For the first time in six years the city auctioned taxi medallions for yellow cab drivers on Wednesday and the winning bids ranged up to a record-setting $965,000.
“I’ve been waiting for this for years. I missed out the last time,” said Sadar Jaman, 44, who emigrated from Bangladesh 22 years ago and has been a cabbie for ten years.
Jaman, who drives the day shift, and his partner, M.D. Islam, who works nights, agreed on a bid of $910,013, financed with the help of a broker. They are on the hook for $105,000, which they are splitting – but Jaman said it’s a solid investment.
“People come here from all over the world and the first thing they want to do is become a taxi driver,” said Jaman, who is married, with two children and lives in Jackson Heights, Queens. “Everyone comes here for a different dream, a better life, to give my children a better life.”
The arithmetic for Jaman and Islam was simple: “We pay $7,000 a month to rent and with the medallion we’ll pay six thousands in mortgage. So we keep one thousand that we can use to maintain the car.” Now, Jaman can think about his post-cabbie days. “If I want to retire in ten years it’s easier if I have a medallion.”
And the value of a medallion keeps going up.
The city put on the auction block 168 medallions – the right to drive a yellow cab – for wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
The minimum bid was $650,000, and only yellow cabbies could bid. That’s quite a jump from the last individual auction, in 2008, when the minimum was $189,000.
In Wednesday’s auction, the city received 297 bids and the winners ranged from $965,000 to $805,201.97.
In 2008, the lowest winner was a mere $226,000 and the highest bid was $413,000.
“I’m excited. This is a life changer,” said another of Wednesday’s winners, Dimitrios Giannios, 31, whose bid of $905,000 was the 20th highest overall.
Would-be owners had to submit sealed bids in advance. “It was nerve-wracking. It was hard for me to work the past few days,” said Giannios, who is married, with two children and lives in Rockaway.
The actual market value of a taxi medallion is over $1 million. Last November the city auctioned off 100 pairs of wheelchair-accessible medallions – but it was open to fleet owners. The top bid was $2.3 million for a lot of two medallions.
Taxi and Limousine Deputy Commissioner Conan Freud said Wednesday’s auction means there will be 601 “accessible yellows” in the city.
“We’ll see 168 (more) wheelchair-accessible yellow cabs so people with disabilities will have more options and regular riders will just see 168 more cabs in the street,” Freud said. “We’ll also see 168 new businesses being created today.”