go wherever we're needed," Throckmorton pointed out.
Economic change brought him to Mexico. In 1999 Throckmorton was clinging to an electronic repair business in Boonville. The market had shifted. With new devices, software developments and other advances coming rapidly, more people were replacing rather than repairing.
Throckmorton's wife had worked for a taxi company and made the suggestion. He called around and received encouragement from the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce.
"That's when my career changed," he noted. "It's been great ever since."
Drivers in Audrain County rarely experience the lurid episodes of Taxicab Confessions or the violent issues that occasionally beset Uber and Lyft. It's more of a routine operation.
"Any taxi service is going to have wild rides," Throckmorton observed. "But Mexico has good people. We don't have a lot of problems."
Business hours also help keep them away from trouble. Last call is at 8:45 p.m.
In urban areas cab companies have suffered from the blows thrown by rideshare services and the pandemic. Affordable Taxi took a hit from COVID-19, but remained essential for people needing to meet appointments or pick up groceries.
Although DoorDash is available, rideshare operations have yet to find a footing in the county.
So Affordable Taxi not only survives, but persists. Rides are $1 a mile and that unchanged 1999 base rate of $5.
"Now, if gas keeps going up ..." he said.
Cab prices are vulnerable, even for someone as committed to affordability as Throckmorton. If another year like 2008, when prices soared well beyond $5 a gallon, challenges the operation, he said might have to boost the rate.
By 50 cents.
