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NEW YORK; The Obscene Side of Restricted Taxi Numbers
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Author:  Brummie Cabbie [ Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  NEW YORK; The Obscene Side of Restricted Taxi Numbers
I have always believed & will always believe in restricted taxi numbers or 'controlled growth' as is the new buzz word. But this is just too far on the wrong side of restricted taxi numbers. .....

Better Than Gold: A Cab Medallion

Aug. 6, 2009

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The value of a taxi medallion in New York City has risen more than stocks and even gold, the president of Medallion Financial said recently.

"It has out performed every index you can think of," company President Andrew Murstein said.

The average prices for one of 13,257 taxi licenses issued by the city depend on the type. The value of an individual license climbed 33 percent since January 2008 to $572,000. For corporate licenses, which allow owners to hire agents to lease out the business, the price has jumped 28 percent to $766,000. USA Today reported Thursday.

Mathew Daus, chairman of the New York Taxi & Limousine Commission, said the price is driven by supply and demand. New York has more than 46,000 cab drivers competing for a strictly controlled number of taxi medallions, Daus said.

The commission caps the weekly leasing fee for a shift in a cab at $800 a week, but driver Zafar Raja said "brokers are doing whatever they want and you can't argue, because there is no job security."

"I know someone who is paying $900 for a single-driver weekly night shift," he said.

Source; upi.com


AND MORE:


Driver Competition Hot As NYC Taxi Medallions Hit $766,000

6th August 2009

NEW YORK — As Wall Street still wobbles under the pressure of a weak economy, one New York asset class stands firmly on all four wheels. Taxi medallions — required licenses fastened to the hoods of all New York City yellow cabs — have rocketed in value at a time when many investments have plummeted. The average rate in July for a corporate-licensed taxi medallion in the Big Apple was a record $766,000 — up 126% from $339,000 in 2004.

"It is an industry that has always gone up," says Andrew Murstein, president of Medallion Financial. "It has outperformed every index you can think of — the Dow, Nasdaq, gold, you name it."

A leader in the industry for years, Medallion Financial owns and leases several hundred medallions and has financed the purchase of thousands more, in Chicago, Boston and elsewhere — but mainly in New York. Many New York drivers, most of whom are immigrants, take out loans from Medallion Financial when buying a medallion.

Under strict control

In a ratio set by law, 40% of New York's 13,257 medallions — a number strictly controlled by the city — are designated for individual, as opposed to corporate, ownership. Individual owners are required to drive at least part time, while corporate owners have the option of hiring an agent to lease the medallion full time for up to $800 a week.

Since the start of 2008, while the stock market was going through its worst decline since the Great Depression, the price of a corporate medallion has jumped 28%, to $766,000; the price of an individual one has risen 33%, to $572,000.

For Murstein, recent price surges are not surprising; medallions have seen an average 15%-a-year appreciation for 70 years, he says.

"Not only do you get that 15% for your price appreciation, you also get rental income," Murstein says.

With the slogan, "In niches there are riches," the company has lent more than $3 billion to the taxi industry in the past decade and recorded no loan losses because it can repossess the medallion if the client doesn't pay. But Murstein says the medallion loans, on which the company currently charges about 6.25% interest a year, give ambitious drivers a legitimate opportunity for ownership.

Matthew Daus, chairman of New York's Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), credits the steady rise in medallion prices to the record numbers of taxi drivers looking for shifts. Currently, there are more than 46,000 cabbies licensed in New York, creating heated competition for the 13,000-plus medallions.

Not everyone is happy with the tight supply of medallions and the ever-rising cost, which is passed on to cabbies who can't afford to buy their own. Driver Zafar Raja, 36, who moved to New York from Pakistan in 1996, says the abundance of drivers has led to rising lease rates that require him and others to work "too many hours" to cover their costs.

"Brokers are doing whatever they want, and you can't argue, because there is no job security," Raja says. "I know someone who is paying $900 for a single-driver weekly night shift."

Daus contends the TLC caps the maximum weekly lease rate at $800. Besides, drivers who are able to purchase their own medallion often make very good livings, Daus says. And if history is any guide, they ultimately can sell their medallion at a healthy profit.

Ownership essential

After more than a decade of leasing a medallion, Victor Salazar, 45, who moved to New York from Ecuador in 1991, took out a loan in 2004 to buy a medallion for $305,000. Salazar, who drives regular night shifts, says owning a medallion is essential to making taxi-driving a career.

"Other drivers have to worry about catching up to pay the lease," Salazar says. "There is a lot of stress. I know, because I used to be one of them."

Daus says the financing provided by Medallion Financial is key for many cabbies to make that transition to ownership, and that the company's mission seems to be "helping people achieve the American dream."

Former New York governor Mario Cuomo, who sits on Medallion Financial's board of directors, agrees.

"There's no question that many immigrants — my parents included — came here without any substantial backing of education or people who could provide funds, or the sophistication required to go into business," Cuomo says. "Being able to own a taxi is a quick way into business. It is an opportunity for them to be their own bosses."

Murstein knows the story well. His grandfather Leon Murstein, an Argentinean immigrant who started the family business decades ago, amassed a fleet of 500 medallions after purchasing his first in Queens in 1937.

Medallions went for $10 that year.

Source; USAToday.com
Author:  toots [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:11 am ]
Post subject: 
Out of curiosity do they have a 2 tier system like we do in so far as there is PH & Medallion drivers?
Author:  Brummie Cabbie [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:24 am ]
Post subject: 
toots wrote:
Out of curiosity do they have a 2 tier system like we do in so far as there is PH & Medallion drivers?

I think they have a single tier taxi system & a thriving limousine section, but I don't know if that is licensed or not.
Author:  toots [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:45 am ]
Post subject: 
Brummie Cabbie wrote:
toots wrote:
Out of curiosity do they have a 2 tier system like we do in so far as there is PH & Medallion drivers?

I think they have a single tier taxi system & a thriving limousine section, but I don't know if that is licensed or not.


Thanks. I think it is the sensible way to be so long as the limos are licenced
Author:  Doom [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:08 am ]
Post subject: 
I see nothing wrong with it myself, if a guy is paying £450 pw for nights he's obviously taking £2000 pw or he wouldn't be doing the job.

In any other business if you want out of it you sell it on as a going concern and nobody bats an eyelid, for some reason a cabby isn't allowed to do this and all because someone originally got it for free, sour grapes, the story is old anyway, I heard 16 years ago the price was a million bucks to buy a NYC cab, the whole issue is because some greedy little climbers in authority want their slice of someone elses cake.
Author:  Jeckle [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:22 am ]
Post subject: 
If I recall correctly, there was an auction for some newly issued NY Medalilons or which the funds received are kept by the city council.
Author:  Doom [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:25 am ]
Post subject: 
Jeckle wrote:
If I recall correctly, there was an auction for some newly issued NY Medalilons or which the funds received are kept by the city council.



Shush, you can't go saying things like that, you know how honest council leaders are. :lol:
Author:  Sussex [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:24 am ]
Post subject: 
Doom wrote:
I see nothing wrong with it myself, if a guy is paying £450 pw for nights he's obviously taking £2000 pw or he wouldn't be doing the job.

But he isn't.

Which is why only immigrants living in sh** conditions will do the job.
Author:  tx_op [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:30 am ]
Post subject: 
Plate Barons NY style eh ??
Author:  Brummie Cabbie [ Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
Jeckle wrote:
If I recall correctly, there was an auction for some newly issued NY Medalilons or which the funds received are kept by the city council.

Wasn't that Chicago?
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