When I was in college, I worked as a cab driver to supplement my loan money. It’s a difficult job, with long hours, uncertain income and dangerous conditions—statistically, driving cab is more dangerous than being a cop, firefighter or soldier. I stopped driving soon after another driver in my town was shot.
Haligonians have a difficult relationship with cab drivers, but most of the problems that customers see are endemic to the industry in general: The greatest demand is in inclement weather and at bar closing time, but it doesn’t make sense economically to have enough cabs to serve just those periods. People get frustrated, and that frustration is increased when they run across unprofessional and discourteous drivers.
Still, there are lots of good drivers out there, working full-time to raise families, putting themselves at great risk to deal with the demanding public. These drivers provide a worthy service.
Drivers Al Deslaurier and Dave Buffet came to my office recently to discuss a proposal they are trying to float to city hall: They want to create a medallion system, which they say will give drivers a bit of security they now lack, both in terms of insurance and retirement.
Problem is, once you mention “taxi medallion,” people immediately think of the rotten system in New York City; in that city, every taxi on the road must have a medallion, and the medallions are traded on the open market, for millions of dollars each. The medallions are not owned by drivers, but rather by very wealthy people—doctors, lawyers, bankers, who treat them as investment vehicles. Deslaurier and Buffet will be the first to tell you that system stinks.
Instead, what the pair have done is investigate various forms of taxi medallion systems across North America, and have looked at the academic literature and political contexts in various cities, to see what kind of system works best.
In their proposal for Halifax, medallions would only be given to licensed full-time drivers, of which there are about 1,000 currently. Those drivers could then sell the medallions, but only to other licensed full-time drivers.
Why create a medallion system? As it is now, drivers make so little money that they can’t afford insurance, and when they get shot or stabbed (a driver was stabbed just last week), they’re basically shit out of luck; they have no income.
Same thing with retirement—full-time drivers burn out, reducing their working time as they get in their ’60s and ’70s until they can’t drive anymore, and have nothing besides a car worth a few thousand dollars, if they’re lucky.
The medallion would give them something of value. It’s hard to say what the market price of a medallion would be—Deslaurier and Buffet guess it’d be in the $100,000-$200,000 range. That isn’t a whole lot—price it out over a 20-year retirement, and they’re still struggling. But it’s better than what they have now, which is nothing. The purchase price would be negotiated through an exchange, where a bank would step in to provide loans, because the medallions will have resale value as collateral.
The drivers also say that having the medallion will give them the ability to borrow off it to install safety shields and cameras, reducing their personal risk.
Moreover, the drivers insist this will result in better service, because more people will want to be true full-time drivers, as opposed to part-timers who don’t treat the job as a career.
More accountability, better service, safer drivers with retirement and insurance bennies. It’s hard to see the downside of this, and yet, Deslaurier and Buffet are getting no response from city hall at all—councillors are completely ignoring them. Steve Adams is the default go-to councillor on taxi matters, which the drivers say is a real problem because Adams refuses to hear their proposal. I called Adams up to discuss Deslaurier and Buffet’s proposal, but he wasn’t interested. “They can buy insurance and retirement just like any small business person,” he says.
But drivers can’t get insurance and retirement plans; driving a cab is materially different from having an established storefront that can be sold. The medallion system would provide the equivalent of that storefront, and would bring stability, safety and dignity to a lot of hard working, decent people.
This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.
This will not fix the system – – it will degrade into the system that is described for New York, or what exists in Winnipeg and many other areas.
You want to fix the system? How about a pension system based upon miles driven and contributed by cab companies. More miles, stronger pension. That rewards long-term, full-time drivers- and eliminates the artificial benefit of owning a ‘medallion’. If a driver wants to have something to ‘sell’ when he ends his career, he should start a cab company – not be a driver.
There needs to be legislation in place that all cabs are required to install security shields…I say the companies foot the bill….
Yeah, lets go for the medallion system. Hrm should offer up 2000 “new” HRM taxi licenses at a cost of $25,000 per. No grandfathering,no multiple ownership, those existing licensed taxi drivers have first offer and keep the existing HRM licensing with yearly inspections costing $1000.00. Want to play like the “big” cities, then start coughing up the “big city money”. What no retirement fund? You have been a taxi driver for 30 yrs, shoulda started putting $20.00 a week away years ago!!!
Talk about keeping the drivers poor & the rich in charge !
How is some poor SOB going to afford, stand rent, vehicle expenses, fuel, insurance & pay for a fucking ‘medallion ‘ ?? ? ? ?
No poor S.O.B. person taking a cab job will be able to afford it. So they’ll borrow the money from a bank ????
Like a bank’s going to go for that, unless of course they could reposses & “own” the medallion ~;) they’d be all for that !
But let’s get back to reality
Give me a Fucking break….how many cabbies do you think of the thousand or so you quoted have that kind of coin ?
So in come ‘investors’ & they’ll own it & control it. What needs to happen is that the rules need to change that no one can own more than 1 taxi license. No one who doesn’t drive can own one & rent it or lone it to someone else…what needs to happen is taxi drivers need to stopped being gouged by everyone from Government, to greedy multi license holders, insurance companies, Stands etc.
Why not put .25 cents of every liter of fuel they buy into a ‘pension account’ so they would be paying themselves instead of the Federal & Provincial Gas Tax
That wouldn’t require extra money from anywhere & they could be encouraged by Government to invest in their own ‘pension/RRSP’ plan, on top of that investment.
Something tailored to them , as mentioned they are a necessary component, yet they are woefully over regulated & over taxed.
But that would actually work for them…so it will never happen ! ! !
I’m confused. If cab drivers would have to purchase the medallions from other cab drivers when they retire, they would have to assume a $200,000 bank loan. They would pay this off, and have the asset to sell when they die or retire.
But, they would then be paying a bank a large amount each month to repay the loan no? Why wouldn’t they therefore skip this system, and use their cash flow to fund an RRSP or create a group pension plan for all cab drivers in the city? Why can they afford monthly loan payments but not disability or life insurance?
This doesn’t make sense.
Hey deyounk you missed it….”In their proposal for Halifax, medallions would only be given to licensed full-time drivers, of which there are about 1,000 currently. Those drivers could then sell the medallions, but only to other licensed full-time drivers”…the current drivers with hrm rooflights want the licenses or medallions FOR FREE….never want to pay for anything….they always want FOR FREE!!!
@cloggeddrip, I understand why the current drivers want the medallions, it makes sense. It just doesn’t make any sense for the next generation of drivers at all.
I agree with you fully….most just care about lining their own pockets…that’s part of the problem with the taxi industry….”give it to us free cause we don’t care about the next guy in line”. They should be happy to have a license for $50.00 per year. I know plenty of taxi drivers who have a family and a home with a paved driveway. I also know plenty of license holders who lease out their rooflight and are making a bundle from the poor drivers who are just getting by. It will be a whole different story if the medallions are handed out and then a value is set….first person to come knocking will be revenue canada looking for the taxes every year based on the value…most taxi drivers mean well but they never have any leadership when it comes to the small print!!!
My father drives cab in hrm, he is a dead beat who beat my mother, who deserved it, and never paid any support. I have lived on my own on and off since 13. A few yrs ago I visited him after a decade of avoiding him, he explained how he pays no taxes because of his other two children mother is owed tens of thousands of dollars in support court ordered. Sure let’s give them more incentives they are great, funny how I get nothing while everyone else has their hand out