Though cabbies may not like it, Redmond City Council did the right thing last week when it required them to take short-hop passengers who want rides from Roberts Field as well as those going farther away. In doing so, Redmond joined larger cities in the state that also bar discrimination based on length of trip.

While they were about it, councilors also moved to prohibit drivers from refusing fares because of the race, color, national origin, age or sex of a potential passenger — the kind of anti-discrimination language that is standard fare in such documents.

Cab drivers like long hauls, no doubt about it. Theirs is not a get-rich-quick (or even get-rich-slowly) sort of an industry, if a report issued by the city of Portland last year is any indication. The report found that Portland cabbies net an average of just $6.22 per hour for their work. Moreover, many work 12- to 14-hour days, six or seven days a week.

Meanwhile, it’s true that drivers may make less on shorter trips, if for no other reason than that tips may be less or nonexistent if a passenger is only going a mile or two. Longer drives, meanwhile, presumably are easier on vehicles than the same mileage covered in several start-and-stop short hops around Redmond.

That said, travelers, even those going only a few blocks, have a right to expect to be able to get a cab if they need one.

Redmond Airport officials told the city that they have received several complaints from would-be cab passengers who were refused service for short rides, and the airport’s governing code does not allow it to ban the practice.

The City Council did it for the sake of the airport and its patrons, as it should have.