Taxi Medallion Prices Are Plummeting, Endangering Loans

by

Ride-sharing apps are distressing traditional cab companies (and their debt).

There’s a good reason your cab driver is so cranky: His livelihood might be teetering on the edge of default. According to a recent presentation prepared for Capital One Financial Corp. investors, some 81 percent of its $690 million in loans for taxi medallions are at risk of default.

Medallions, the small metal shields affixed to the hoods of taxi cabs, are issued by the local taxi authority and effectively allow the cabs to operate legally. Owning one used to be akin to owning a gas-guzzling, money-printing machine. Medallions in New York City traded at more than $1 million in 2014, but today’s prices are about half of that.

Now the share of taxi medallion loans Capital One thinks its borrowers won’t be able to repay in full has nearly tripled over the past year, to 51.5 percent. (Another 29 percent of loans are to stressed borrowers who could be in trouble soon.)

Read more

Port Authority proposes $4 ‘access fee’ for taxi trips to city airports

by

Taxi rides to and from LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Newark airports could soon get more expensive if Port Authority has it their way. In a new proposal, the agency is calling for a $4 “access fee” that would require all passengers being picked up and dropped off via car service, including Uber and Lyft. The money would then be used to fund airport enhancements, like a new taxi dispatch system, reports the NY Daily News (h/t Gothamist).

Though every other major airport in the country has a similar surcharge in place, the proposal is already being met with fierce opposition. In a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, public advocate Letitia James called for the Port Authority to abandon the proposal, stating that the $4 fee would create even more of a burden for New Yorkers.

“At a time when access to New York City’s airports is already limited, the Port Authority should be focused on improving public transportation options, not increasing burdens on consumers,” James said.

Read more

Fed-up taxi industry threatens to yank wheelchair-accessible cabs

by


The flailing yellow-cab industry appears to be trying to blackmail the city into bailing it out — threatening to yank its wheelchair-accessible cabs off the street.

David Beier, president of the Committee for Taxi Safety, which represents 20 percent of the city’s yellow-taxi medallion agents, told The Post that medallion owners are near the breaking point.

He claims the industry’s financing is in jeopardy because a major medallion lender was taken over by state authorities last week. And owners gripe that app-based competitors, such as Uber and Lyft, are getting a free ride regarding regulations.

“Without the necessary financing in place, there may be no choice but to shut down the entire accessible-taxi program within months,” Beier said, referring to the city’s more than 1,400 specially equipped cabs.

Hundreds of standard cabs could follow suit because of the plummeting values in the taxi-medallion market, industry advocates said.

Read more