New laws, if passed, would prevent the sale of licenses for taxi in new-York from the suspicious brokers.
On Monday, members of the city Council will introduce a package of bills to put an end to onerous or predatory lending to people wishing to obtain a license to operate a taxi or the so-called medallion or CPNC. The fact that this practice has left thousands of owners of taxi medallions in new York, with ruinous debts.
Under the new proposals, brokers that sell the medallions will be required to provide more information about yourself, including your fingerprints. The bills would also allow the Commission for taxi and limousine new York city (TLC) eliminate the ability of brokers to engage in sales, if they have a criminal record.
In addition, the bills would require that TLC controlled the purchase or transfer a taxi license, and created a new office within the TLC to report on the state of the taxi industry in the city.
In 2014, dozens of medallions sold for approximately $800 thousand, but not a single piece was sold at a price higher than $500 thousand since the beginning of 2018. Inflationary prices, boosted by controversial lending practices, has created a revival in the prices of medallions in the early 2010s, explain industry experts. It is reported that the income of taxi drivers dropped after going on stage in 2014, Uber and Lyft.
New York recently imposed tighter regulation of Uber, Lyft and similar companies. However, members of the city Council believe that to solve you need to make more effort.
The Council Committee on transportation will hold a meeting on Monday to consider the proposed bills. At the meeting, members of the city Council should discuss the role of the representatives of TLC in crisis with licenses for taxi.
Ydanis Rodriguez, Chairman of the Committee, said: «the Crisis of yellow taxi medallions and a crisis similar to the MTA – it did not happen over night. This meeting will be only the beginning. We want to delve into the issue, to see how TLC all the time monitoring the situation».
Employees of TLC are preparing for the shake-up in the following months. Last week, mayor bill De Blasio announced the appointment of Jeff Roth to be the next Commissioner of the Agency.
