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Drive a taxi. It's fun. Really.
May 10, 2003
The overlords/industry lapdogs at the Taxi & Limousine Commission appear to have been working overtime on their website. They have posted a redesigned taxi information sticker. Also of interest, a chart of the value of a taxi medallion over the past 30 years. Oh my. Multiply the 1998 value (don't worry, the 2003 value is around the same) by 12,187 and you've got quite a bit of government-created & supported inertia to work around ($2.7 Billion). I guess reform will have to be put off for, say, forever, because the only folks interested in it are the laborers, and gee, how does that work for the medallion owners? More importantly, how does reform work for the taxi-riding public? What would be reformed? And how much more would it add on to the average fare?
What do drivers want, anyway?
Well, a great example of the current state of affairs in taxi-driverland is the drivers' overall reaction to a proposed fare increase, coming as it does on the heels of an increase in the price of a) a slice of pizza, and b) mass transit fares. Overall, it ranges from ambivalence to outright opposition.
Then who proposed the fare increase? Well, two groups, actually, with different priorities, and proposals to match. I'll deal with only one today, 'cause I'm tired. This would be the MTBOT, short for Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade. The MTBOT is simply a cabal of large fleet owners. In years gone by, these taxi fleets dominated the industry, and as a result, more or less got what they wanted. These days, the MTBOT's power is not nearly what it was, because the fleet owners managed to piss away their medallions, even after getting just about anything they asked for. Once, over 50 percent of medallions were run by the fleets. The figure is now under 20 percent, and declining.
To be short, the MTBOT's proposal likely would not benefit anyone except medallion owners. Yes, being a medallion owner counts for something, I'm sure. However, since I'm one of the guys/gals doing the actual work, let me sum up their intentions: a nearly transparent attempt to justify an increase in lease fees paid by drivers without a shred of regard for whether or not the average driver would earn a dime more on any given day (or night).
Since I'm already infuriated by my garage's pricing 'policies' (I'm being very generous with that term), I have little to say at the moment about how much worse it could get, specifically. The last increase, in early 1996, was dropped into a New York City economy that was about to go on a major roll. Coupled with the creation and auction (by the city) of 400 brand-new medallions (an action not taken in 60+ years), the net effect had the feeling of treading water. Since I had only been driving a taxi a year at that point, I took it on faith that a fare increase was a good thing. The garage wanted more money for the taxi, but it was OK. After all, I wasn't making less!
You can probably guess my next statement: This stuff matters now. Dropping 900 (proposed) new medallion taxicabs and a fare increase (with associated lease fee hike to driver) into a city staggering under a wacked economy will kill the drivers in 2 obvious ways.
1) More medallion taxicabs equals more competition between drivers. Ergo, less apparent business. (Please save the 'I can't get a taxi at 4:30pm!!!' whine. They'd have to double the # of medallions to meet peak demand.)
2) Taxi fare increases provoke feelings of disgust and loathing amongst the riding public. I know, I've seen it first-hand. I don't care about that. What I care about is that this time, they'll abandon us not because of some crusade against 'those high-roller cabbies', but because they may simply stop trying to justify spending their hard-earned scratch on a cab. Assuming they even *have* a job.
And that's all for today. I wrote way more than I intended, and wasn't entertaining at all, either. Poop.
What do drivers want, anyway?
Well, a great example of the current state of affairs in taxi-driverland is the drivers' overall reaction to a proposed fare increase, coming as it does on the heels of an increase in the price of a) a slice of pizza, and b) mass transit fares. Overall, it ranges from ambivalence to outright opposition.
Then who proposed the fare increase? Well, two groups, actually, with different priorities, and proposals to match. I'll deal with only one today, 'cause I'm tired. This would be the MTBOT, short for Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade. The MTBOT is simply a cabal of large fleet owners. In years gone by, these taxi fleets dominated the industry, and as a result, more or less got what they wanted. These days, the MTBOT's power is not nearly what it was, because the fleet owners managed to piss away their medallions, even after getting just about anything they asked for. Once, over 50 percent of medallions were run by the fleets. The figure is now under 20 percent, and declining.
To be short, the MTBOT's proposal likely would not benefit anyone except medallion owners. Yes, being a medallion owner counts for something, I'm sure. However, since I'm one of the guys/gals doing the actual work, let me sum up their intentions: a nearly transparent attempt to justify an increase in lease fees paid by drivers without a shred of regard for whether or not the average driver would earn a dime more on any given day (or night).
Since I'm already infuriated by my garage's pricing 'policies' (I'm being very generous with that term), I have little to say at the moment about how much worse it could get, specifically. The last increase, in early 1996, was dropped into a New York City economy that was about to go on a major roll. Coupled with the creation and auction (by the city) of 400 brand-new medallions (an action not taken in 60+ years), the net effect had the feeling of treading water. Since I had only been driving a taxi a year at that point, I took it on faith that a fare increase was a good thing. The garage wanted more money for the taxi, but it was OK. After all, I wasn't making less!
You can probably guess my next statement: This stuff matters now. Dropping 900 (proposed) new medallion taxicabs and a fare increase (with associated lease fee hike to driver) into a city staggering under a wacked economy will kill the drivers in 2 obvious ways.
1) More medallion taxicabs equals more competition between drivers. Ergo, less apparent business. (Please save the 'I can't get a taxi at 4:30pm!!!' whine. They'd have to double the # of medallions to meet peak demand.)
2) Taxi fare increases provoke feelings of disgust and loathing amongst the riding public. I know, I've seen it first-hand. I don't care about that. What I care about is that this time, they'll abandon us not because of some crusade against 'those high-roller cabbies', but because they may simply stop trying to justify spending their hard-earned scratch on a cab. Assuming they even *have* a job.
And that's all for today. I wrote way more than I intended, and wasn't entertaining at all, either. Poop.
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