Taxi drivers owe hundreds of thousands in debt they'll never be able to repay due to the collapse of the taxi market. Plus, taxi drivers have historically saved nothing for retirement, using all their money to service their medallion debt with the expectation it would be paid-off by the time they retire and they can then resell the medallion for post-retirement income. As a result, many may only have access to Social Security after reaching retirement age.
Traffic ground to a halt on two New York City bridges on Thursday as fleets of yellow cab drivers joined in a call for debt forgiveness amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has decimated the already struggling industry and left many drivers in crisis.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcev ... 18b66111e3
By 2014, the city was selling taxi medallions for as much as $1.3 million each, telling buyers that the investment was “ better than the stock market.” But the arrival of Uber and Lyft tanked their value to as low as $130,000. Last year, reports surfaced that industry and city officials had artificially inflated the medallion prices, partly by loosening regulatory restrictions.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/11/nyc-taxi- ... be-250000/
