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"Getting in a stranger's car" also describes taking a regular taxi...

BoorishBears 3y ago
In New York getting a Taxi Medallion took essentially getting a mortgage. It's like picking up food at a restaurant vs some random guys house: technically they're both strangers, there's no guarantee the restaurant is clean either... but only one is a stranger to serving customers food.
- abracadaniel 3y ago
  Most didn’t own their own medallion, but were employed by large companies that owned them.
  - BoorishBears 3y ago
    No, most were owned by individuals and financed by PE. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medallions-suicides.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medall... > Instead of lending directly, the big banks worked through powerful industry players. They enlisted large fleet owners and brokers — especially Neil Greenbaum, Richard Chipman, Savas Konstantinides, Roman Sapino and Basil Messados — to use the banks’ money to lend to medallion buyers. In return, the owners and brokers received a cut of the monthly payments and sometimes an additional fee. The big players knew what was happening, they exploited individual drivers to quickly offload their liability. They weren't directly exposing themselves to the risk. When prices collapsed PE swooped in and bought them outright.
    - squeaky-clean 3y ago
      In 2012 only 18% of Medallions were owner-operated. https://slate.com/business/2012/06/taxi-medallions-how-new-yorks-terrible-taxi-system-makes-fares-higher-and-drivers-poorer.html https://slate.com/business/2012/06/taxi-medallions-how-new-y...
      - BoorishBears 3y ago
        > putting most medallions in the hands of big taxi fleets or brokers who simply rent them out. https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/businesses/brokers.page https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/businesses/brokers.page Brokers can't rent: only "leasing" (on an asset they didn't own) and financing both with regular payments, an interest rate, and forfeiture if you don't pay in time, just like a mortgage.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
- AussieWog93 3y ago
  I'd argue the opposite, in terms of safety. Rapes and sexual violence were (anecdotally) way more common back in the taxi days.
  - MaxfordAndSons 3y ago
    Whether or not there's data to back that up, Taxi's also existed for about a century prior to smartphones, which are a great deterrent to victimizing strangers from your car.
    - mananaysiempre 3y ago
      Taxi regulation, let alone the prohibitively priced licenses people are referring to elsethread, are a much more recent development from what I understand.

In New York getting a Taxi Medallion took essentially getting a mortgage. It's like picking up food at a restaurant vs some random guys house: technically they're both strangers, there's no guarantee the restaurant is clean either... but only one is a stranger to serving customers food.

abracadaniel 3y ago
Most didn’t own their own medallion, but were employed by large companies that owned them.
- BoorishBears 3y ago
  No, most were owned by individuals and financed by PE. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medallions-suicides.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/19/nyregion/nyc-taxis-medall... > Instead of lending directly, the big banks worked through powerful industry players. They enlisted large fleet owners and brokers — especially Neil Greenbaum, Richard Chipman, Savas Konstantinides, Roman Sapino and Basil Messados — to use the banks’ money to lend to medallion buyers. In return, the owners and brokers received a cut of the monthly payments and sometimes an additional fee. The big players knew what was happening, they exploited individual drivers to quickly offload their liability. They weren't directly exposing themselves to the risk. When prices collapsed PE swooped in and bought them outright.
  - squeaky-clean 3y ago
    In 2012 only 18% of Medallions were owner-operated. https://slate.com/business/2012/06/taxi-medallions-how-new-yorks-terrible-taxi-system-makes-fares-higher-and-drivers-poorer.html https://slate.com/business/2012/06/taxi-medallions-how-new-y...
    - BoorishBears 3y ago
      > putting most medallions in the hands of big taxi fleets or brokers who simply rent them out. https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/businesses/brokers.page https://www.nyc.gov/site/tlc/businesses/brokers.page Brokers can't rent: only "leasing" (on an asset they didn't own) and financing both with regular payments, an interest rate, and forfeiture if you don't pay in time, just like a mortgage.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
AussieWog93 3y ago
I'd argue the opposite, in terms of safety. Rapes and sexual violence were (anecdotally) way more common back in the taxi days.
- MaxfordAndSons 3y ago
  Whether or not there's data to back that up, Taxi's also existed for about a century prior to smartphones, which are a great deterrent to victimizing strangers from your car.
  - mananaysiempre 3y ago
    Taxi regulation, let alone the prohibitively priced licenses people are referring to elsethread, are a much more recent development from what I understand.