[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

The ride share industry is here to stay. You can call it Uber, or whatever the names of the companies that move into the industry if Uber was to shut down. This is the way of the future. People can piss and moan, and post whatever they want about unfair pay, CEO did this, short-changing drivers that, and on and on and on, but the day of the taxi cab is done. Cabs will be like newspapers in ten years and that makes me smile from ear to ear because it's the scummiest industry in North America.

The market will decide the fate of Uber and ride share companies, not a bunch of unions pissed off because their monopolies are being broken up. Whatever countries don't have it now, or have forbidden it, will shortly have it. The people want it, and they will complain until they get it. All you have to do is look at Calgary. The people threw enough of a fit that his royal arrogance Naheed Nenshi had no choice but to work with the company and let them into the market. There would still be no Uber today in Calgary if the market didn't demand it.

I keep seeing people posting about the drivers being screwed, well there certainly seems to be a lot of them lining up to being screwed. There's more and more on the streets every day, and i've never once had a single one of them say a negative thing about it when I ask them about it, which I usually make a point of doing. Usual response "I can work when I want, I'm mine own boss, I just do this on the side to supplement income and if I wasn't happy I wouldn't be doing it".

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much...th-these-days/

By THERESA AGOVINO MONEYWATCH April 14, 2017, 5:30 AM
How much is a NYC taxi medallion worth these days?

Just four years ago, the cost to purchase a New York City taxi medallion, an essential license needed to operate a yellow cab, hit $1.3 million. A hefty sum but worth it given the lucrative trade in shuttling New Yorkers around the city’s five boroughs. But not anymore.

The price of a taxi medallion crashed to its lowest level in about a decade when one sold for $241,000 in March. Last year, medallion sales ranged from $325,000 to $750,000. What has happened since 2013? The arrival of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, which are now a competitive force on the city’s streets.

The March sale was just the latest sign of their devastating effect on New York City’s yellow cabs. In January 2017, medallions accounted for 48 percent of total trips logged by yellow taxis as well as cars dispatched by ride-hailing companies. That’s down from 68 percent in January 2016.

Last year, lenders foreclosed on 39 medallions, more than triple the amount in 2015, according to Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) head Meera Joshi. The city controls the number of yellow taxi medallions, capping it for the last couple of years at 13,587.

However, Uber has 51,000 vehicles affiliated with its service, while Lyft has 1,500, according to the TLC.