
Why can't we get rid of taxi medallions? (2012) - adrianmacneil
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/06/taxi_medallions_how_new_york_s_terrible_taxi_system_makes_fares_higher_and_drivers_poorer_.html
======
adrianmacneil
> “A taxi medallion system is nearly impossible to end even if it proves to be
> providing unfairly high gains to a limited number of original medallion
> owners,” the report concluded. “Medallion owners fiercely resist any
> possible threat that may challenge their advantage.”

It's crazy how defeatist they sound in this article. Little did they know that
in just 3 years companies would be struggling to get rid of their medallions,
and the taxi lobby would be in ruins.

------
pcurve
Price is dropping fast.

[http://nycitycab.com/business/taximedallionlist.aspx](http://nycitycab.com/business/taximedallionlist.aspx).

Current owners are putting it up for sale for less than $600,000.

I guess it's uber effect.

~~~
exelius
Yeah, and it's never been easier to get a taxi in NYC. They artificially
restricted the supply of medallions since at least the 70s, and that led to a
severe undersupply of taxis (especially in the outer boroughs). Uber has
largely fixed this.

~~~
nemo44x
It's even better for the taxi drivers who have to rent the medallions for 12
hour shifts. There were more drivers than taxi's until recently and drivers
would bid the rental prices up. It was either that or they didn't make any
money. Now garages sit with extra cars.

Instead of paying up to $250 for a shift drivers now have the power and can
pick between garages and get a car for $125 now. That's money directly in
their pocket.

Every NYC cabbie I've spoken to who doesn't own a medallion loves Uber for
precisely this reason. I'm sure it will balance out but certainly not in the
garages favor. But for people with a hack license and an Uber account, they
have the power to pick and choose which option serves them best today and that
might mean driving a cab one day and driving their Uber the next.

It's for precisely this reason I can't see why the left tends to be suspicious
of Uber in NYC. I think it's great drivers have agency.

------
gambiting
What I don't understand is, why are they allowed to sell the medallions at
all? The problems with the medallion system stems from the fact that due to
supply/demand problem, their prices skyrocketed. But they should quite simply
be non-transferable.

~~~
jws
If you made medallions nontransferrable then you would see each medallion be
owned by its own individual corporation, then the corporation would be sold
instead of the medallion.

A fixed term license would be a better idea.

~~~
jonlucc
If I remember correctly from this[1] Planet Money podcast about a man who owns
many medallions, the guy does have separate company names for each medallion.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/07/31/428157211/episo...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/07/31/428157211/episode-643-the-
taxi-king)

------
dang
Discussed in 2012:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4088941](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4088941).

~~~
adrianmacneil
Interesting. I just stumbled across this and thought it made for amazing
reading, considering how much has changed in just 3 years.

~~~
dang
No kidding. "Uber" appears nowhere in the article.

~~~
tdylan
This was right around the time Uber realised what their UberX could be, after
seeing Lyft's system be left alone.

