FROSTBURG — It might be a 1998 Saturn and it might have some miles on it, but Frostburg Taxi’s one-car fleet is ready to shuttle passengers throughout the Mountain City and elsewhere, according to Eric and Jennifer Spear who opened the mobile business Aug. 1.

Call (301) 689-6889.

Eric said he started a taxi company in Frostburg for a very simple reason.

“There wasn’t one already here,” he said Friday, standing beside his wheels in the parking lot of the Corner Market at Main and Grant, where the vehicle is often parked. The Spears live nearby.

Eric is no stranger to the taxi business.

“I first drove a cab in 1976 in Massachusetts,” he said. He has also managed the Yellow Cab Co. in Cumberland.

Both of the Spears, plus one other person, drive the black cab, which was lettered by Kenney Signs this summer. “We’re open 24/7,” Eric said.

The Maryland Public Service Commission regulates taxis in a number of places, such as Baltimore, Hagerstown and Cumberland, but it will be the passengers and supply and demand that determine Frostburg fares as time goes by.

“It costs $1.75 to get in the cab and $1.70 a mile for a ride in town,” Eric said. “There isn’t a trip in town that’s going to cost more than $3 or $4.”

Frostburg Taxi has flat rates for certain trips that originate in the Mountain City: $9 to the Country Club Mall, $15 to Cumberland, $18 to the Allegany County Health Department.

During the parking lot interview Friday, (301) 689-6889 jingled in Eric’s pocket. A passenger met him there and was taken a few miles down U.S. Route 40 to 84 Lumber and then returned.

Eric said upon returning, “$12.95 — but I had to wait for him a while.” Waiting means the meter runs.

“The longest fare so far has been a trip to Westernport,” Jennifer said. The busiest day in the company’s short life had six riders.

Eric said he has regular riders he knows will use the cab. “We take one woman to work at Sacred Heart (hospital) and often bring her home. There is a man who lives in Mount Savage and works at a bar in Frostburg and he is thrilled that we’re here.”

Eric said he has been told by a few people that once Frostburg State University students return that he will wish he had two or three cabs.

“I don’t know what to expect. We’ll see,” he said.

“College kids like to party and we would think they will call us for a ride home rather than drive after they have been drinking,” Jennifer said.

Even without a few thousand students in town, Eric said there have been a number of fares from taverns to homes in the two weeks the cab has been available.

“I have only had to turn down one fare,” Eric said, “but that was with good reason.

“I had put out some fliers the day before we opened and at 11:30 p.m. that night I got a call for a ride. Had to say no. It was 30 minutes until it became Aug. 1 and my insurance hadn’t kicked in.”

City Administrator John Kirby said the town’s only interaction with the taxi company was in issuing a permit for an at-home business.

“But it’s nice having a taxi in town. I would think that either the elderly or the disabled will use it. And many of the FSU students come from urban settings where they are used to calling for a taxi.”

Kirby and others at City Hall could not recall any former taxi companies stationed in the city, though Eric said one of his passengers told him that such a firm existed 30 years ago.

“We will expand to additional cars if there is demand for it and we can afford it,” Eric said.

Eric’s cab experience from other towns and other companies has taught him to expect riders wanting to reach church or school. “We anticipate some of that happening once people learn about us,” he said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.