The Boston City Council agreed today to see if there's anything in the city's taxi regulations they can change that would put the shrinking number of medallion owners on a more equal footing with Uber and Lyft drivers and let them continue driving the streets.
Councilor Frank Baker (Dorchester) requested a hearing on the issue today. Baker cited the plight of individual medallion owners - rather the large fleet owners who had once managed to corner hundreds of medallions before Uber and Lyft move into Boston.
Baker, who said he has had grown men sit in his office and cry, said he would look at whether there are any provisions in the taxi, or "hackney," regulations that could be loosened, because ride-share drivers, who are regulated by the state rather than the city, do not have as many regulatory burdens.
Baker said the BPD hackney unit now has "hundreds of medallions literally just sitting on a shelf now," because there's just no market for the badges now that their prices have crashed from $300,000 to $600,000 before ride sharing to maybe $35,000 today.
Councilor Ed Flynn (South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Downtown) agreed it's a shame what's happened to tax drivers, who he said supported the city when the city was in horrible shape 40 or 50 years ago and that it's time for the city to help them.
"During difficult times in our city, taxi drivers were always there for us," he said. "Now that city is booming, it seems there's no place left for our taxi drivers."
Councilor Andrea Campbell (Dorchester) agreed the council should look at how to help "hardworking dedicated residents and folks who are just looking to get ahead."
She added that "this issue frankly is about justice," because so many cab drivers are people of color and immigrants and because the city failed to help them when the ride-share companies first burst on the scene.
"It is really heart wrenching to hear some of their stories," she said. "They bet their lives on this income to get their child through college, to buy a home."
The next step is for a council committee to call a public hearing on the issue, to let city officials, residents and drivers discuss what could be done.
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Comments
This is a problem
By Ari O
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 10:42pm
The playing field could be leveled, but more importantly, wouldn't it be common sense to require all Uber/Lyft vehicles in Massachusetts to display MA number plates, pay MA excise and registration fees, and have drivers licensed by the Commonwealth? That seems like an easy answer, yet there are scads of Rhode Island, Connecticut and even New York plates driving around (and adding to congestion on the roads when they come in and out). Want to drive a commercial vehicle in Massachusetts? Register it in Massachusetts. Seems simple enough to me.
What happens when you want to
By anon
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 5:17pm
What happens when you want to take an Uber from Providence across the state line? Do they have to dump you at the edge of Pawtucket, so you can walk across to South Attleboro to get a Massachusetts Uber?
Remember Hailo?
By GoSoxGo
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 10:38am
It was pretty similar where you could hail, pay for and track your taxi. I actually used them quite often about five or six years ago. But it was absorbed by a German company called MyTaxi and ceased operations in Boston.
I have used Lyft a couple of times when the T has a meltdown or I have too many parcels to carry, but generally I walk or take the T whenever possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailo
Over the last 5 years I have
By Robin
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 6:04pm
Over the last 5 years I have ever had a taxi that didnt take credit cards.
Me neither
By Smart Arse
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 10:43pm
I also haven't had a taxi driver in more than five years that didn't take credit cards.
But that's because I haven't taken a taxi in more than five years. Thank God.
I've had cabbies refuse my credit card
By mg
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 12:04am
And not tell me until we reached the end of the ride. One then had the chutzpah to complain when I didn't tip him after I told him I wasn't sure I had enough cash.
Oh, they all take credit cards
By fungwah
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 9:26am
You just have to get through the part where they tell you they don't, or its broken, or whatever first. Once you reveal that you know the laws requiring it in Boston though, suddenly it's magically working.
One big thing
By mg
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 4:55pm
That I guess the state would have to do - stop the idiocy of not allowing taxis to pick up fares outside the town/city where they're registered. It's outrageous (not to mention a waste of fossil fuel) that if a Boston cab drops off a fare in Wellesley, they can't pick up anyone until they cross the Boston border. Registrations should be statewide, and calls should be able to reach the nearest taxi to the rider.
