Marblegate, large investor in NYC taxi medallions, has delayed publicly listing its medallion-related holdings (again). Did Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor Joshi & TLC Chair Do, mess up their bet?
I really like what NYC did with Marblegate! Nothing personal, only business. NYC did same thing with Yellow Industry back in 2013-2014. Many people live was destroyed by NYC. Marblegate just another hedge funds scumbags. I wish Marblegate will be destroyed by NYC !
The real problem was a debt crisis, a yellow cab driver still was making money but they couldn’t service the massive debts they took out based on much higher medallion values. So, the debt restructuring solved for that.
Agree with what you’re saying re. fundamentally improving the taxi industry, but the City loan guarantee was a solution to protect Marblegate’s investment downside that they can use against the City, which in turn might promote more yellow cab-centric policies. This is why Marblegate likely fought hard for this concession, before writing down driver debts.
Letting the yellow cab industry collapse is not politically feasible, given its size and the amount of debt involved on the individual driver level. Many big garages did indeed go bankrupt though
Not only did big big garages go bankrupt but also many individual medallion owners went bankrupt, unfortunately. I believe that the home medallion system needs to be restructured, the expenses of owning an operating a Yellow Cab are way too high, considering how much money drivers are making. If the Yellow Cab industry want to see a combat, they need to tackle the expenses because if they don’t, I’m afraid they aren’t enough passengers to justify the higher expenses.
NYC and the TLC screwed Marblegate (and screw is really a kinder word for the f-word) like it’s nobody’s business but that was the chance you take when you deal with NYC and possibly a very corrupt mayor. I doubt you’ll ever see an IPO up of them. Marblegate should sue NYC, TLC , and the major players and sue big.
Definitely agree yellow cab garages have to make the experience much better, but also think if taxi drivers are making 15%+ more etc drivers will switch (i.e., think about how some drivers start doing CDL trucking work vs FHVs, when there is more money). The way they should market owning a medallion is…no commission (this will resonate with a lot of drivers), no sales tax, lower surcharges etc, but they need to do a better job marketing, delivering a better customer experience and showing that drivers earn more (if that’s true)
So I began driving a Yellow Cab in 2006 and I drove a Yellow Cab for 10 years so I know a thing or two about the business. at that time I was averaging $70,000 a year working 60 hours a week I can’t stress it enough how many times I told my friends and family how much money I was making at the time but even with that said nobody wanted to drive a Yellow Cab because of everything that entails. Now, when Uber came into town, many of those same friends and family members decided to drive for Uber, because of the convenience of having your own vehicle, and not having to rent a car for a shift.
If you conduct the survey today amongst the 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers very few of them will switch over to a Yellow Cab even if they’re making the money
I agree with what you’re saying, especially re picking up street hails / safety. However, you’re assuming the yellow cab industry will not innovate / change how it operates and that medallion prices dropping doesn’t impact interest (if something is cheap enough to buy…). If the industry doesn’t change at all, then you’re going to be right. However, I know firsthand many drivers have been buying/investing in medallions over the last 12 months, so that’s a real counterfactual. Remember, if only 20% of the 80,000 said they’d give it a try, you’d have a healthy industry (as you know only ~13,500 medallions)
I respects your articles and everything but its two different ball games and i can tell u its much easier for a driver to go from Yellow to FHV than the other way around.
I drove a yellow cab for 10 years, i can tell you from firsthand experience that drivers, even if they do make more in a Yellow Cab will not transfer over from FHV vehicle because of the differences inconvenience.
Also, another thing to take into consideration is the fact that most Yellow Cab are rented, and the garage is do a very poor job in maintaining these vehicles
Definitely hear what you’re saying, but we know several people who’ve made the switch. Think it’s different when you own a medallion/own your car (DOV) vs rent everything from a garage. The taxi industry definitely needs to change how it operates, there is no disagreement there. Remember you only need ~20,000/25,000 willing TLC drivers to make the yellow cab industry work again
Yellow will never be what it once was and i think the only way for it to see any sort of comeback wud be if the medallion system is dismantled, street hails is no longer such an advantage as it was before uber
I really like what NYC did with Marblegate! Nothing personal, only business. NYC did same thing with Yellow Industry back in 2013-2014. Many people live was destroyed by NYC. Marblegate just another hedge funds scumbags. I wish Marblegate will be destroyed by NYC !
