The city of Chicago is expanding the existing $1.50 rideshare tax from a focused area around downtown to include much wider swaths of the North, West and South Sides.

The intersection of Ashland and Diversy was previously outside the city's rideshare tax zone by about two miles. But starting Jan. 6, that western border now comes down Ashland, turns a corner and heads even further west to Western. Anyone who picks up a ride in that area will pay the extra $1.50 surcharge from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The new borders run on the east from E. 31st Street up the lakefront (but excluding Navy Pier and McCormick Place) up to N. Foster Avenue; then along Foster to start the western border at N. Ashland before south down to W. Diversey and then further west to N. Western Avenue. That western edge runs all the way to W. 18th Street before hooking back east to S. State Street where it ends at the intersection of S. State and E. 31st.

Previously called the "downtown zone," that area has now been renamed the "congestion zone" by the city. A second congestion zone is further on the South Side, running between E. Hyde Park Blvd. to the north, E. 60th St. to the south, S. Lake Shore Drive to the east and S. Cottage Grove Ave. to the west.

Veteran rideshare driver Richard Juarez, who has logged more than 48,000 rides in the last 11 years, said he has faced questions about high fees for a long time.

"People complain and said about how high the fare is going, and I told then we don't control that. We just drive," he said.

He knows the new expanded rideshare tax area could bring more complaints.

"It's the mayor's looking for a Band-Aid for the budget," Juarez said. "He's looking for more additional alternative sources of revenue. There are a lot of different ways that are justifiable. But passing it onto the passenger is not the way to do it."

And while riders at Navy Pier and McCormick Place will not have to pay the additional $1.50, they have a separate $5 fee in place.

"The expansion of the fee just adds to the daily cost of living without a car for tourism in Chicago, and it just sort of adds to the sense that Chicago is a high-cost environment," said DePaul University transportation professor Joe Schwieterman.

Schwieterman said he doesn't expect the wider zone will bring down traffic congestion.

"The congestion argument is, I think, is there, but I think it's a little oversold, given that the fees are going to last until 10 o'clock at night, when congestion's quite low,' he said.

Even Juarez said he doesn't expect this will affect his volume of work. He expects his customers will bear the brunt.

"It's brutal. It really is," he said.

There is a lower cost for shared rides like Uber Pool – 60 cents instead of $1.50 – and weekends are waived.