That would require a level of
By anon
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 9:09am
That would require a level of coordination that Mass legislators could never do.
Actually...
By ScottB
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 2:01pm
A taxi can pick up a fare in a different municipality -- if the ride is prearranged, just as with Uber and Lyft. They're not allowed to pick up street hails or at a cab stand. And if memory serves, this requirement was driven by Boston cabbies who didn't want the competition from cabs registered in other municipalities where the supply of medallions was less constrained.
The idea that Uber/Lyft are
By CH
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:15pm
The idea that Uber/Lyft are "prearranged" because you tapped a button on a phone to hail it instead of flagging one down or walking up to one at a cab stand is an absurd technicality, and everybody knows it. The features for actually arranging rides in advance are rarely used, which is why both companies used that as an initial Trojan horse business model to get around taxi regulations but moved away from it once they got users. These are ride-hailing companies.
I could easily say that when I wave at a cab and they start to pull towards me, we've "prearranged" for them to drive me somewhere, if just by a few seconds. But that would be silly, right?
One more reason to ....
By Lee
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 4:56pm
... add to the long list of why I hate Uber and Lyft.
Pluses and minuses of taxis
By anony-mouse
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 5:01pm
Don't forget why Uber/Lyft found their niche:
-A horrible, if not corrupt regulation scheme. Remember the fiasco just trying to get taxi's to accept credit cards?
-Horribly run, and likely corrupt taxi companies.
- Taxi drivers who don't know their way around (at Least Uber users GPS) , don't speak English, and talked constantly on their phones.
-Taxi's were extremely hard to find and undependable, especially if you were not near a major thoroughfare or taxi stand.
- My favorite example of this is calling dispatch on a rainy saturday night and they.... just.... didn't... answer. My other favorite example was calling for an airport ride at 5am, dispatcher tells me 10 minutes, and 3 minutes later an irate cabbie is beeping angrily outside my door.
Where taxi's still are the best:
- If you're near a taxi stand. Why call an Uber if you know there is a taxi on the corner?
- Slightly more likely to know where they are going.
Uber/Lyft certainly are not perfect. But to me, Councilors Flynn and Campbell seem to be barking up the wrong tree on this one. if they want taxi's to work better, have them be better.
Contradictions within your post
By Smart Arse
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 10:51pm
Not really. You gave several very good reasons why they're not the best, earlier in your post. Taxi stands are slightly more convenient sometimes (only when the uber/lyft wait is a long time), but their existence does not outweigh all the reasons why rideshares are better, as you desribed.
You'd just gotten finished citing "Taxi drivers who don't know their way around." and that uber/lyft use GPS.
Make rates cheaper than Uber/lyft
By anon
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 5:53pm
In the end it all comes down to money and convenience. As a regular almost daily Uber/lyft user I choose to take a cab when Uber/lyft prices surge 2-3x the regular rate because it’s holiday, your in the middle of no where, or simply cause it’s raining or snowing. Make it known that the taxi rate is cheaper than Uber and people will start hailing taxis again.
As much as I hate Lyft & Uber
By Kathleen Carvalho
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 6:20pm
And the increased traffic & congestion they bring to the city, I remember being denied fare after fare after fare after from Boston cabbies who wouldn't go to Dorchester. A cabbie once stopped short of my destination and asked my 3 year old and I to walk the rest of the way. A little competition is good. They don't refuse my fare anymore.
Fuck 'em
By Wiffleball
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 6:42pm
After years of getting screwed by taxi drivers to go from MGH to Eastie, those guys can go rot in a gutter.
Sympathy for who?
By johnmcboston
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:16am
The taxi industry was broken before rideshares became a thing. Cities (all cities) limiting medallions and (surprise) driving the cost so high regular people can't buy them anymore. Of course limiting medallions at the request of the industry, who wants fewer taxis on the street to gain more profit.
