🚕♿ Upfront Medallion Owner WAV TIF Payments Increasing
Second public hearing related to medallion owner wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) TIF payments maintain increased upfront payment and reduces annual operational payments by $1,000 (vs. $3,000)
NYC TLC public hearing will discuss making upfront yellow cab pricing permanent and review new payment proposals for medallion owners who hack up wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV)
Hearing will take place this Wednesday, May 8th at 10am via Zoom or by dialing-in. There will be no in-person hearing
Part 1 (click here)
Part 2
Taxi medallions can be grouped into five categories: SELECTED, NON-SELECTED, ALTERNATIVE FUEL, PERMANENT WAV, MINI-FLEET
The Taxi Improvement Fund (TIF) and Street Hail Livery Improvement Fund (SHLIF) collected ~$36 million in 2023 and distributes the majority of this money to NYC taxi drivers and medallion owners to promote the use of wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV)
⚠️ There seems to be a major typo in 2023 NYC TLC TIF report related to total TIF and SHLIF trip surcharges collected
WAV TIF payment proposal calls for upfront medallion owner payment of $20,000 (vs. $14,000), but operational payments will decrease by $1,000 per year
An owner of two or fewer medallions will be able to get upfront TIF payment before purchasing a WAV, which dealerships will appreciate
TLC is proposing WAVs not have a retirement age requirement (currently 7 model years) and allowing pre-owned WAVs to be attached to medallions
Regulator wants to eliminate use of loopholes and make clear what vehicle rules medallion owners must follow
There will be a NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) public hearing this week, Wednesday, May 8th at 10am. The meeting will be virtually hosted and accessible via Zoom or by dialing-in. There will be no in-person meeting.
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How to speak during TLC hearing?
To participate in the public hearing, please e-mail the TLC at tlcrules@tlc.nyc.gov or call TLC at 212-676-1135 by 5:00pm on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. If you need any assistance or accommodation (i.e., sign language interpreter) you should mention that in your sign-up email or if you call the TLC to sign-up.
After you have signed-up to speak, TLC will provide you with a Zoom link or dial-in via phone number if that’s you preference.
You can also submit comments via:
🖥️ NYC Rules website at www.nyc.gov/nycrules
📧 Email at tlcrules@tlc.nyc.gov
📬 Physical mail to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Office of Legal Affairs, 33 Beaver Street – 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10004
📠 Fax at 212-676-1102
How to attend TLC hearing?
The TLC hearing will be livestreamed on TLC’s website (https://www.nyc.gov/tlc).
Relevant public hearing attachments for Wed, May 8th (Part 2)
The part of this Wednesday’s (May 8th, 10am), TLC public hearing we will focus on for today’s article are new proposals related to medallion owner reimbursement payments (Taxi Improvement Fund (TIF)) for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). We will also briefly discuss other WAV-related proposals.
🚕🪙 Taxi Medallion Basics
Before we start speaking too technically, let’s go over some taxi medallion basics.
NYC taxi medallions are generally grouped into five categories.
🚕♿🪙 SELECTED (“First car WAV”) Medallion: Requires the first vehicle attached to a taxi medallion to be a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV). The vehicle must be a WAV for a minimum number of 4 years. The medallion owner receives compensation for attaching their medallion to a WAV (we overview that below). After 4 years, the medallion owner can attach a non-WAV (becomes a “NON-SELECTED” Medallion). The third vehicle must be a WAV (Note: even if the second non-WAV gets into an accident and is totaled). The fourth vehicle can be non-WAV. So on and so forth.
🚕🪙♿ NON-SELECTED (“First car regular”) Medallion: Allows a medallion owner to attach any vehicle to their taxi medallion in the first vehicle cycle. After the first vehicle is retired, then the medallion must be attached to a WAV (becomes a “SELECTED” Medallion). The medallion owner receives compensation for attaching their medallion to a WAV. The third vehicle can be non-WAV, fourth vehicle must be WAV. So and so forth.
🚕🪙🍃♿ ALTERNATIVE FUEL (“First car hybrid”) Medallion: Requires the first vehicle attached to a taxi medallion to be a hybrid or EV. After the first vehicle is retired then the medallion must be attached to a hybrid (or EV) WAV (becomes a hybrid (EV) “SELECTED” Medallion). The medallion owner receives compensation for attaching their medallion to a WAV. The third vehicle can be hybrid (or EV), fourth vehicle must be hybrid (or EV) WAV. So on and so forth. Note, currently there are no fully electric WAVs being sold in North America.
🚕♿🪙PERMANENT (“All the time”) WAV Medallion: A medallion owner must attach a WAV to their taxi medallion. The medallion owner receives compensation for attaching their medallion to a WAV.
🚕🚕🪙🪙♿ MINI-FLEET: This is actually two medallions where one vehicle must be a WAV and the other can be non-WAV. The Mini-Fleet owner receives compensation for attaching one of their medallions to the WAV. Mini-Fleets can also be split into two “SELECTED” Medallions.
🚕♿ Getting Paid For A WAV: Taxi Improvement Fund (TIF)
Now that we’ve laid out NYC taxi medallion basics, let’s briefly go over how taxi medallion owners are reimbursed for purchasing a WAV. The reimbursement money primarily comes from the Taxi Improvement Fund, or TIF.