Remember, Marblegate negotiated a City loan guarantee, so it could get very interesting
Not a solution to the real problem, they should have let the yellow industry collapse
The real problem was a debt crisis, a yellow cab driver still was making money but they couldn’t service the massive debts they took out based on much higher medallion values. So, the debt restructuring solved for that.
Agree with what you’re saying re. fundamentally improving the taxi industry, but the City loan guarantee was a solution to protect Marblegate’s investment downside that they can use against the City, which in turn might promote more yellow cab-centric policies. This is why Marblegate likely fought hard for this concession, before writing down driver debts.
Letting the yellow cab industry collapse is not politically feasible, given its size and the amount of debt involved on the individual driver level. Many big garages did indeed go bankrupt though
Not only did big big garages go bankrupt but also many individual medallion owners went bankrupt, unfortunately. I believe that the home medallion system needs to be restructured, the expenses of owning an operating a Yellow Cab are way too high, considering how much money drivers are making. If the Yellow Cab industry want to see a combat, they need to tackle the expenses because if they don’t, I’m afraid they aren’t enough passengers to justify the higher expenses.
NYC and the TLC screwed Marblegate (and screw is really a kinder word for the f-word) like it’s nobody’s business but that was the chance you take when you deal with NYC and possibly a very corrupt mayor. I doubt you’ll ever see an IPO up of them. Marblegate should sue NYC, TLC , and the major players and sue big.
Remember, they still have the City loan guarantee as well! So, they might be able to use/leverage that very effectively
Unfortunately people fail to realize that drivers would rather driver a FHV than drive a Yellow can even if Yellows were to make more money.
The tide has shifted and people still think they can save the yellow industry smh
Definitely agree yellow cab garages have to make the experience much better, but also think if taxi drivers are making 15%+ more etc drivers will switch (i.e., think about how some drivers start doing CDL trucking work vs FHVs, when there is more money). The way they should market owning a medallion is…no commission (this will resonate with a lot of drivers), no sales tax, lower surcharges etc, but they need to do a better job marketing, delivering a better customer experience and showing that drivers earn more (if that’s true)
So I began driving a Yellow Cab in 2006 and I drove a Yellow Cab for 10 years so I know a thing or two about the business. at that time I was averaging $70,000 a year working 60 hours a week I can’t stress it enough how many times I told my friends and family how much money I was making at the time but even with that said nobody wanted to drive a Yellow Cab because of everything that entails. Now, when Uber came into town, many of those same friends and family members decided to drive for Uber, because of the convenience of having your own vehicle, and not having to rent a car for a shift.
If you conduct the survey today amongst the 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers very few of them will switch over to a Yellow Cab even if they’re making the money
I agree with what you’re saying, especially re picking up street hails / safety. However, you’re assuming the yellow cab industry will not innovate / change how it operates and that medallion prices dropping doesn’t impact interest (if something is cheap enough to buy…). If the industry doesn’t change at all, then you’re going to be right. However, I know firsthand many drivers have been buying/investing in medallions over the last 12 months, so that’s a real counterfactual. Remember, if only 20% of the 80,000 said they’d give it a try, you’d have a healthy industry (as you know only ~13,500 medallions)
I respects your articles and everything but its two different ball games and i can tell u its much easier for a driver to go from Yellow to FHV than the other way around.
I drove a yellow cab for 10 years, i can tell you from firsthand experience that drivers, even if they do make more in a Yellow Cab will not transfer over from FHV vehicle because of the differences inconvenience.
Also, another thing to take into consideration is the fact that most Yellow Cab are rented, and the garage is do a very poor job in maintaining these vehicles
Definitely hear what you’re saying, but we know several people who’ve made the switch. Think it’s different when you own a medallion/own your car (DOV) vs rent everything from a garage. The taxi industry definitely needs to change how it operates, there is no disagreement there. Remember you only need ~20,000/25,000 willing TLC drivers to make the yellow cab industry work again
Yellow will never be what it once was and i think the only way for it to see any sort of comeback wud be if the medallion system is dismantled, street hails is no longer such an advantage as it was before uber