Then there is the poor taxi behavior. We all have stories of drivers refusing to take us to our destination (illegally), taking the long way to get more money from the fare, and poor rides in general. How many times I called and waited an hour plus for a cab to come, only to drive by hotel cab stands with 20 cabs doing nothing, but they wanted to wait for a 'better' fare from a hotel.
The internet comes along and the industry rests on its laurels. The larger companies could have made an uber-type ad for the taxi industry, but they didn't. They could have put aside their differences, worked together and tried to save their industry, but they didn't.
Then ride shares came here. They'll be at your door in minutes with an app showing time and routes. Allowing anyone to drive means the industry itself can deal with high demand as more individuals can get in their card and work an hour or two when there is high demand.
And still the taxi industry did nothing to change themselves. The only did what any business did - lobby lawmakers to kill the competition. Rideshare has it's own problems - not vetting drivers, not handling crime well (oftne not cooperating with police). And the parent companies are still losing money; the whole industry could collapse at any time. Meanwhile it still takes 40 minutes for a cab to show up at my home, and I'll be darned if I can see a cab on the streets to flag down these days.
So where do we go from here? Do we owe our tax dollars to help out the little guy who we screwed over by inflating the price of medallions? Do we take the $7 mil unspent fee rideshare people have been paying to 'help' the taxi industry and buy back medallions and just let rideshares be our taxis?
Never had a cab ride in Boston that was not sub-par....
By Michael Kerpan
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:35pm
... in one way or another. Still can't bring myself to use Uber or Lyft ... yet.
Here's your solution, City Council
By Kaz
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 7:42pm
Since the medallions are no longer the limiting factor, MAKE THEM WIDELY AVAILABLE.
Then, MAKE EVERY "RIDESHARE" DRIVER HAVE ONE AS A LICENSE REQUIREMENT.
Radical, I know...but you want to put them all on the same footing. Now that the scab/pirate market has done what you should have been doing all along, decommoditizing the medallions, you can make them mandatory for every driver and making them unlimited in supply. Make them cost something like $35,000 over 10 years or something ($3500/year payable in installments, for 10 years. After 10 years, no more fees, thanks for being a long-term cabbie). It'd be a money maker for the city and pay for itself between regulatory fees and moving violations for every Uber/Lyft driver without one. The same way "short term rentals" have to register with the city, the "ride share drivers" should too.
If you'd done this 5 years ago, the fat cat medallion owners would have cried about "lost value" but you've let the "market" handle that, haven't you...pressures off of you.
Think about it...Uber/Lyft in order to keep drivers in Boston would have to pay them more or buy their "medallion license" for them.
Instead, we've let Uber/Lyft ignore the hackney laws because they're not "taxis" and de-regulate an entire industry outside of our control, losing public safety, accountability, and revenue in the process and ravage the ones trying to play by the rules.
License all livery drivers, regardless of which app (or no app) they use and let them all play on an even playing field while contributing back to the city in the form of fees and regulated behavior.
Not a bad idea, but...
By Gary C
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 8:35pm
A lot of Uber/Lyft drivers are part time. Having to buy a $35000 medallion would exclude them from the market. Basically only full-timers would be able to afford that and that is not the model that is currently in place.
Fine
By Ari O
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 10:45pm
Then they will have the opportunity to learn the roads and not be in the wrong lane the whole time or cutting across roads at the last minute, etc.
If there's no limit on medallions
By mg
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 12:11am
they won't go for $35K. Have a reasonable fee that's the same for everyone and goes toward funding public transit.
There are good and bad things about both cabs and rideshares. And I've had some great conversations with drivers of both. But with Lyft/Uber, I definitely appreciate knowing how much I'll pay before getting into the car (and therefore no running up the far) and not having to worry about having enough cash.
