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Good. $1 million+ for a taxi medallion serves no one but the wealthy few who own the vast majority of them.
The guys driving the cabs don't own those medallions are hardly break even when on a shift.
There are some old timers who own their medallion (or several of them) and even still drive. But yeah, nobody who has entered the industry any time recently would be an owner-operator. The closest you'd get is owning the car personally and leasing just the medallion for about $1000/week, which is a huge rip off. It doesn't cost near that much per week just to lease the car at the daily rate if you work 5 shifts a week, so that's what nearly all yellow drivers do. The economics of taking on any sort of ownership stake beyond that simply don't pencil out. Maybe if the medallion price tanks enough it will help change some of that. I certainly don't feel sorry for the wealthy 1%'ers or corporations who own the vast majority of them.
Your second point is not entirely accurate. A driver that goes out there and gets after it can make $200-300 a shift depending on the day/night and how much you annoy your customers (tips)
There are some old timers who own their medallion (or several of them) and even still drive. But yeah, nobody who has entered the industry any time recently would be an owner-operator. The closest you'd get is owning the car personally and leasing just the medallion for about $1000/week, which is a huge rip off. It doesn't cost near that much per week just to lease the car at the daily rate if you work 5 shifts a week, so that's what nearly all yellow drivers do. The economics of taking on any sort of ownership stake beyond that simply don't pencil out. Maybe if the medallion price tanks enough it will help change some of that. I certainly don't feel sorry for the wealthy 1%'ers or corporations who own the vast majority of them.
Your second point is not entirely accurate. A driver that goes out there and gets after it can make $200-300 a shift depending on the day/night and how much you annoy your customers (tips)
Generally 12 but you don't have to work that long if you're happy with what you made after 9-10 hours. All the garages work the same...day shift is 5am-5pm and night shift is 5pm-5am. I work nights and generally get rolling by 3:30-4pm during the week or maybe even early than that on Sunday if there are plenty of cars sitting.
I have always thought that taxis should be eliminated, moreso now that traffic is such a nightmare, the Earth is warming, and the air is getting more foul. It is a system for an elite class, but not elite enough to own limos. It damages the quality of life for those further down the ladder who cannot afford exclusionary travel.
Stand on a Manhattan avenue mid-day and count cabs as a proportion of total traffic...it is an eye-opening experience.
Force the wealthy to ride subways and buses and watch how fast those systems improve service and comfort.
Well because most of the millennials love Apps, they rather call for an Uber car service than hail a cab. Hailing a cab is a pita. Why not just use an app and take care of pay and not have to worry about exact change and tips. So I believe regular cabs are gonna get lesser business when people feel these new services are cheaper and offer more convenience.
I wouldn't say that Uber is always more convenient--in fact I think its often less so. At peak times, prices go way up and you can wait awhile for a car.
As long as its not raining, its quicker to just step to the street corner and hail a cab--you make that sound like its so hard. You don't have to worry about exact change in a cab either--as they have accepted credit cards for years now.
Granted, Uber is often the better choice when you need to go on a longer trip or are in a part of the city where there aren't many cabs.
I have always thought that taxis should be eliminated, moreso now that traffic is such a nightmare, the Earth is warming, and the air is getting more foul. It is a system for an elite class, but not elite enough to own limos. It damages the quality of life for those further down the ladder who cannot afford exclusionary travel.
Stand on a Manhattan avenue mid-day and count cabs as a proportion of total traffic...it is an eye-opening experience.
Force the wealthy to ride subways and buses and watch how fast those systems improve service and comfort.
I used to think that too but now the people that really strike me as the space wasters are the ones cruising around by themselves in their own piece of junk or the NJ doofs clogging up 9th and 10th avenue trying to get to the Lincoln Tunnel. (It's entirely too cheap and easy to own a car and get a driver's license in this country IMO) UberX is kind of an unchecked traffic menace at the moment as well. One of the reasons they limit the number of medallions is to keep traffic levels manageable but these days yellow cabs are just a small part of the overall traffic snarl. They just all cluster around midtown because that where like 50% of all taxi rides originate from. That's where the money is. Pretty soon almost all the taxi's will either be hybrid electric models or those little 4 cylinder Nissan vans with the moonroof that get about 25 mpg. The Crown Vics are going away soon because Ford stopped making them a few years ago and taxis can only be used for 3 years in most cases.
I predict in 2-5 yrs many of the Taxi COs in NYC will go bankrupt due to many of their Medallions becoming less valuable than the loans' principal they're still paying.
The only enemy to Uber will be other competitor, it's a race to the bottom.
Cheap fares are here to stay.
Hey can you predict where Facebook stock will go?
Livery cabs existed forever, and they are cheaper than taxi, but they haven't drove yellow taxi out of business, what makes you think uber will.
I'm sure once regulators start slapping restriction uber won't be so uber.
I wouldn't say that Uber is always more convenient--in fact I think its often less so. At peak times, prices go way up and you can wait awhile for a car.
As long as its not raining, its quicker to just step to the street corner and hail a cab--you make that sound like its so hard. You don't have to worry about exact change in a cab either--as they have accepted credit cards for years now.
Granted, Uber is often the better choice when you need to go on a longer trip or are in a part of the city where there aren't many cabs.
I've used UberX tons of times and it can be a lifesaver if it's an off hour and you're out in the "boonies" where yellow cabs are basically non-existant. The outerboro black car companies are basically being put out of business by it.
Here's a pro tip: You can now hail a yellow medallion cab (or green taxi) in NYC with the Uber app (UberT). Give that a shot first if it's a busy hour and they're trying to rip you off with 2.5x surge prices. Uber will charge you a $2.00 surcharge and the taxi ride will be a standard meter trip.
I predict in 2-5 yrs many of the Taxi COs in NYC will go bankrupt due to many of their Medallions becoming less valuable than the loans' principal they're still paying.
The only enemy to Uber will be other competitor, it's a race to the bottom.
Cheap fares are here to stay.
Hope they all go out of business. Medallion fleets are modern day plantation owners. They rape the taxi drivers who have to work 80 hour weeks just to pay their license fees and barely get above minimum wage. With Uber, the drivers get most of the money for THEIR work, not some guy sitting in an air conditioned office from 9 to 5. And as a rider, you get a cab right away with a button push on your phone, everybody wins except the sleeze bags.
That's what I call win-win
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Love Uber
