By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- A third taxi service has received approval to operate in the Village of Potsdam.

The Board of Trustees recently accepted and posted rates North Star Taxi will charge for pickups in the village.

The firm is owned by Ghulam Sabir, who started his taxi company in Canton last year.

In order to operate in Potsdam, he was required to submit his rates to the village board for approval.

The board approved his rates:

• 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., within five miles, $10; $2 per mile beyond that.

• 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., within five miles, $12, $2 more per mile beyond that.

• extra stop $2, first five minutes free, $1 per minute beyond that.

Those rates are to be in force from April 25, 2017 through April 30, 2018, when the next approvals are due.

The village adds them to the list of rates approved earlier for two Potsdam-based taxi companies.

Taxi Zero, which began operating in 2014 but suspended operations in the village after a driver was charged by village police following a complaint about a charge exceeding the then-approved rate limit. Owner John Meyers wanted a higher rate than that set by the village then, which he said was not enough to make service in the village profitable for his company.

Their current rates stand at:

• $10 for one or two passengers 6 a.m. to midnight

• $2 extra for rides between midnight and 6 a.m.

• $2 more for trips beyond two miles

• $2 extra per stop up to three minutes, 70¢ per minute per stop beyond three minutes

• $2 each for third and fourth passengers

• 50 percent charge for no-shows or cancellations after the cab is dispatched, which will be added to the customers next ride.

Thad Broughton, who bought Potsdam Taxi five years ago, said at a hearing on the issue in December that he was “probably not going to raise my rates because my customers can’t afford it,” and his rates have remained the same.

Broughton’s Potsdam Madstop Taxi rates are:

• $7 for one passenger

• $1 for each additional passenger

• $4 for each additional stop

• $1 per minute after five minutes

• $10 for one passenger midnight to 6 a.m.

• $1 for each additional passenger midnight to 6 a.m.

• $8 for SUNY Potsdam, medical vouchers

• $10 per hour for moving boxes, totes, bins, etc., minimum $50.

The village asked the two Potsdam companies to submit their rates for review after a Taxi Zero driver was issued a ticket for charging more than the allowed rate for a pickup in Potsdam.

The board approved the rates each company submitted, rather than setting a maximum rate for all companies.