3 ms·

weren't they contractors before? where the taxi driver rented the car and the medallion from the company that owned them?

• pengaru 6y ago
  When Uber first started destroying the cab business there were numerous interviews of NYC cab drivers talking about how far in debt they were to buy the medallion that enables them to work in the city. That left me with the impression that cabbies rented the money to buy access to the market, and were paid enough to afford it.
  • 908B64B197 6y ago
    It degenerated to medallions being expensive enough that cabbies had to work extremely long hours to make the payments on them. Wasn't uncommon to have two cabbies, one for the night and one for the day, drive the same car just to break even. That and the financing for medallion often came from the seller. Not a lot of banks would touch these assets so the interest rates were horrendous on these.
    • caturopath 6y ago
      That actually is uncommon in NYC - very few yellow cab medallions are owned by small timers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_New_York_City says "most medallions (and most cabs) are owned by investment companies and are leased to drivers"
      • 908B64B197 6y ago
        And the price at which they lease means that the car has to run pretty much 24h a day. Often with drivers splitting shifts. All that to make below minimal wages and no benefits.