METRO VANCOUVER - If you are feeling queasy in a taxicab, you might want to ask the driver to pull over so you can get out before you barf.

Under new regulations this month from the province’s Passenger Transportation Board, anyone who vomits in a cab can be charged a $75 cleanup fee, along with the standard cab fare.

The rules allow drivers and companies to charge the fee “to passengers who soil or damage the interior of a vehicle with bodily fluids or solids.”

The previous rule permitted drivers to bill for the cost of cleanup or repair, however, no amount was specified.

“A specified amount lets everyone know the amount that may be charged,” the rule states.

Mohan Kang, president of the BC Taxi Association, said drivers can charge the fee on someone’s credit card or they can arrange with the passenger to pay later. He said he doesn’t anticipate any problems with people paying the fee.

“I think most people realize that when you mess up a taxi, you are taking that driver off the road — and that is a problem for the driver’s livelihood,” he said. “Normally people feel really sorry for what they have done.”

He said typically the problem happens during the evening when people are partying in the nightclubs or have been drinking in the pubs. He was not sure if the fee also covered spills of food and beverage. A milky latte, for example, could damage the interior because the smell left by dairy products is hard to remove from fabric.

B.C. is not the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a vomit fee. In Austin, TX., cab drivers charge $100 for a so-called “puke tax,” the same amount they charge in Calgary. It’s a bit cheaper in Toronto where it’s $25 and $50 in Chicago.

In downtown Vancouver Friday, many cab drivers had not yet heard about the fee, but all welcomed it, saying that cleanup costs for vomit can range anywhere from $40 to more than $100.

Jora Sandhu said the new levy was a good start but he thought it should be higher than $75 because his uncle had to pay $150 after a drunk woman puked in his cab, and he still couldn’t get the smell completely out of the seat.

“You can always tell when someone is going to vomit so I always tell them, ‘please tell me if you are going to vomit and I’ll pull over,’” he said. “Because after that happens no one wants to get into your car because it is so stinky.”

Some people agree to pay for the cleaning right away, but often an intoxicated passenger will get irate and violent instead of offering money, said driver Duru Sandhar.

When three young drunk people puked in the back of Atul Bakshi’s cab, he said he almost got sick himself having to clean up the mess. Although he only charged them $20, he said it cost a lot more to get professionally cleaned.

“It was not enough (to cover the damage) but it was so disgusting for me, cleaning up that whole thing so this (fee) comes as a blessing in disguise,” he said. Bakshi counts himself lucky because he drives during the day, but he noted his colleagues on the evening shift have seen some nasty incidents.

“It’s a really common affair for those guys. They really have to remove a lot of (vomit,) ... usually if a person is totally hammered we wouldn’t take them.”

Another driver Luke Gebre said sometimes even after the seat is washed it still smells of puke for weeks.

ticrawford@vancouversun

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