As Cab Fare Increase Begins in New York, Not all Meters Have Been Readjusted It is a rare breed headed for extinction - a New York City taxi charging the old rates after the city allowed cabbies to charge new, higher fares. Though drivers were permitted to begin collecting the higher rates beginning early Tuesday, they were not permitted to do so until their cabs" meters were recalibrated. That can be done at any time, but does not have to be done until the vehicle's first scheduled inspections after Sept. So, for the next several weeks, a rider's fare may well depend on luck. The Taxi and Limousine Commission said that about 70 percent of cabs had meters capable of being preprogrammed with the new rate so that it would automatically go into effect on Tuesday. The remaining meters could not be reprogrammed before the new rates went into effect. The commission estimated that 75 percent to 90 percent of taxis were already charging the new rate. On the new meters, the fare is 50 cents, instead of 40 cents, for each one-fifth of a mile and each 60 seconds in stopped or slow traffic; average fares will increase by roughly 17 percent. But because cabs were required not only to recalibrate their meters but also to update their external markings before charging the new fare, any cab with the old markings should, theoretically, be charging the old fare. Riders can tell the difference because the old decals, placed on the side of the car, displayed fare information; the new ones do not. This calculus, however, may be complicated by drivers" own efforts to charge the new fare. On Tuesday, some taxis still had the old fare markings, but the meters charged the new rates. Other cabbies appeared to have scratched off or removed outdated decals with the old rate, but had not yet replaced them with the new markings. Naimadulah Abbasi, a driver of a fleet-owned cab whose external fare panel had been removed, leaving a rectangular outline on his passenger door, said he did not know which fare his meter had been charging. "It's up to the company," he said. Anytime, it can start. Paul Jyemfi said he took his taxi to a meter shop on Monday to have the meter and markings updated. His meter was changed, he said, but he was told the shop had run out of new decals. The old fare display remains on his taxi; he planned to return later in the week to try again. In the meantime, he said, he was charging the new rate. Riders appeared to take the change in stride. Kenia Cornelio, 36, of Washington Heights, said on Tuesday that she would keep track of how much more she spent in cabs before deciding whether to continue riding in them. Informed of the new fares while waiting for a taxi at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Orel Cabral, 23, who grew up in New York and was visiting a relative during a trip from Pennsylvania, said he saw nothing unusual about the new interval increase to 50 cents. "I thought it was 50 the whole time," he said.