Imperilled Yellows

New York City’s yellow-cab industry, its business undercut by e-hail services like Uber and Lyft, has been demanding a government bailout for some time. Thanks to the City Council, it may just get it.

As The Post’s Danielle Furfaro reported Tuesday, the council’s Transportation Committee is weighing restrictions and surcharges on the ride-sharing apps.

We understand the yellow cabs’ pain, but this is the wrong way to go.

Medallion owners once thought they’d found the ultimate cash cow, as the price — thanks to a rigidly enforced monopoly — soared as high as $1.3 million on an investment that cost some less than $100,000.

But it was still an investment — and where the free market is concerned, there are no guarantees. Nor should there be.

Owners were unprepared when ride-share apps came along, allowing you to rapidly get a ride at a decent price without having to stand in the street searching for a vacant taxi.

Competition has been great for passengers — but taxi medallions are now all but unsalable, their value having plummeted through the floor.

Even Mayor de Blasio — who, having received mega campaign bucks from the yellow-cab industry, once tried to squelch Uber, only to be rebuffed by public opinion — opposes an industry bailout.

Besides, the city has taken a hit, too: It still holds some 1,600 medallions it can’t sell.

But while a surcharge-based bailout might ease some fiscal pain, it can’t protect the traditional taxi industry from the advance of technology, to which it must adapt. Nor will imposing strict regulations on Uber.

Uber’s success proves passengers want the ease of push-button hails. That’s why the city’s black-car services adapted by going the app route.

But crippling Uber to bail out the yellows — and essentially prop up an obsolete licensing system — makes no sense.