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The creation of medallions had nothing to do with the number of cars on the road at peak hours, or regulations about race. They were created during the depressi
by WillPostForFood 10y ago
The creation of medallions had nothing to do with the number of cars on the road at peak hours, or regulations about race. They were created during the depression in NYC to protect jobs for taxi drivers.
- vintermann 10y agoTaxi licensing has been around since before cars. The "medallion" system with tradable permits may be from depression era New York for all I know, but just about every locale in the world has come to the conclusion that there needs to be a limited set of permits. You can push the prices down a little with unlimited competition, but the few dollars you save aren't worth the indirect costs associated with taxi driver desperation: tax fraud, gouging, barely running cars, outright extortion, etc. (Of course, if the municipality decides to pad their coffers by auctioning the permissions/medallions, you get all that in addition to lower competition.)
- WillPostForFood 10y agohttp://www.nyc.gov/html/media/totweb/taxioftomorrow_history_regulationandprosperity.html http://www.nyc.gov/html/media/totweb/taxioftomorrow_history_... just about every locale in the world has come to the conclusion that there needs to be a limited set of permits. Any city that is allowing Uber or Lyft hasn't come to that conclusion, or is changing their mind. And so far, I don't see barely running cars, i see nicer cars, free water, price predictability.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> And so far, I don't see barely running cars, i see nicer cars, free water, price predictability. Because the new ride services are using VC money to subsidize operations cost to build marketshare. The experience you are reporting is essentially a massive marketing promotion, not a sustainable service.