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Conversations and commentary on the NYC Taxi & FHV market.
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Conversations and commentary on the NYC Taxi & FHV market. automarketplace.substack.com

  1. Oct 8

    How New York City Could License Robotaxis: Our Presentation to Australia's Taxi Industry

    On my way to Australia in late August, I made a 36-hour stopover in Dubai, during which I rode a driverless Baidu Apollo Go robotaxi; that story is here. From Dubai, I flew another 13 hours to Brisbane, the country’s third-largest city, to present at the Australian Taxi Industry Association’s (ATIA) national conference on the Gold Coast, about an hour to the south. The invitation carried a specific brief: explain how New York City might convert taxi medallions, and perhaps for-hire vehicle (FHV) licenses, better known as TLC plates, into autonomous vehicle (AV) licenses. Put plainly, if Waymo, Tesla, Uber or anyone else wants to run a paid robotaxi service in NYC, they will need to get hold of a TLC vehicle license. This is how the early rules and regulations around NYC AVs are currently constructed. The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) issues AV testing permits, but only after a company has been granted an Autonomous Vehicle Technology Demonstration Testing Permit by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Paid AV trips in New York City, however, are regulated by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). After all, one would reasonably expect “robotaxis” to be regulated by the taxi and for-hire transportation regulator. Entities and test vehicle operators utilizing AVs in for-hire transportation services must comply with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s (TLC) rules and regulations, including obtaining a TLC license. Source: Autonomous Vehicles in New York City, New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) I have supported the current structure and have been making the case, privately and publicly, for a more specific and explicit set of regulations for driverless taxis and Ubers in NYC. I am also invested in the outcome, as an owner of TLC plates and an investor in Marblegate, the largest holder of taxi medallions and medallion loans. AVs in New York are a licensing problem, not a technology problem. The question is not when robotaxis arrive in the five boroughs. It is who controls the licenses when they do, and how that might also serve as a mechanism to smooth over a large labor transition impacting over a hundred thousand New Yorkers and their families. The video above is a re-recorded, slightly longer version of the presentation I gave to a full room of Australian taxi industry players at the Mantra on View in Surfers Paradise. In it, I walk through why New York created the medallion, how AVs are regulated today from Albany down to the TLC, the pending bills that would tie AV licenses to taxi medallions, and why labor will decide how this plays out. Article continues after advertisement The Room The audience was mostly taxi company owners and operators from across Australia. What surprised them most wasn’t anything about robotaxis. It was learning that New York caps the number of vehicles Uber and Lyft can put on the road. More than one person told me they wished Australia had done the same. Several state regulators were also in the room, including the acting Point to Point Transport Commissioner of New South Wales (NSW), Kate Timbs; the Director of Personalised Transport Policy at Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, Kit McDonald; and a Senior Manager from Safe Transport Victoria, Emily McLean. How Australia Regulates Taxis Sydney is in NSW. Melbourne is in Victoria. Brisbane is in Queensland. In Australia, taxis and apps like Uber are regulated at the state, or regional government, level. The three largest states, NSW, Victoria and Queensland, account for about 77% of the country's population, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but there are also large cities like Adelaide and Perth, in South Australia and Western Australia respectively, along with a string of sizeable towns, a capital territory similar to Washington, D.C., and the island of Tasmania. See the map below. The terminology used for taxis and apps like Uber also differs: * Point-to-Point Transport in NSW and South Australia * Commercial Passenger Vehicles in Victoria and the Northern Territory * Personalised Transport in Queensland * On-demand Transport in Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), where the nation’s capital, Canberra, is located For example, Sydney does not have a Sydney Taxi Commission. The city’s for-hire transportation industry is regulated at the state level by the Point to Point Transport Commissioner, an office within the NSW (state) transport portfolio. Like New York’s TLC chair, the Commissioner is appointed, not elected, and ultimately answers to an elected official: the state’s Minister for Transport, who serves in the government of the elected Premier of New South Wales. AVs add a