NEW YORK CITY: Cabbies Sue Over Uber

Taxi owners and their creditors yesterday sued New York City and the Taxi & Limousine Commission, claiming that Uber is destroying their business. CNBC reports:

The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court accused the defendants of violating yellow cab drivers’ exclusive right to pick up passengers on the street by letting Uber drivers who face fewer regulatory burdens pick up millions of passengers who use smartphones to hail rides. According to the complaint, the number of Uber rides in the “core” of Manhattan increased by 3.82 million from April to June 2015 compared with a year earlier, while medallion cab pickups fell by 3.83 million. They said this had driven down the value of medallions, which yellow cab drivers need to operate, by 40 percent from a peak exceeding $1 million and caused more defaults. Uber’s rise also contributed to the July 22 bankruptcy of 22 companies run by taxi magnate Evgeny Freidman, and the state’s Sept. 18 seizure of Montauk Credit Union, which specialized in medallion loans, the complaint said.

The plaintiffs include three credit unions which collectively have loaned $2.4 billion to medallion holders.