>Apparently people thought auction was the "least worst" way
Auctions only confirmed the intrinsic value of medallion in that system - $2K/month rent pay for a medallion in SF before the auctions corresponds to something like $200K value of a rent-generating asset.
>Once we've decided on having some sort of system to limit the number of taxis
exactly, protecting monopoly as such a limit has nothing to do with consumer safety.
Edit: just googled - the medallion price in NY is $1M and in SF - $300K. Sorry for using obsolete data (holy macrel what a nice exponentially looking price ride of recent 3 years Uber has killed : http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/06/chart-of-the-day-nyc-taxi-m... )
I believe that's historically what caused the first introduction of such a system, in London some centuries ago: residents complained there were too many hackney carriages driving around the streets, and wanted them limited to a fixed number. (They also wanted them better maintained and more safely driven, which led to additional rules.)
Auctions only confirmed the intrinsic value of medallion in that system - $2K/month rent pay for a medallion in SF before the auctions corresponds to something like $200K value of a rent-generating asset.
>Once we've decided on having some sort of system to limit the number of taxis
exactly, protecting monopoly as such a limit has nothing to do with consumer safety.
Edit: just googled - the medallion price in NY is $1M and in SF - $300K. Sorry for using obsolete data (holy macrel what a nice exponentially looking price ride of recent 3 years Uber has killed : http://www.aei-ideas.org/2014/06/chart-of-the-day-nyc-taxi-m... )