Taxis (drivers) don't make money, or rather, they are subjected to the same degree of commoditization either way. Medallion owners make money. All of the profi

Taxis (drivers) don't make money, or rather, they are subjected to the same degree of commoditization either way. Medallion owners make money. All of the profits are extracted into the medallions. It's actually a bad system, really. 'Driving a taxi' is a total commodity, there's a limitless supply of people willing to do it for sub minimum wage, so the money just goes to the owners. Rent extraction is usually a bad way to manage things; it's kind of like real-estate speculation, but there's no need for it. It'd be nice to see the cities embrace Uber-like systems, capture the profits from it, enforce basic laws, and somehow make it fair. I'm not holding my breath.