5 ms·

We don't have the (corrupt and failed) medallion system in the UK and we certainly don't have "city" managed "taxi" drivers. This is the UK supreme court (th

We don't have the (corrupt and failed) medallion system in the UK and we certainly don't have "city" managed "taxi" drivers. This is the UK supreme court (the one where the judges have real world experience)

boomboomsubban 6y ago
London famously has one of the strictest requirements for licensing taxi drivers, and the rest of the Uk seems to have city managed licenses as well.
- pmyteh 6y ago
  For taxis (which you can hail on the street) the fares are fixed. For private hire vehicles (which you can't) they aren't. In both cases there are 'fit and proper person' requirements to get a licence, and in London there is a famously difficult test of the driver's knowledge of city streets and routes to get a taxi (but not a private hire) licence. In no cases do we have a medallion system, though. Licences are not transferable and have no monetary value.
  - boomboomsubban 6y ago
    No, but you do have city managed taxi drivers where the city limits how many licenses are given out. While they aren't transferrable like the US medallions, that doesn't change the point of the post.
    - pmyteh 6y ago
      Not in London (which is mostly where Uber works) and the number of private hire licences (again, the category which Uber operates in) are not IIRC limited anywhere. And in practice the value of a taxi over a private hire licence not much higher anywhere except London because there's much less street hailing and a car is only a phonecall (or app click) away.
- Mauricebranagh 6y ago
  But you don't have to buy a fabulously expensive medallion
908B64B197 6y ago
How did traditional taxi work then? Does the city auction the permits every year? Uber was absolutely great in the US because it replaced the medallion system that was more of less a pyramid scheme. That's one of the big reason, I think, it worked so well.

5 ms·

We don't have the (corrupt and failed) medallion system in the UK and we certainly don't have "city" managed "taxi" drivers. This is the UK supreme court (th

by Mauricebranagh 6y ago

boomboomsubban 6y ago
London famously has one of the strictest requirements for licensing taxi drivers, and the rest of the Uk seems to have city managed licenses as well.
- pmyteh 6y ago
  For taxis (which you can hail on the street) the fares are fixed. For private hire vehicles (which you can't) they aren't. In both cases there are 'fit and proper person' requirements to get a licence, and in London there is a famously difficult test of the driver's knowledge of city streets and routes to get a taxi (but not a private hire) licence. In no cases do we have a medallion system, though. Licences are not transferable and have no monetary value.
  - boomboomsubban 6y ago
    No, but you do have city managed taxi drivers where the city limits how many licenses are given out. While they aren't transferrable like the US medallions, that doesn't change the point of the post.
    - pmyteh 6y ago
      Not in London (which is mostly where Uber works) and the number of private hire licences (again, the category which Uber operates in) are not IIRC limited anywhere. And in practice the value of a taxi over a private hire licence not much higher anywhere except London because there's much less street hailing and a car is only a phonecall (or app click) away.
- Mauricebranagh 6y ago
  But you don't have to buy a fabulously expensive medallion
908B64B197 6y ago
How did traditional taxi work then? Does the city auction the permits every year? Uber was absolutely great in the US because it replaced the medallion system that was more of less a pyramid scheme. That's one of the big reason, I think, it worked so well.