What is TIF?
In 2014, the TLC passed rules to create TIF and the Street Hail Livery Improvement Fund (SHLIF). The funds were created as part of an overall strategy by the regulator to increase the number of accessible NYC cabs.
How is TIF funded?
TIF (and SHLIF) payouts are funded by surcharges on every taxi trip. About 18 months ago, the TIF surcharge more than 3x’d from $0.30 to $1.00 as part of a long overdue taximeter increase.
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2023 TIF Overview
The TLC recently published a 2023 TIF report for City Council.
In this report, the regulator disclosed how much money was collected via TIF and SHLIF and how much was distributed to medallion owners, TLC-licensed taxi drivers and payments made related to accessible dispatching.
⚠️ The 2023 TIF total in the TLC’s report appears to have a major typo.⚠️
Summing up the TIF total ($35.58 million) and SHLIF total ($417,606), does not equal $19.72 million? 🤔🤷In all other years, adding the TIF and SHLIF columns equals the total collections. We believe the error is in the 2023 total as the TIF distributions are closer to the combined collection figure of $36.00 million.
According to the TLC, as of December 31st 2023, the TIF program enrolled a total of 10,779 drivers, of which 9,836 have received at least one payment. In 2023 there were 4,365 individual drivers who participated in the program. The TIF program reported 5,975 medallions enrolled, and paid 4,039 medallions to purchase and operate accessible taxicabs.
“Accessible Dispatch Costs” are related to a centralized service that enables passengers (customers) to request a wheelchair accessible taxi for a pick-up anywhere in NYC’s five boroughs. Customers can contact 311, use a smartphone app, or call the dispatcher directly to request an accessible yellow or green taxi.
TIF Payouts To Taxi Drivers & Medallion Owners
TIF payouts are meant to incentivize yellow cab / green taxi drivers and medallion owners to use WAVs to help meet vehicle accessibility requirements (i.e., 50% of yellow cabs must be WAVs).
💰 NYC yellow cab / green taxi drivers get paid:
$1.00 per trip they conduct in a WAV
According to the TLC, this usually results in drivers receiving between $100 to $200, every two weeks.
💰 NYC taxi medallion owners are reimbursed:
For the initial upfront capital cost to convert a vehicle into a WAV or to purchase a “ready-to-go” WAV
For “operational payments” to compensate them for the additional costs of maintaining a WAV
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Per the table above, the current medallion owner TIF financial incentives are:
$14,000 upfront reimbursement for “hacking up” a WAV
$16,000+ in total operational payments: $4,000 per year (or $1,000 per quarter) in operational payments for four years (& beyond)
Therefore, the total nominal (not inflation adjusted) value of TIF benefits might be seen as $30,000 (4 years) to $42,000 (7 years)
This Wednesday’s TLC public hearing (May 8th, 10am) will discuss proposed changes to medallion owner TIF payments, which we overview next.
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*NEW* TIF Payment Proposals
This is the second public hearing about revised TIF payouts for taxi medallion owners. The first hearing took place in November 2023. At that time the TLC proposed increasing the initial “hack-up” payment to $20,000 (from $14,000), but reducing the annual TIF operational payments to $1,000 (from $4,000)! 👀
Thankfully, the regulator seems to have incorporated some public feedback in its newly revised TIF payout proposals. The TLC is now proposing annual operational payments will decrease to $3,000 (from $4,000).
Under the new TLC proposals medallion owner TIF financial incentives are:
$20,000 upfront reimbursement for “hacking up” a WAV
$12,000+ in total operational payments: $3,000 per year (or $750 per quarter) in operational payments for four years (& beyond)
Therefore, the total nominal value of TIF benefits might be seen as $32,000 (4 years) to $41,000 (7 years)
TLC is also requiring drivers to complete 500 qualified trips per quarter (vs. 250), in order for the medallion owners to receive payouts
Although the total value of TIF payments to medallion owners is effectively remaining the same, the payments are more front-loaded, which is more valuable (i.e., net present value of cash flows or $1 today is worth more than $1 two years from now).
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Additional Thoughts Ahead Of Hearing
Other noteworthy proposals ahead of the hearing, include:
An owner of two or fewer taxi medallions being able to receive the $20,000 upfront “hack up” TIF payment before they purchase a WAV. This will be welcome news for dealerships who expressed concerns in a November 2023 public hearing related to TLC TIF payment timings
Having no vehicle retirement date for new or used WAVs that are hacked-up
Adding passenger assistance and WAV training requirements when a TLC driver renews their license
Another, fairly technical, point worth mentioning is that if a non-accessible vehicle (non-WAV) needs to be replaced earlier than planned, it can only be replaced with a WAV. For example, let’s say a medallion owner attached a Toyota RAV4 to their NON-SELECTED (“First car regular”) Medallion, but then the vehicle is totaled in Year 2. Although the medallion owner could have technically run the non-WAV RAV4 for another 5 years, they must replace the vehicle with a WAV.
Alternative Fuel Medallion Owner Disappointment
Finally, it’s also worth briefly mentioning that since all Toyota Siennas are hybrid and can be converted into WAVs, many owners of ALTERNATIVE FUEL (“First car hybrid”) Medallions, might have not expected they would need to abide by accessibility requirements (at least so early on).
We will write more extensively on this topic in another article.