3 ms·

Wasn’t the point of taxi medallions to limit traffic in the first place?

• brutusborn 3y ago
  I think the point was artificial scarcity to increase local government revenues and to gain political support from taxi unions which are often very powerful. If the true purpose was to limit traffic, why would it be limited to taxis?
• mike_d 3y ago
  Taxi medallions were introduced to enforce a monopoly for the wealthy taxi company owners. Take Las Vegas as a prime example, you can't get a medallion unless you are part of a taxi company. Of course you can't start a taxi company unless you are "mentored" by an existing taxi company.
• bsder 3y ago
  No, medallions were not meant to limit traffic. Medallions were the answer to the race to the bottom that occurred (too many taxis, not enough fares, shady behavior from the taxis)--just like we are seeing again. Everybody seems to forget that laws that exist are there because there was a reason. The fact that medallions became perverted into entrenched monopolies was a problem that should have been solved rather than just throwing them out.
  • Ekaros 3y ago
    The biggest failure with medallions from outside perspective was that they could be transferred. Licensing for taxis does make sense, but those should not be transferable outside selling the whole corporation. And they should be returned in bankruptcy or retirement to a pool to be redistributed.