4 ms·

If I were a taxi driver, I would sell my medallion while it still has some value and start driving for Uber and Lyft, doing deliveries for Prime Now and Grubhub

If I were a taxi driver, I would sell my medallion while it still has some value and start driving for Uber and Lyft, doing deliveries for Prime Now and Grubhub, etc.

qeternity 10y ago
None of the taxi drivers own their medallions...they are far too expensive. Big pools own them, and drivers pay a fee to them to lease the medallion.
Spooky23 10y ago
If I had cash, I would buy those mediallions at fire sale prices. The NYS trial lawyers are doing a good job holding Uber hostage. Once they get what they want, Uber is fucked.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  > NYS trial lawyers are doing a good job holding Uber hostage Citation?
  - Spooky23 10y ago
    > "This year, both houses of the state Legislature were poised to pass a bill allowing the app-based transportation networks to operate upstate and on Long Island. The measure was approved by the Republican-led Senate on June 17th, but the Assembly version was amended at the last minute to include excessively high insurance limits. Soon after, the press revealed that the New York State Trial Lawyers Association was behind the push for higher insurance limits." http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/08/24/trial-lawyers-halt-push-uber-lyft-view/89260254/ http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/08/24/t... >"Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft spent nearly $1 million combined during the first six months of 2016 to lobby for a bill that would have allowed them to expand to upstate." >"But the spending didn‘t pay off as the lawmakers ended the state legislative session in June without taking action on the bill. The bill died, according to sources, after the powerful state trial lawyers pushed for more comprehensive insurance coverage that Uber opposed." http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/uber-lyft-spent-1m-nys-lobbying-2016-article-1.2741680 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/uber-lyft-spent-1m-...
edblarney 10y ago
"If I were a taxi driver, I would sell my medallion while it still has some value and start driving for Uber and Lyft, doing deliveries for Prime Now and Grubhub, etc." You would sell your piece of market share, and then go work for an entity that has absolute power over you, and will drive your surpluses to zero - or even into the negative at the greatest pace they can? When Uber has a monopoly, the 'short term' income of most drivers will be under minimum wage (because there's no income regulation) - and because so many drivers do not properly account for 'wear, tear and insurance' - the 'long term' net may actually be negative. Uber's business is about paying drivers the equivalent of a short-term 'pay day loan' on value of their car as it degrades over usage, after which real income is negligible. Or at least, that's the economic end-game. Uber has demonstrated fanatical adherence to market principles - they leverage their power as hard as they can. The natural thing for them to do in a monopolistic scenario would be to jack up prices massively, jack up margins massively, and make sure drivers earn next to 0, and consumers benefit next to 0 - so that they capture all of the surpluses. If anyone things that Uber will not do this they have not been paying attention. Uber will price at the 'profit maximizing' point for them - which in a monopoly situation is 'very high prices' (i.e. a shade below what you wouldn't be willing to pay) for consumers, and 'lower than minimum wage' for drivers (i.e. a shade above what they can possibly get away with). Travis's comments on his hearing were pretty clear - he's a free market fundamentalist of the 'scary kind' (and by that I mean, economically illiterate, parroting the virtues of the ideology he espouses without actually understanding the scope of them). So long as there is real competition, Uber will be limited by that, but if they ever get de-facto monopoly, the only winner will be them. They will ensure they get all of the surpluses.
- jamez1 10y ago
  Uber doesn't form monopolies as far as I can see, everywhere there seems to be a competitor or two, so that pricing pressure will keep Uber in check. I'm not sure why you think Uber has the power.. they have a lot of cash and first mover advantage which might obscure the true nature of what they can do. As for the taxi plates.. they're going to be worth 10% of what they are now, it doesn't matter if you make less income with Uber if you have to wear such a huge capital loss. (in the order of 100k+)

If I were a taxi driver, I would sell my medallion while it still has some value and start driving for Uber and Lyft, doing deliveries for Prime Now and Grubhub, etc.

qeternity 10y ago

None of the taxi drivers own their medallions...they are far too expensive. Big pools own them, and drivers pay a fee to them to lease the medallion.

Spooky23 10y ago

If I had cash, I would buy those mediallions at fire sale prices. The NYS trial lawyers are doing a good job holding Uber hostage. Once they get what they want, Uber is fucked.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
> NYS trial lawyers are doing a good job holding Uber hostage Citation?
- Spooky23 10y ago
  > "This year, both houses of the state Legislature were poised to pass a bill allowing the app-based transportation networks to operate upstate and on Long Island. The measure was approved by the Republican-led Senate on June 17th, but the Assembly version was amended at the last minute to include excessively high insurance limits. Soon after, the press revealed that the New York State Trial Lawyers Association was behind the push for higher insurance limits." http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/08/24/trial-lawyers-halt-push-uber-lyft-view/89260254/ http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/08/24/t... >"Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft spent nearly $1 million combined during the first six months of 2016 to lobby for a bill that would have allowed them to expand to upstate." >"But the spending didn‘t pay off as the lawmakers ended the state legislative session in June without taking action on the bill. The bill died, according to sources, after the powerful state trial lawyers pushed for more comprehensive insurance coverage that Uber opposed." http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/uber-lyft-spent-1m-nys-lobbying-2016-article-1.2741680 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/uber-lyft-spent-1m-...

edblarney 10y ago

"If I were a taxi driver, I would sell my medallion while it still has some value and start driving for Uber and Lyft, doing deliveries for Prime Now and Grubhub, etc." You would sell your piece of market share, and then go work for an entity that has absolute power over you, and will drive your surpluses to zero - or even into the negative at the greatest pace they can? When Uber has a monopoly, the 'short term' income of most drivers will be under minimum wage (because there's no income regulation) - and because so many drivers do not properly account for 'wear, tear and insurance' - the 'long term' net may actually be negative. Uber's business is about paying drivers the equivalent of a short-term 'pay day loan' on value of their car as it degrades over usage, after which real income is negligible. Or at least, that's the economic end-game. Uber has demonstrated fanatical adherence to market principles - they leverage their power as hard as they can. The natural thing for them to do in a monopolistic scenario would be to jack up prices massively, jack up margins massively, and make sure drivers earn next to 0, and consumers benefit next to 0 - so that they capture all of the surpluses. If anyone things that Uber will not do this they have not been paying attention. Uber will price at the 'profit maximizing' point for them - which in a monopoly situation is 'very high prices' (i.e. a shade below what you wouldn't be willing to pay) for consumers, and 'lower than minimum wage' for drivers (i.e. a shade above what they can possibly get away with). Travis's comments on his hearing were pretty clear - he's a free market fundamentalist of the 'scary kind' (and by that I mean, economically illiterate, parroting the virtues of the ideology he espouses without actually understanding the scope of them). So long as there is real competition, Uber will be limited by that, but if they ever get de-facto monopoly, the only winner will be them. They will ensure they get all of the surpluses.

jamez1 10y ago
Uber doesn't form monopolies as far as I can see, everywhere there seems to be a competitor or two, so that pricing pressure will keep Uber in check. I'm not sure why you think Uber has the power.. they have a lot of cash and first mover advantage which might obscure the true nature of what they can do. As for the taxi plates.. they're going to be worth 10% of what they are now, it doesn't matter if you make less income with Uber if you have to wear such a huge capital loss. (in the order of 100k+)