2 cents on the outer borough livery plan

I have no dog in this fight, but...

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to license a new class of taxis that would be permitted-- for the first time-- to accept street hails in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan has passed in the state assembly. Predictably the medallion and fleet owners are scrambling. The Senate has yet to act.

Medallion owners are predicting the destruction of their industry. That may be overstating it, but they are right to attempt to protect their investments in medallions which they purchased under the existing rules for as much as $750K.

I think they have a point: When the OB liveries take a fare from Brooklyn to say 34th Street, do you think they will then head back to Brooklyn? I think they will more likely poach a Manhattan fare (something many liveries do already). To do so may be illegal. But who will stop them, especially when customers become accustomed to hailing these OB cabs?

That's the real issue as I see it. If they OB cabs were truly confined to the OBs, then it might not hurt the yellows. But even now livery cabs take illegal Manhattan street hails. Under the new plan, this could get a lot worse. And the yellow cab drivers' earnings will be undermined, with the value of the yellow medallions withing in the wake.

Also, the TLC is also building its empire here. The 30,000 OB street-hail cabs is big new opportunity for regulation.