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The nation's taxicab business has slumped as much as 25% below the normal summer slack. Parmelee Transportation Co., biggest U.S. company, with 4,167 cabs in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, figures that this year's net may go as low as $500,000 (its boom-peak net: $2,000,000 in 1946). For many a smaller company, trying to meet more than doubled postwar costs on prewar fares, the slump means red ink.

Last week the Taxicab Bureau, Inc. of New York reported that Manhattan cab drivers were no longer netting the $34 a day they need to pay for their cabs. Los Angeles' Yellow Cab Co., in the twelve months ended in July, rang up 63,547,-570 fare-miles, 9% more than in the preceding twelve-month period, but lost money because of an 8 1/2% rise in costs.

In most cities, the cab companies are pressing for an average boost of 30% in fares. Several cities are about ready to grant the increases. But the prospect of higher fares poses a new worry: how many of the "marginal" customers (i.e., those who consider cabs a luxury) will continue to use them?

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