Fifteen City Council members are calling for taxi fares to be increased, saying they are ready to risk constituents’ ire to prevent cabbies from leaving the streets.

Members of a union representing 11,000 taxi drivers, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, joined the council members yesterday outside City Hall to ask the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission to reconsider its request for a $1-a-ride fuel surcharge to offset rising gas prices. The money would go directly to the drivers, who say they are making at least $1,000 less a month since the last fare hike in 2006 because they are forced to spend more money at the pump.

“Without it, they are going hungry,” Council Member Diana Reyna said of the surcharge.

The proposed fare increase was rejected earlier this month by the commission. Its chairman, Matthew Daus, said in a statement that he stands by his decision.

“We looked at the issue carefully, balancing all of the variables including the industry’s overall health, driver earnings, and a surcharge’s potential negative impact on passengers and ridership, and believe that a surcharge is not warranted,” Mr. Daus said.

Council members said they feared that if drivers don’t make more money, they might leave the business altogether.

“Nobody likes to support a surcharge, and I am loath to support it,” Council Member John Liu told The New York Sun yesterday. “But these economic realities present us no choice. Without the surcharge, at best there will be a shortage of cabs, because it’s just not worth it for the drivers to go out there and fill up their tanks.”

Gas prices were $2.30 a gallon in November 2006, when fares were last raised. Gas prices are now more than $4 a gallon. The commission said the average taxi driver who owns his own cab now earns $13.41 an hour.

At the event, council members said consumers would still take cabs, even with the hike.

“Some of my constituents may not agree, but they’re not driving,” Council Member Gale Brewer said.

“The consumers will pay, the consumers are there,” Council Member Leroy Comrie said.

The General Labor Council, which includes more than 400 unions, also supports the measure.

“This is a basic issue of justice,” Council Member Bill de Blasio, who receives much of his support from labor unions, said to the crowd.

The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, which represents many drivers of private cabs, said it does not support the hike.

“The gas is going to continue to go up and up. Then what are we going to do? Six months later we’re going to say we need another increase,” the president of the union, Jose Viloria, said. Mr. Viloria said that hybrid cabs are a better solution.

Several private car companies, which are not regulated by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, have already instituted fuel surcharges, according to Ms. Reyna.

Mr. Liu since 2007 has received $2,200 from officials at the League of Mutual Taxi Owners, an organization that supports raising fares to help taxi drivers pay for gas. He said the donations have not affected his support for the measure.