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> I can't find a link but Seattle basically hasn't issued any new taxi medallions in 20 years. Suffice to say the area has grown significantly in that time. M

> I can't find a link but Seattle basically hasn't issued any new taxi medallions in 20 years. Suffice to say the area has grown significantly in that time. Medallions are largely a red herring. Municipalities vary, and I can't speak to Seattle, but for example, New York also is in a similar situation (the number of medallions has not increased commensurately with the increase in population since 1970). However, you do not need to own a medallion in order to drive a car, just as you do not need to own storefront real estate in order to operate a retail business. You can rent medallions, and many (most?) drivers do this[1]. In addition, you don't need to either rent or own a medallion in order to drive a cab - you just can't take street hails. (These cabs are regulated as well, but differently from yellow[0] medallion cabs) The medallions are a very common talking point, and it always irritates me because it's such a misleading statement. Medallions are not the barrier to entry for individuals who want to start driving professionally. [0] Or green medallion cabs, which were introduced last year. [1] They also often aren't driving their own cars, which is something that Uber/Lyft/etc. ignore - if you don't already have a car to drive (or in Uber's case, the right kind of car), you're out of luck.

aaronbrethorst 12y ago
Medallions are largely a red herring. Agreed. Here in Seattle, the biggest issues have been: 1. It's almost impossible to find a taxi outside of a couple specific areas of town (downtown, and the commercial cores of Capitol Hill and Fremont on weekend nights), which means you're going to have to call a dispatcher. 2. The unbelievable ineptitude and rudeness of the Yellow Cab dispatchers in Seattle. 3. The historical unwillingness of Seattle taxi drivers to accept credit cards, which bears some additional unpacking. Seattle is a very credit card-friendly city. I can go weeks without visiting an ATM and not change a thing about my daily routine. However, taxi drivers used to be very hostile to accepting credit cards. I've had a couple who refused to take plastic, and actually drove me to an ATM (on my dime) to make me get cash to pay them. To their credit, on the few occasions I've had to use a taxi since UberX launched, I've found them more than happy to accept credit cards through Square. My use of Uber is almost entirely driven by my loathing for Seattle's Yellow Cab.
- bilalq 12y ago
  Those last two points really resonate with me and several other people I've spoken to about the topic. I live next door to a hotel in downtown, so getting a taxi is even quicker and more convenient for me than calling Uber or Lyft. However, the incredible rudeness of cabbies and repeatedly being driven to an ATM because their credit card reader is mysteriously "broken" have pretty much dissuaded me from ever taking a regular cab again.
  - chimeracoder 12y ago
    > and repeatedly being driven to an ATM because their credit card reader is mysteriously "broken" have pretty much dissuaded me from ever taking a regular cab again. In most cities, (incl. SF and NYC), if their machine is broken and they do not tell you before your ride starts, your ride is free. I've never had this issue in NYC, but in SF I found that reminding the drivers of this is the best way to magically "fix" the machine. And if that doesn't work, well, hey, free cab ride!
- eli 12y ago
  At least here in DC the drivers kinda got hosed on credit cards. they have to buy a machine + processor from an approved government vendor at above market rates. And it can take 45 days to actually get your money. That's a huge deal if you're living at or close to paycheck to paycheck.
  - FireBeyond 12y ago
    Yes and no. For the first 45 days it'd suck. But after that, assuming you're working regularly, your income stream is about as steady as you'd expect - just delayed from the original date.
deleted 12y ago
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smsm42 12y ago
You do not need to own a medallion, and given current medallion prices, you probably can't since if you can afford a medallion you are a millionaire and millionaires rarely drive taxis. You have to rent one though. And to pay for it. And that creates an artificial limit to the market and artificial rent extracted by medallion owner - now you pay for taxi service proper and also pay the rent to medallion owner, who produces absolutely nothing and charges just for being there. Real estate is physically limited, but even then you can build your store in different places and people still can come there. Medallion means either you rent it or you are out of business. It's like all NY real estate would be build in 70s and after that, nobody would be allowed to build anything, despite growing population and expanding business. Can you imagine what that would do to a city?

aaronbrethorst 12y ago

Medallions are largely a red herring. Agreed. Here in Seattle, the biggest issues have been: 1. It's almost impossible to find a taxi outside of a couple specific areas of town (downtown, and the commercial cores of Capitol Hill and Fremont on weekend nights), which means you're going to have to call a dispatcher. 2. The unbelievable ineptitude and rudeness of the Yellow Cab dispatchers in Seattle. 3. The historical unwillingness of Seattle taxi drivers to accept credit cards, which bears some additional unpacking. Seattle is a very credit card-friendly city. I can go weeks without visiting an ATM and not change a thing about my daily routine. However, taxi drivers used to be very hostile to accepting credit cards. I've had a couple who refused to take plastic, and actually drove me to an ATM (on my dime) to make me get cash to pay them. To their credit, on the few occasions I've had to use a taxi since UberX launched, I've found them more than happy to accept credit cards through Square. My use of Uber is almost entirely driven by my loathing for Seattle's Yellow Cab.

bilalq 12y ago
Those last two points really resonate with me and several other people I've spoken to about the topic. I live next door to a hotel in downtown, so getting a taxi is even quicker and more convenient for me than calling Uber or Lyft. However, the incredible rudeness of cabbies and repeatedly being driven to an ATM because their credit card reader is mysteriously "broken" have pretty much dissuaded me from ever taking a regular cab again.
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  > and repeatedly being driven to an ATM because their credit card reader is mysteriously "broken" have pretty much dissuaded me from ever taking a regular cab again. In most cities, (incl. SF and NYC), if their machine is broken and they do not tell you before your ride starts, your ride is free. I've never had this issue in NYC, but in SF I found that reminding the drivers of this is the best way to magically "fix" the machine. And if that doesn't work, well, hey, free cab ride!
eli 12y ago
At least here in DC the drivers kinda got hosed on credit cards. they have to buy a machine + processor from an approved government vendor at above market rates. And it can take 45 days to actually get your money. That's a huge deal if you're living at or close to paycheck to paycheck.
- FireBeyond 12y ago
  Yes and no. For the first 45 days it'd suck. But after that, assuming you're working regularly, your income stream is about as steady as you'd expect - just delayed from the original date.

deleted 12y ago

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smsm42 12y ago

You do not need to own a medallion, and given current medallion prices, you probably can't since if you can afford a medallion you are a millionaire and millionaires rarely drive taxis. You have to rent one though. And to pay for it. And that creates an artificial limit to the market and artificial rent extracted by medallion owner - now you pay for taxi service proper and also pay the rent to medallion owner, who produces absolutely nothing and charges just for being there. Real estate is physically limited, but even then you can build your store in different places and people still can come there. Medallion means either you rent it or you are out of business. It's like all NY real estate would be build in 70s and after that, nobody would be allowed to build anything, despite growing population and expanding business. Can you imagine what that would do to a city?