Cab costs climb for river ride

Your ride from Cambridge just got a bit more expensive.  

The city’s License Commission approved rate hikes for licensed taxis during a meeting Tuesday night.

The increase now makes many metered cab rides from Cambridge more expensive than one from Boston.

Commission members approved the increase of five cents for every 1/8 mile because one had not been made in at least five years, said Elizabeth Lint, the commission’s executive officer.

“They haven’t had an increase in a very long time. … The way the economy is, the commission was very sensitive to that,” she said.

Lint said the decision was made in part because of the sudden spike in gas prices.

Cab companies said they welcomed the news for that reason.

“It will be eaten up by gasoline,” Joseph Silva, owner of Ambassador cab in Cambridge, said of the increase. “The only way to do it is you have to pass it along, as hard as that is in this economy.”

Silva also said that while business may slow down a bit to start off, the increase shouldn’t have any long-term effect.