cab driver heaves a sigh when you use a credit card

Ever had a cab driver heave a sigh when you use a credit card? Kristine Casman says that's nothing.

"I've had them get very angry, even when there's a sticker on the side of the taxi. It's like, 'You clearly displayed to me that you accept Visa,'" the 24-year-old Lincoln Park resident said.

The city of Chicago requires taxis to have equipment to accept all major credit cards, but some customers complain that drivers give them a hard time for not paying with cash. Some even say cabbies claim too often that the credit card machine is broken.

"Almost every other [bleeping] time," River Russell, 21, of Lakeview said. "They're probably faking it. It probably does work and they just want cash."

The Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which licenses taxicabs, says it does receive complaints about taxi drivers not taking credit cards.

"It's a violation and a fine," spokeswoman Efrat Stein said. "My suggestion would be for passengers to file a complaint with the taxicab number and the time and date."

Most cabdrivers are independent contractors who lease their cabs from taxi companies for a monthly rate. Drivers also pay credit card processing fees to the cab company.

At Yellow Cab, drivers pay 5 percent of the fare to swipe a credit card, which is standard across the industry, CEO Mike Levine said. This percentage covers the costs his company pays in swipe fees to banks and to rent the credit card terminals, he said.

When he receives complaints of drivers not taking credit cards, Levine says he investigates them and takes action if necessary, but drivers usually are just frustrated. Most of the time drivers still accept the credit card, he said, "but they grumble."