Solutions
By Anaanaa
Fri, 02/28/2020 - 9:08am
As of now, there are less than 3800 registered licensed taxis in Massachusetts and more than 170,000 Uber/Lift Rideshare vehicles, I believe they should cap the number of Rideshares Vehicles to reduce traffic jam, only MA cars, and MA drivers should operate in MA, Taxis and Rideshare cars should charge the same rate, Taxis should have Credit Card Machines in their cars, all Taxis should have a Booking APP.
This.
By DTP
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 9:13am
This.
I drive for Uber & Lyft (in an NH-registered car too! Take that, Ari!) largely as a way to offset the cost of my commute into Boston. A few hours here and there to pay for parking on days I need to drive in to the office.
The original intent of Uber and Lyft was not for anyone to make it a full-time job. That's why it's called ride-sharing. It was supposed to be random people going somewhere and offering a ride to a stranger along the way. All the new state regulations and requirements are already making that model difficult enough for part-time drivers. If you start requiring they buy medallions, that would essentially kick off any part-time drivers, which I guarantee would significantly impact driver availability at peak times!
Whatever
By Kaz
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 10:36am
$35000/10 years is not even $300/mo. Uber and Lyft could pick it up. Or pay their drivers fairly.
The driver commuting to Boston and then driving around giving rides for a few hours as a side gig to offset their costs is the exception not the rule. Additionally, anyone not driving hardcore probably isn't even actually making money overall given tole on the car, gas wasted deadheading, time lost, etc.
Also, there was nothing about the number I stated that was market tested or anything else. It was just a number. Arguing against it is entirely besides the point of the post.
taxi
By IRA
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 9:46pm
The one main problem is the safety that nobody realizes. Taxi cabs are far safer than the ubers and lyft ..when UBER/LYFT gets a call they are under great pressure to arrive on time. this makes for accidents and dangerous situations. however, a taxi is not going anywhere specific, if he has nobody in the car he is just riding along looking for a pick-up. If there is a passenger in the car the driver really doesn't care how long it takes because after driving to passengers destination, he's going to turn around and possibly go back where he came from or just drive any were...you can see this in another way; when a person is driving without an appoint and when he is driving with an appointment .....Also if insurance companies would take this into consideration taxi rates would be cheaper to be passed on to passengers
Exactly how?
By capecoddah
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 9:46am
I have been driving for five years and have never felt ANY pressure to arrive on time other than common courtesy.
Have I been driving five years pressure-free because I am not aware of something that you are aware of?
In fact
By capecoddah
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 2:38pm
I just thought of this...
Let's say I am 5 minutes late for picking up my Uber client. The client gets all huffy and cancels.
10 bucks for me!
More often than not, that 10 bucks is more than I would have made if I had driven like a madman to arrive on time.
Why would I break laws to get there faster when there is more incentive to obey laws and possibly make money just for almost showing up?
My husband recently died. I
By anon
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 8:45pm
My husband recently died. I am in my 50s and don't drive. I go to work in town every day from Forest Hills to North Station. I know the taxis are always there for me at Foest Hills and am a regular customer on the weekends to do chores when the buses suck especially on Sundays. I've got to know those cab drivers like family and they know me. I know their struggle and tip each one good when my budget allows. Here's to Phillip, Claude. Felix and the gang. They are such kind gentlemen and have given me nonstop condolences for my loss. Keep those guys going strong for their families that they support and their BPD registration stickers next to my head in the passenger window!! ALWAYS there when I need them without even having to use my phone!!
Freddie Langone...
By anon
Wed, 02/26/2020 - 11:04pm
...Boston's taxi drivers turn their lonely eyes to you.
Freddie was the stout defender of hackneys (and hacks, whether people or methods.) Which might have explained why every cab in Boston featured a LANGONE sticker when he was city councilor.
exactly how?and in fact
By IRA
Thu, 02/27/2020 - 9:25pm
maybe you guys don't drive wild but you are admitting that there are drivers from uber and lyft who are driving like mad to be on time
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