Originally Posted by RandyRandy

Here's a quick NYC Taxi Economics 101 to answer your questions:

There are 13,000 taxis - they rarely issue more medallions, thus it's a limited commodity.

Of the 13,000, 60% are owned by companies (fleets) that have anywhere between 2-500 medallions. These taxis can be leased out 24/7 are are usually done so in 12-hour shifts. These medallions go for appx. $1,400,000 and are sold in PAIRS - ya gotta buy 2. These are hardly ever traded - once you have one and manage it right, it's a great ROI.

The other 40% are owned by individual drivers - that's the one I have. A couple were sold last month for just over $1,000,000. These are restricted in the sense that the owner physically must do 210 nine-hour shifts per year - basically a 40 hour work week 8 months out of the year. You can lease it out the rest of the time. There's a newer option now where the owner can designate one person for the upcoming calendar year to drive his 210 shifts. I'm going to do that next year - already have the guy, he's been driving for me for 3 years.

as to getting into the business, now you have to come up with $200,000 as a down payment, and the balance is paid in a business mortgage over the course of 15-25 years, last I heard. Getting financing is easy - getting the down payment is hard. Guys are now forming LLCs and going in 2-3 per medallion, which the City is allowing.

I got in at the right time - luck, timing and hard work. A little bit of all three usually leads to success.