The value of the once-vaunted New York City taxi medallion has dropped by more than 40 percent in recent months and will soon become “worthless” unless the city puts the brakes on Uber, a new lawsuit charges.
Melrose Credit Union, a major medallion-financing agent, which filed the suit in Queens Supreme Court, claims that, as of May 31, delinquencies across its medallion-loan portfolio totaled nearly $168 million, with struggling taxi owners unable to pay.
“Unless the TLC immediately begins enforcing medallion owners’ exclusive right to hails” and compels “companies like Uber to stop illegally accepting E-hails, the value of the taxicab medallions will continue to drop until it becomes worthless,” Melrose supervisor Lawrence Fisher said in an affidavit.
The value of the medallions steadily rose each year from 2011 through 2014, topping out at $1.05 million last year before plunging to $800,000 this past January as Uber has lured drivers away, according to Taxi & Limousine Commission data.
Only a fraction of Uber’s trips go through its yellow-cab service, uberT. Most are done through its other services and use black cars — which aren’t allowed to make street hails.
Taxi drivers and their supporters have long maintained that the Uber model is nothing more than an electronic, modern-day street hail that’s taking money out of their pockets.
Cabby Jaswinder Singh, 44, says he is having trouble paying the mortgage on his medallion despite working 12 hours a day, seven days a week because he can’t find second-shift drivers.
“No drivers want to because they go to Uber,” he said after a Queens court hearing Monday.
Singh said the bank seized his medallion in April.
Last month, taxi king Gene Freidman — who controls 900 yellow-cab licenses — hatched an 11th-hour deal with Citibank to prevent the seizure of his medallions. Citibank had sued Freidman in March to foreclose on 90 medallions to recoup $31 million in overdue debt.
Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory