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The city should take this opportunity to dispense with the medallion system in it entirety. It was a stupid idea when it was created, and it took on a life of it's own.
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Originally Posted by antinimby
This is just another example of how government overregulation and interference losing out to free market forces. This can also be extended to the MTA, zoning, taxes, unions, city bureaucracy, housing, etc. Of course this lesson escapes the stupid NY politicians and NY'ers alike and instead of learning from this, they'd just continue on with business as usual.
From what is known this was a system brought forth by taxi groups who were able to influence some politician by rubbing them in the right spots, by limiting the supply and preventing everyone and their mothers from becoming self proclaimed taxi drivers, these taxi groups could secure their source of income without having to worry about prices falling bellow minimum wage.
Then came the ride sharing companies who were able to find a loophole around this and gained a lot of traction. Now regular cab drivers were back to where they started before they begged the politicians to limit the number of workers in their profession who could offer the same service as they could.
As you can see the same groups eventually adopted the ride sharing methods and then proceeded to force politicians to regulate certain aspect of it just as they've done in the past such as guaranteeing a certain wage and placing a limit on the current number of drivers who operate on the ride sharing apps reducing the risk of "competition."
Was it not for these so called regulations and government meddling, the yellow medallions wouldn't have gained a price tag as high a million, and taxi drivers would've been dealing with the same issues ride sharing companies like Uber/Lyft are currently presenting to them which is "competition."
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During the Great Depression, New York had as many as 30,000 cab drivers. With more drivers than passengers, cab drivers were working longer hours which led to growing public concern over the maintenance and mechanical integrity of taxi vehicles. To resolve these issues, the city considered creating a taxi monopoly, but the plan was abandoned after New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker was accused of accepting a bribe from the Parmelee Company, the largest taxi company.
In 1937, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia signed the Haas Act which introduced official taxi licenses and the medallion system that remains in place today. The law limited the total number of cab licenses to 16,900, but the number dwindled to 11,787 licenses, staying equal over the next six decades.
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REGULATION AND PROSPERITY: 1935 - 1960 Until 1935, the taxi industry in New York was comprised of unregulated companies fighting for dominance. This all changed during the Great Depression. Widespread poverty prompted many New Yorkers to opt for less-expensive forms of transportation, decreasing the demand for taxis. This put many companies out of business and caused many cabdrivers to lose their jobs. The situation was made worse by the tactics of “wildcat” (unlicensed) taxis who used what some considered to be “underhanded tactics,” such as drastically lowering fares, to get more business.
The situation in the taxi industry was dire; frustrated cabdrivers turned their anger into violent protest and the demands for industry regulation increased.
If the city removed their zoning regulation and allowed people to build from left and right, I'm pretty sure certain groups that are monopolizing the current supply would cry about the value of their real estate falling.
Last edited by SaltyPenguin; 12-02-2018 at 08:52 PM..
^ No one said remove zoning regs, just relax it more. Instead, we are moving in just the opposite direction. Community and NIMBY groups are always fighting to reduce density/heights and anti-development measures all over the city.
My uncle - who became upset with the city's high crime rate, sold his medallion back during the 1980's for 24K. But he bought it in the 1960's for something ridiculously cheap like 6K.
I'm reading on this board that Uber and Lyft have killed the yellow cab industry, but Uber and Lyft drivers will be no better in the near future. I went to a machine learning tech conference the other day, and Uber was experimenting with driverless vehicles. And you know that once Uber succeeds, the MTA and the rest of them will purchase the technology or at least experiment in the same way.
I feel bad for Mr. Kim who took his life, but he didn't do his research. He spent 500K on a dying business. Most people research a product for hours or even days on end when they spend more than 500 bucks on it for crying out loud.
My uncle - who became upset with the city's high crime rate, sold his medallion back during the 1980's for 24K. But he bought it in the 1960's for something ridiculously cheap like 6K.
I'm reading on this board that Uber and Lyft have killed the yellow cab industry, but Uber and Lyft drivers will be no better in the near future. I went to a machine learning tech conference the other day, and Uber was experimenting with driverless vehicles. And you know that once Uber succeeds, the MTA and the rest of them will purchase the technology or at least experiment in the same way.
I feel bad for Mr. Kim who took his life, but he didn't do his research. He spent 500K on a dying business. Most people research a product for hours or even days on end when they spend more than 500 bucks on it for crying out loud.
Driver-less cars are years, years away. I would say 50 years from now.
How could anyone possibly make enough money driving a cab to pay back the enormous investment? Its like taking out a huge loan for a college education and then trying to pay it back while working at 7-11. People need to find other ways to make money.
we took a yellow cab from laguardia to our home in bayside . we had to direct the driver , who barely spoke english . how the heck can anyone drive a cab and not know the city ? what if we were not from around here ... put it in a gps and you should know how to go .....
it is pathetic what happened to that sector .
Absolutely. There is no excuse for not using gps. Cabbies still do it and I had one take a wrong turn on me and go an extra 10 blocks. It was on the other side of a highway so one miss on a turn causes you to go very far the wrong way. I think it was to get a bigger fare which is good way to lose even more riders.
Figure more like 5-10 years for full implementation. And they'll be better in the city than human drivers.
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Originally Posted by Mr. Ryu
Driver-less cars are years, years away. I would say 50 years from now.
A driver-less car would not work in NYC.
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