New bill takes first steps in raising taxi medallion prices
Medallion values have fallen 85% since 2013, and advocates say “we need action now”
Four City Council members have proposed legislation to create a task force to recommend ways to raise medallion values. While medallion owners welcomed the move, many also fear that it won’t act quickly enough as several owners are pushed to bankruptcy.
The 11-person task force would be staffed with medallion owners, lenders, drivers and government officials. In its six-month duration, it would have no legislative power, but would aim to “recommend further changes the city can make to stabilize the industry and increase medallion values,” said Transportation Committee Chairperson Ydanis Rodriguez, who proposed the bill.
“We need action now” said Peter Mazer, general counsel at the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), which represents 25% of the medallion industry.
“We don’t know if this industry will be surviving in its present form six months from now,” he continued, speaking at a City Council Transportation Committee Meeting on Sept. 25.
Rodriguez and his colleagues proposed the bill in response to the falling value of medallions, the licenses needed to operate taxis. In 2013, medallion values peaked at $1.25 million. Last month, 46 medallions sold for $186,000 each, an 85% fall.
“Here you have an ally, because I believe it is unfair,” said Rodriguez.
None of the members of the Transportation Committee spoke against the bill. It now has to be voted on by the City Council, but a date has not yet been chosen.
Sohan Gill, president of the Taxi Medallion Owner Driver Association, says many of the members of his organization are facing bankruptcy, as they’re unable to pay off medallion loans. Some are losing their houses, he said. Gill’s organization represents 6,000 medallion owners who drive their own cab. He has owned a medallion since 1985.
“People have no choice. If they’re not going to file for bankruptcy, they’re going to lose everything they have,” Gill said in an interview. “If [the task force] works properly, it’s going to be helpful,’ said Gill, but he worried that it “can’t guarantee anything.”
Michael Woloz, MTBOT spokesman, says the city has a debt to medallion owners, as it “promised those buyers the exclusive right to pick up street hails.” With the rise of ride-sharing apps, he says the city has broken its end of the contract.
In 2015, the medallion industry sued the city’s attorney general and the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates the industry, over this point, seeking to compel them to ban hailing a car using a smartphone.
The suit was dismissed when Queens County Judge Allan Weiss ruled that ride-sharing is booking a cab in advance, rather than street hailing. In his decision, he said medallions are not “a shield against the rapid technological advances of the modern world.”
The Transportation Committee has not proposed ideas on how to raise medallion prices. In their report on the bill, they do say that ride-sharing vehicles “are not subject to the same rules regarding fares, vehicle specifications, or accessibility and whose overall vehicle numbers are not capped,” enabling their fast growth and low fares.
