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The average NYC taxi driver does not own a medallion. A couple years ago they traded hands for $1,000,000.00. Most of them are owned by companies which have m
by nemo44x 11y ago
The average NYC taxi driver does not own a medallion. A couple years ago they traded hands for $1,000,000.00. Most of them are owned by companies which have many hundreds if not thousands of them.
These companies rent the medallion for 12 hour blocks to drivers and would charge them between $175-250 per block. Before Uber there were many more drivers than medallions and drivers would bid the price of renting the medallion for 12 hours up!
Drivers who worked full time and took a few weeks off would spend around $40,000.00/year on renting the medallion. A cab that was rented for 24 hours/day all year would easily generate $90,000.00/year for the owner of the medallion.
With Uber the companies that own the medallions (and more so those that took massive loans to acquire them) are the ones hurting. The drivers are just fine, if not better. And even taxi drivers I've spoken with like Uber because medallion owners are desperate for drivers now and are charging $100-$150/12 hours. They just want to get the cars out of the garage.
Uber drivers expenses that are different from cab drivers include a car mainly. Something that costs far less than the money they gave medallion owners and something they can write off big parts of on their taxes. And they can use it on their free time.
- thaumasiotes 11y ago> Uber drivers expenses that are different from cab drivers include a car mainly. Something that costs far less than the money they gave medallion owners and something they can write off big parts of on their taxes. Wouldn't renting a medallion be 100% deductible?
- nemo44x 11y agoThat's a good point. It still costs far less than what they would pay a medallion owner, however. And they get a car.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoBut ... https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-licences-private-hire-taxis-london https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-licences-private-hire-taxis-londo... License cost is 154 GBP (200 bucks) annually in London. Not a million. I maybe misunderstanding a lot of the cost issues in taxi services but it seems the medallion cost is a huge racket - but that's hardly a global issue?
- eru 11y agoIn London they keep supply down with the Knowledge, don't they? So instead of investing money in a medaillon, people invest time.
- _benedict 11y agoThat's not a "Black Cab" which would be the equivalent of NYC yellow taxis. A private taxi cannot be hailed on the street, I assume much like yellow taxis. This was once a major advantage, but uber (and equivalent apps) make it almost irrelevant. Becoming a Black Cab driver is much harder than renting a medallion, though. You have to pass "The Knowledge" which is considered at least as hard as passing a university degree. You have to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of London roads, and generally spend at least a couple of years (often longer) driving around those roads on a scooter so you can demonstrate that knowledge in a series of tests. I'm not sure if the problem is similar in other major cities, but I expect there is some form of cartel in force in most of the major cities. However, even if there isn't, there is still a real advantage to profitability from something like uber: if there are enough customers using a passenger exchange, then the likelihood of having passengers near to you is significantly higher. So less of your time is spent in unbillable transit to your next customer. In London there are hundreds of taxi firms; each of them gets some share of the passengers calling them up, so they have to take what they can get. With a central exchange, they get the passengers most suitably located for them from all possible passengers.