Metro

$2.5M taxi medallions bid sets record

The taxi industry made history Thursday with record medallion prices for handicapped-accessible cabs.

The highest bid was a whopping $2.5 million for a pair of medallions — approximately $1,259,000 each — from Richard Chipman of Westway Medallion Sales.

During the last 2008 auction, a pair of handicapped-accessible cabs went for only a little over $1.3 million.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission sold 100 pairs of medallions for handicapped accessible cabs on Thursday.

“People in wheelchairs have historically had no access to the taxi and car service industry,” said TLC Commissioner David Yassky. “We’re finally changing that.”

Currently, passengers can call 311 for a taxi that is handicapped accessible. There are 233 of those cabs on the road.

“The disabled community deserves better taxi service,” said bidder Gene Freidman, who owns the majority of wheelchair accessible cabs in New York City as CEO of Taxi Cab Management. “Now many will get it.”

The medallions sold today are expected to almost double the fleet of handicapped cabs, lowering waits of an average of 14 minutes when riders call 311.

Yassky added that the high medallion prices are a “vote of confidence in the city, and the industry.”

Auction participants submitted their bids during four days this month in sealed envelopes, and their bids were unsealed and posted on a board throughout the day at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Andrew Murstein, president of the Medallion Financial Corporation, said his company wrote commitment letters to finance the bid of 60 other participants.

“Taxis are a lot better than art, real estate,” he said. “We’re pretty bullish on the industry.”

He added that the auction was stronger than he anticipated—with 245 bids for 100 pairs of medallions.

The city plans to auction of 1800 more medallions for handicapped accessible vans over the next three years.

The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade said in a statement that the sale shows there is a market for wheelchair-accessible cabs, and described the auction as a “historic day for yellow taxi service in New York City, particularly for those New Yorkers with wheelchairs.”