NYC Taxi News' Abe Mittleman, Carolyn Protz & AutoMarketplace's Dawood Mian discuss all things NYC for-hire transportation (TLC), including current events in the industry
Given Yellow ridership being so low, I would suggest removing medallions out of circulation, in other words reduce the medallions thus raising the value of the ones left over.
Clearly the yellow industry doesn’t need 13k medallions anymore and i doubt it will ever get to that again.
Yup, that's a legitimate proposal that we mention in discussion, but Abe and Carolyn more inclined to target reducing FHVs vs. any reduction in long-established medallion figure. Can understand both sides of that argument.
I agree with you because at the beginning of last year we were at 93k cars and the business was decent. If we were to go down to 70-80k cars we will all be able to make a decent living.
Yes, more drivers are likely attracted to yellow cab industry because of lockouts. Probably not playing out as fast as many in taxi industry are hoping, but over time money talks. If earnings in yellow cab industry start going up vs. Uber/Lyft, then they will genuinely have an upper hand (but still an IF at this moment). What do you think re. yellow cab driver earnings going up vs. Uber/Lyft? Do you think that plays out?
Its hard for a FHV who has a financed car to drive Yellow, easier for a fhv renter to make the switch. Unfortunately yellow still has high expenses so its hard to say how much Net profit they are making.
What i will say is that currently FHV drivers are seeing up to a 70% decline in income if they solely rely on Uber and Lyft.
Great point about the psychology of switching being difficult for an FHV driver (especially who owns their vehicle / TLC Plate), very underappreciated point. Let's see re. lockouts, TLC says it's working on somethings 🤷
As a drover for 18 years I have lost all hope in the TLC. The issuance of 10k+ plates last year has set us back YEARS to the point that I will be looking for another job asap unfortunately.
My income from lyft has gone from 4k down to 1k and Uber income has gone down 20-30%. Overall I am projected to make 25-30k less income this year.
If you know anybody hiring please let me know, I have a B.A in business administration and management.
Sorry to hear the impact and will definitely let you know. One thing we might be launching soon is a job board so other bases can post and other automotive-related companies / startups can post open positions to make it easier for drivers to connect to them and vice versa
Yea unfortunately the shift in the industry has been devastating and deflating to say the least. Those drivers who solely rely on Uber and Lyft have seen the most decline in income.
If this continues until year’s end I will easily predict 10-20k drivers quitting. Renters and lease to own drivers will be the first to go, Black and SUV driver operator will be next and then regular x drivers will follow.
I hope this hasn’t or does not affect your small fleet. The commissioner doesn’t know or acts as if he doesn’t know that the TLCs action is affecting everybody in the industry.
The problem with getting the 4k cabs on the road u decrease income to every other cab drover
True, but what do you do with those already issued taxi medallions?
Given Yellow ridership being so low, I would suggest removing medallions out of circulation, in other words reduce the medallions thus raising the value of the ones left over.
Clearly the yellow industry doesn’t need 13k medallions anymore and i doubt it will ever get to that again.
Yup, that's a legitimate proposal that we mention in discussion, but Abe and Carolyn more inclined to target reducing FHVs vs. any reduction in long-established medallion figure. Can understand both sides of that argument.
Caroline is correct, 50k cars have to go to stabilize the supply but tlc keeps adding more each time the car number goes down
Think it's more like 10-20k, but maybe it is 50k! Everyone agrees though that the number needs to go down by a lot!
I agree with you because at the beginning of last year we were at 93k cars and the business was decent. If we were to go down to 70-80k cars we will all be able to make a decent living.
Medallion owners must be happy because lock outs gives yellow cabs an upper hand
Yes, more drivers are likely attracted to yellow cab industry because of lockouts. Probably not playing out as fast as many in taxi industry are hoping, but over time money talks. If earnings in yellow cab industry start going up vs. Uber/Lyft, then they will genuinely have an upper hand (but still an IF at this moment). What do you think re. yellow cab driver earnings going up vs. Uber/Lyft? Do you think that plays out?
Its hard for a FHV who has a financed car to drive Yellow, easier for a fhv renter to make the switch. Unfortunately yellow still has high expenses so its hard to say how much Net profit they are making.
What i will say is that currently FHV drivers are seeing up to a 70% decline in income if they solely rely on Uber and Lyft.
Great point about the psychology of switching being difficult for an FHV driver (especially who owns their vehicle / TLC Plate), very underappreciated point. Let's see re. lockouts, TLC says it's working on somethings 🤷
As a drover for 18 years I have lost all hope in the TLC. The issuance of 10k+ plates last year has set us back YEARS to the point that I will be looking for another job asap unfortunately.
My income from lyft has gone from 4k down to 1k and Uber income has gone down 20-30%. Overall I am projected to make 25-30k less income this year.
If you know anybody hiring please let me know, I have a B.A in business administration and management.
Sorry to hear the impact and will definitely let you know. One thing we might be launching soon is a job board so other bases can post and other automotive-related companies / startups can post open positions to make it easier for drivers to connect to them and vice versa
Yea unfortunately the shift in the industry has been devastating and deflating to say the least. Those drivers who solely rely on Uber and Lyft have seen the most decline in income.
If this continues until year’s end I will easily predict 10-20k drivers quitting. Renters and lease to own drivers will be the first to go, Black and SUV driver operator will be next and then regular x drivers will follow.
I hope this hasn’t or does not affect your small fleet. The commissioner doesn’t know or acts as if he doesn’t know that the TLCs action is affecting everybody in the industry.