new layer. Driverless vehicles can’t yet operate commercially in Australia; for now, they run only in trials. Under a framework approved by Australia’s transport ministers in 2022, their in-service safety will be regulated nationally, through a new Commonwealth law, the Automated Vehicle Safety Law (AVSL), which has yet to be enacted, and a single national regulator. In November 2025, transport ministers agreed to allow conditional deployment of automated vehicles from 2027 in selected locations, depending on each state and territory updating its own laws. The national law won’t decide who can sell a robotaxi ride, though. Under the framework, the states keep control of vehicle registration, road access, road rules enforcement and their commercial passenger vehicle laws, and a company running a robotaxi fleet would carry duties under each state’s passenger transport rules. States aren’t meant to second-guess where a vehicle approved nationally can safely drive, but the business of carrying paying passengers stays with them. In other words, the Australian federal government (Canberra) will decide whether a robotaxi is safe to drive, and the states will decide whether it can carry a paying passenger, much as the federal government, Albany and the TLC divide those questions in New York. What Happened to Australia’s Taxi Licenses, and Why They Could Still Matter for AVs Australia’s history with taxi licenses is why New York’s approach resonated in the room. Before Uber, Australia’s taxi systems looked a lot like New York’s: a capped number of licenses, owned, traded and leased as assets. After Uber, the paths split. New York protected its medallion system and associated owner-drivers, and later capped the apps. In Australia, values started falling even before rideshare was legal. In October 2015, the Australian Financial Review reported that Uber had taken a “big bite” out of taxi license valuations. Most states eventually paid owners to retire their licenses. Victoria, home to Melbourne, abolished its licenses in 2018, paying AUD$100,000 (about USD$75,000) for an owner’s first license and AUD$50,000 (about USD$37,000) for each of up to three more. NSW agreed in 2022 to pay AUD$150,000 (about USD$100,000) per Sydney license, capped at six licenses per owner, and then cancelled them. Both schemes were funded by levies on taxi and rideshare trips. Queensland is the most prominent exception. When it legalized rideshare in 2016, the state paid owners a one-off AUD$20,000 (about USD$15,000) per license, for up to two licenses, but kept the licenses in place, and owners later pursued an AUD$1 billion legal action against the state. The state’s transfer register shows how far values fell. A standard Brisbane license peaked at AUD$560,000 (about USD$505,000) in 2014. Gold Coast licenses, in a smaller tourist market, traded even higher, peaking at nearly AUD$690,000 (about USD$520,000) in 2006. In 2026, both have traded for a fraction of that: a Brisbane license changed hands for AUD$22,500 (about USD$16,000) in June, and Gold Coast licenses have sold for under AUD$30,000 (about USD$21,000). As Australia prepares for driverless vehicles, that raises a question each state will have to answer: whether a system governments already understand, a capped and licensed fleet, should return as the way robotaxis enter the market. In Queensland, where licenses still exist, they could serve as that onboarding mechanism, much as New York might use its medallions and TLC plates. Australian dollar (AUD) figures are converted to US dollars (USD) at the average exchange rate for the year cited. Latest from AutoMarketwire (sponsored by MyTLCCar) * Local unions rally against proposed ‘robotaxi’ bill in DC (FOX 5 Washington DC) * Waymo recruits New York political veterans for driverless-car push (Crain’s New York Business) * Elon Musk says Tesla robotaxis face a major hurdle driving at night (Firstpost) * Woman’s routine Uber ride takes alarming turn after driver misses exit (New York Post) * DCWP, TLC, and CCHR Issue Enforcement Policy Statement on Artificial Intelligence (NYC.gov) Latest from AutoMarketplace * Taxi Trips Down 6.6%, Uber & Lyft Up 6.4% (July-August 2026) * Commissioner’s Corner: Access is Everything (October 2026) * $28,000 for an NYC TLC Plate? Could It Become a Robotaxi Permit? * TLC Commissioners Voted 4 To 1 For Driver Fine & Taxi Medallion Relief. It Failed Anyway Food for thought… Timestamps 0:00 Introduction1:56 Capitalism vs. the "taxi cartel"4:53 Why New York created the medallion6:41 The medallion as a city asset9:15 Travis Kalanick and "city utility licensing"10:59 Exec summary: a licensing problem, not a technology problem12:01 Why NYC matters12:48 Why NYC is unique: one regulator and the 2018 FHV cap15:55 How AVs are regulated today16:10 Defining the zone: NYC as a geofence18:20 Who regulates AVs: federal, state and city21:30 The state's safety driver requirement23:22 Waymo's expired NYC permit24:17 Why Albany dropped the robotaxi proposal26:34 Robotaxis: when, not if27:06 The current rule: paid AV trips need a TLC license28:29 Medallions and TLC plates29:31 Pro

