My question comes out of the context of the explanation for quotas in the textbook Macroeconomics, 4th edition by Paul Krugman. The explanation is for what could've happened had a quota on cab rides not been placed. In this explanation, the price of $5.50 is apparently the minimum price consumers are willing to offer:
Looking back at Figure 4-8, you can see that starting at the quota limit of 8 million rides, New Yorkers would be willing to pay at least $5.50 per ride when 9 million rides are offered.
In the next paragraph, there is another reference to the price as being the minimum that people were willing to pay:
The same is true for the next 1 million riders: New Yorkers would be willing to pay at least $5 per ride when the quantity of rides is increased from 9 to 10 million...
Shouldn't this price be the maximum price that consumers are willing to pay for, instead of the minimum price, as the book suggests? Why would a consumer not want to pay less that $5.50$ dollars per ride, at $5.30$ dollars for example, if the same quantity of rides (9 million) is offered?
I have included a copy of the diagram that is referenced, which I redrew. The x axis is quantity of cab rides per year, in millions of rides. The y axis is the fare price per ride. The green, orange and red lines are the demand, supply and quota restriction lines respectively. Please click to enlarge image.