RIDEGURU
The Auction Flop (via Chicago Dispatcher)
Think this is a real death-rattle for the cab industry...
Median Taxi Medallion Price in Chicago Down to $26,500
Posted 5 years, 2 months ago
Posted In
Angry Drivers
Passengers from hell? Complaints or suggestions for Uber and Lyft? Glaring problem with the industry? Do you have stories of your horrible experiences with rideshare services? Leave your comments here and share your stories.
Posted By
Dmitry Samarov (Samarov)
1448
Rider
Ride Scholar from Chicago, Illinois
Retired Cabdriver, Chicago
I write dog portraits and paint book reviews in Chicago, Illinois. You can see more of my work than anyone would ever want to at http://dmitrysamarov.com.
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Comments
This is what happens when standards are lowered and I'm deeply sorry for Medallion taxi owners. No ride share app should be cheaper a yellow taxi especially when we are providing door to door service
I agree with you though don't rideshares also provide "door to door service". Not sure what you are getting at with that statement.
Rideshare is door to door.sorry for confusion. There were too many under the table envelopes but their day will come and they will answer.
Crazy. Anyone know what they were worth at their height?
From what I've read, at their peak, over a million dollars in value at their peak in New York, but I haven't reviewed anything regarding Chicago. Most taxi drivers considered their medallion their retirement fund. I'm sure they'd never dreamed it could possibly decline - until Uber came on the scene.
I wonder if there are any taxi drivers out there who saw the writing on the wall and got out in time. I don't think I would have. When Uber started it was just black cars. No big deal. Then Uber X came on the scene and took over so fast. You'd have to be really gutsy to see that coming and sell quick enough.
300-400k, I think.
huh not as high as I thought. Why were NYC cabs soo high? I would think Chicago would have been similar. Did you ever own a medallion?
Chicago is much cheaper in cost of living so medallions never approached the million mark like NYC.
No, I never owned a medallion, nor ever considered buying one. I'm a painter and writer; driving was always just a day-job.
Wowza. 90%+ decline in just a few years. Just goes to show how much the artificial limiting of medallions propped up the whole taxi industry. It's no wonder Uber was able to swoop in and take over... Sad story.
385k in 2012. In 2020 they've dropped to around 50k.
Man, there is like 5 people at that auction. That picture is so depressing. reminds me of some poor souls funeral.
This was many peoples retirement plan 😢
Back in the day calling for a cab in Chicago if you lived close to the 'burbs was always a massive crap shoot. For a start, if someone tried to hail a cab on it's way to us, the driver would invariably take the hailer and leave us high and dry without our knowledge. Complaints got you nowhere.
Also, I used to live in the only part of Chicago (Montclare and Galewood) that did not have a 606xx zip code - it is 60707, shared with Elmwood Park. I'd call for a cab and the dispatcher would tell us (wrongly) we were in the 'burbs with that zip code and he can't send a cab. So then we'd call the suburban cab company which would then tell us that they couldn't do the job if the destination wasn't in the suburbs. What a pain.
Upshot - the unprofessional taxi cab industry in Chicago fully deserved to be eclipsed by rideshare apps.
I always had similar experiences with cabs, they had no regard for their customers and got what was coming to them.
Once I was running late for my train (because my scheduled cab ride was late!!) and the driver had the audacity to still pick up another passenger who hailed him down off the street (supposedly he was a regular) and drop him off first! I was so pissed.
Yes, you gotta feel bad for the individual taxi medallion owner.
BUT, when medallions are vacuumed up by speculators and , later, hedge funds - that's when the sympathy evaporates. All the speculators medallion market did was increase the cost of a cab ride, with zero benefit to both drivers and riders.
Oh gosh. What a failure on the law makers to let this happen.
Holy cow, this is so sad. I know is NYC these medallions were going for over a million just a few years ago. I would imagine Chicago wasn't that far off.
Medallion lets you pick up street hails. Smart phones killed street hails. Street hails are dead, forever. So, this makes sense.
But I feel really bad for the people who got screwed in this. Some really tragic stories out there.