Hailing Down a Bailout: The Fight for City Cabs

Although I have sympathy for the taxi owner who is suffering from the competition of Uber, Juno, etc., it should be a wake-up call for the industry (“Imperilled Yellows,” Editorial, Sept. 28).

The app-based car services were able to crush the yellow-taxi industry because service deteriorated so significantly.

Many taxis are dirty, unavailable when you need them (think the shift changeover during rush hour) and a terrible ride. So, although it’s sad, the city shouldn’t bail out medallion owners who made a bad investment. Barbara Mutterperl Manhattan

The Post’s editorial invokes the free market to discuss the taxi industry.

But if we operated in a free market, the government wouldn’t be setting the prices yellow cabs can charge (while Uber is allowed binge pricing).

The government would not dictate the make, model and year of approved vehicles or mandate that taxis must purchase non-hybrid wheelchair accessible vehicles, while Uber drivers purchase any vehicle.

(The government also mandated the removal of taxi-rate stickers off cab doors, eliminating the fare transparency expected by the public.)

At the last taxi-medallion auction, the city gained approximately $350 million.

In exchange for this sale, the government had a moral, social and arguably contractual obligation to prevent others from entering the marketplace, which it failed to do.

The city violated its end of the bargain. The cabdrivers who purchased medallions and borrowed $1 million entered into this arrangement trusting that the city would honor its obligations and protect its partners.

The city built the bureaucracy for a reason, and now it’s failing to protect medallion holders. David Pollack Taxicab Service Association President Haverstraw

The public office that sells medallions must have known that the price was inflated in light of the rapidly developing competition of similar, but essentially unregulated, companies.

The city’s failure to foresee or acknowledge the future of the medallion warrants some compensation. A start would be to pay off the existing debt of those who hold medallions purchased since 2014. Nelson Marans Manhattan