There's no future for taxis': New York yellow cab drivers drowning in debt

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: October 20, 2017 at 10:55:55 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] 'There's no future for taxis': New York yellow cab drivers drowning in debt
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> 'There's no future for taxis': New York yellow cab drivers drowning in debt
> Ride-hail services like Uber and Lyft have saturated the market, and an exodus of drivers from cabs has made 
> medallion values drop – leaving many owing money
> By Cecilia Saixue Watt
> Oct 20 2017
> <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/20/new-york-yellow-cab-taxi-medallion-value-cost>
>
> The premise is familiar: MD Islam left Bangladesh and came to the United States in search of a better life. He 
> arrived in New York, became a taxi driver, and set about following the well-trodden path of the industrious American 
> immigrant.
>
> Then he began to work towards buying his own taxi medallion.
>
> The medallion system regulates the yellow taxis serving New York City: since 1937, each vehicle has needed a 
> medallion in order to legally operate. Few taxi drivers own theirs; most lease them, paying around $100 for one 
> 12-hour shift.
>
> The limited number of medallions issued by the city made each one highly valuable; individual medallion sale prices 
> went from $50,000 in the late 1970s to over $1m by 2014.
>
> For many taxi drivers, owning a medallion meant success. Homes would be purchased. Children would be sent to 
> universities.
>
> Islam managed to put a down payment on his medallion in 2010, and for a few years, it seemed like a good investment. 
> Then, in 2015, with the widespread popularity of Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing apps, his fortunes changed.
>
> Ride-hail cars saturated the market, and an exodus of drivers from yellow taxis made medallion values drop 
> precipitously. 
>
> “I’ll have to spend my whole life paying this loan,” said Islam, now 40 and in debt to the tune of $830,000.
>
> “And after that, I won’t get anything. The medallion has no value. No one wants to buy it now.”
>
> In the New York City of the public imagination, taxicabs dot the urban landscape. Taxi driving is an old, almost 
> mythic profession in this city; the first yellow cabs appeared in the 1920s.
>
> Today, there are more than 13,000 yellow medallion taxis in New York, split among about 40,000 drivers – some own 
> their own medallions and cars, but most do not; many drivers work for a fleet, like the characters from Taxi, and pay 
> to rent each car on a daily or weekly basis.
>
> “I always liked driving cars,” said Dragan Lekic, 56. He emigrated to New York from what was then Yugoslavia, shortly 
> before the beginning of the Yugoslav wars. 
>
> “You start something, and then you get caught into it. But as you well know, America has been a dream for everybody. 
> So I’m here.”
>
> The job is not easy: the standard shift is 12 hours, and with the cost of leasing a car and filling the gas tank, a 
> bad day means taking a loss. For every moment spent without a paying passenger, the driver loses money. Occasionally, 
> passengers are abusive or violent; nationwide, taxi drivers are over 20 times more likely to be murdered on the job 
> than anyone else.
>
> But taxi driving provides the chance to make a living, however difficult or dangerous or meager – especially for 
> working-class immigrants, who often have limited employment opportunities.
>
> “I have problems with my English,” said Jinder Singh, 55. “I can only drive.”
>
> Twenty years ago, Singh left the Punjab in northern India, where he had worked on a farm, and moved to New York. He 
> followed his brother-in-law into the taxi business, and has been driving ever since.
>
> [snip]
>
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