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by tptacek 5769 days ago
Come on, Patrick. American Taxi is pretty much the cab company for all of the Chicago suburbs. You think they do 40k fares to/from ORD? That's 500 fares an hour.

There's a difference between airport taxi service by chauffeur-licensed drivers dispatched by a branded cab company (with something to lose if drivers misbehave) and "I signed up with 1 of 5 different companies that dispatch cabs with iPhones".

I don't have prove that the Chicago medallion system is sensible; I'm only objecting to the notion that there is no valid concern behind them other than for-profit restraint of trade. There are absolutely valid concerns behind medallions. Go to an NYC airport or outside Penn Station and find an unlicensed cab; take 10 drives, and tell me how many of them try to screw you over. Do the same thing with medallion drivers; none of them will.
2 comments
three14 5769 days ago
In NYC, my experience with unlicensed cabs at airports is limited, but every time they did try to take advantage.

However, I had much more experience with unlicensed cabs in Washington Heights (north end of Manhattan, where licensed cabs refuse to cruise around to get business) and I never remember anyone trying to rip me off. Much of the time this wasn't with calling any specific company, just flagging down (illegally) whichever car was passing.

I think there's just too much money to be made from unsuspecting tourists at NYC airports.

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CWuestefeld 5768 days ago
Medallions serve to limit who is allowed to provide the service. There is no need for this limitation in order to ensure honest service.

For example, cabs could earn (and risk losing) a "Good Cabdriving Seal". There's no need for the quantity of such seals to be artificially limited: they could be unlimited, but only awarded to those that prove worthy.

And while we're at it, the agency doing the certification need not be a government agency at all. Why not Good Housekeeping, or Underwriters Laboratories, or Better Business Bureau?

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maxawaytoolong 5768 days ago
Only the government has authority to do something to the cab driver, though. The Better Business Bureau can't tell you to stop driving your cab.

The medaillion system is weird, but it works in new york.

The people who think that the invisible hand of the market would improve cab service are awesomely naive. The reason why cabs aren't fucked up in NYC is because of all the regulations, which can only be enforced because the cabbies have something to lose (the mediallion). If there was no government interference, cabs still wouldn't take credit cards, they wouldn't pick up non-white people, they wouldn't drive you to Brooklyn, they would form their own cabal and eventually rip out their meters and just make up whatever price they wanted to charge you, once you got there.

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CWuestefeld 5768 days ago
You're only saying that they work in NYC because you're taking for granted all of the failures. For example, how many times have you said "where's a cab when you need one?"?

because of all the regulations, which can only be enforced because the cabbies have something to lose

You think that the loss of the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval", or "UL Certification", or the like is nothing? Don't you think that potential customers would quickly learn to look for that emblem on a cab?

If there was no government interference, cabs still wouldn't

Nonsense. You're just making stuff up, without the slightest evidence. Do you really believe that cab customers would turn away paying customers just because they're not white? And even if they did, that would just open an opportunity for a minority-catering company to make a killing.

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maxawaytoolong 5768 days ago
For example, how many times have you said "where's a cab when you need one?"?

In Manhattan? Never. (but I've never tried to get a cab in Harlem or north of that)

You think that the loss of the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval", or "UL Certification", or the like is nothing? Don't you think that potential customers would quickly learn to look for that emblem on a cab?

Are you serious? The only thing people look for is if the cab is yellow.

Nonsense. You're just making stuff up, without the slightest evidence.

I'm not just making stuff up, those are all things that cab drivers used to do until the city told them to stop doing those things.

Do you really believe that cab customers would turn away paying customers just because they're not white?

Yes.

And even if they did, that would just open an opportunity for a minority-catering company to make a killing.

Do you live in New York? There already are car services, livery cars and gypsy cabs.

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