  2. Sep 22

    $28,000 for an NYC TLC Plate? Could It Become a Robotaxi Permit?

    Disclosure: Entities that share ownership with AutoMarketplace own and manage TLC plates and are invested in Marblegate Capital Corporation (OTCQX: MGTE), a publicly listed taxi medallion investor, lender and fleet operator. Lenny Leff’s MyTLCCar is an AutoMarketplace advertising partner. Nothing here is financial, investment or legal advice. See No Interest Without Conflict. A TLC plate is a strange thing to exist. It is a for-hire vehicle (FHV) license issued by New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). The city caps how many exist, except for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs). It cannot be sold if you hold it in your own name, but it can be rented out to another driver or entity, typically for about $200 a week. It costs $625 to renew every two years. And the vehicle it is attached to must complete a legal for-hire trip in the five boroughs at least once every 60 days, or the plate is permanently retired. Yet a plate held in a corporation changes hands for around $28,000 today, and more if it is the only plate in the company. Fleet owners I know, and some drivers, would rather nobody wrote about that. I write about it because drivers and regulators need to understand what the plate has quietly become: the only realistic financial bridge most city drivers have to an autonomous vehicle (AV) future. The argument is not anti-technology, which is what makes it so hard for AV companies to attack. It is an invitation: come launch robotaxis in New York, and pay the people you are replacing for the right to do it. Consider the arithmetic. Roughly 105,000 plates are active, and by our count about 73% are claimed by individuals, mostly the drivers who work them. There are 13,587 authorized taxi medallions, about 10,500 of them active, and we estimate only a few thousand are owned by drivers. If AV companies are eventually required to acquire rights attached to existing licenses to operate in the five boroughs, as City Council and State Senate bills already propose for medallions, then the vehicle license is the asset that pays drivers when the driving stops. Plates make up 90% of actively licensed vehicles, so for most drivers the plate is the only ticket to that outcome, even if it carries a lesser right such as an outer-borough AV license. For plates held in a driver’s own name, which cannot be sold today, that would also require a new mechanism letting them be transferred, but only to a robotaxi service provider. Abolish the plate, or let it go to zero, and tens of thousands of drivers get nothing. That is why “one driver, one plate” is more dangerous than it sounds. It would flood the streets with cars, the same oversupply that crushed driver earnings and led to the 2018 cap, and destroy the medallion market along the way. The city also guarantees a large share of restructured medallion debt, so taxpayers would absorb part of that collapse. And renting would not disappear: drivers with thin credit or no path to TLC insurance would turn to lenders the TLC cannot regulate. Worse, handing every driver a plate makes every plate worthless. Value moves from the vehicle license to the driver’s license, and a robotaxi has no driver. Drivers would win the fight and lose the asset, just as it was about to pay them. Even before robotaxis, the plate does day-to-day work. It lets drivers buy their own cars instead of being forced to rent one. It lets drivers who could never get TLC insurance in their own name work under a corporate policy. And that $200 a week, under $30 a day, buys access to Uber, Lyft and every base in the city. None of this is an argument against regulation. It is an argument for it. We have said since 2022 that rental rates should be tracked and, where needed, capped along the lines of the medallion lease rules, that the TLC should publish who actually controls each FHV corporation, and that plates parked in the TLC’s storage program, which pauses the 60-day clock, should face a firm deadline to return to service or be retired. Fleets like ours, and Lenny Leff, our guest on today’s podcast, would live with all of it. The city already collects about $65 million in plate renewal fees alone over each two-year cycle. It has every reason to want this market stable and transparent, not driven underground or eliminated. Aren’t TLC Plates a Threat to Taxi Medallion Owners? Medallion owners are the smaller group, but their story is the one New York knows. Last week, after the memorial for Jagjit Singh, I met a filmmaker documenting the medallion debt crisis. She wanted a happy ending: the last owner-drivers, shut out of the city’s Medallion Relief Program (MRP+) because their lender refused to participate, finally getting relief. I told her a better ending exists. Make the taxi medallion the gateway to running AVs in New York City. If Waymo, Tesla, Amazon’s Zoox, or Uber want robotaxis in the five boroughs, they first acquire the rights attached to existing medallions. The driver who bought a medallion to fund a retirement gets paid on the way out, and the city keeps a regulatory structure it already understands to collect fees and manage congestion. She had no idea that City Council Intro 94 and State Senate bills such as S2688 already propose exactly that. A moment of survival becomes a shot at revival. That raises two fair questions. Aren’t TLC plates a competitive threat to medallions? And since we are invested in both, as we disclose, what game are we playing? The answer to both is the same. Betting on plates and betting on medallions is, in most ways, one bet. It is a bet that New York will not let more than 110,000 working drivers and their families lose their income without an answer. We think the answer will let in a technology likely to save lives, for pedestrians, cyclists and the riding public, and pay the people it replaces. Those people, and the small businesses behind them, paid for the market robotaxis want to enter. They paid through medallion auctions, license and renewal fees, sales tax on rides, and congestion surcharges that fund the MTA. Added up over decades, that runs well into the billions of dollars. A robotaxi company that arrives now inherits all of it for free unless the rules say otherwise. Medallions are the cleanest and most politically acceptable place to start. They are freely transferable, their history is understood, and after the debt crisis the city has a moral and financial stake in them. Medallion owners have earned first dibs. But roughly 13,500 medallions cover less than 12% of the city’s licensed vehicles, and an even smaller share of its drivers. A solution that stops at medallions leaves out the vast majority of drivers, who work under TLC plates. The real threat to both is a brand-new NYC AV license. It would bypass medallions and plates alike and hurt the drivers holding either one. It would also, in the end, have to look like both: capped supply, TLC oversight, insurance rules and renewal fees. New York would spend years rebuilding the system it already has and leave out the people who paid for it. Big Tech’s playbook in city after city has been to pit one group of incumbents against another until neither is left standing: yellow cab against black car, then owner against renter, then medallion against plate. Roughly 105,000 plates, most held by working drivers, plus thousands of medallion owners, is a bloc of New Yorkers no amount of money can easily lobby around. Split, they are two niches fighting each other. Together, they are the market. So the two licenses need to be described accurately, not pitted against each other. Here is how they actually differ. Article continues after advertisement What a TLC Plate Is, and Isn’t A TLC plate lets a vehicle legally accept Uber, Lyft and car service trips in New York City. A medallion does all of that, except car service, and adds two things a plate will never have. The first is the curb: yellow cabs hold the exclusive right to street hails. The second is a lighter tax load. A yellow cab trip carries no 8.875% sales tax and no 2.25% Black Car Fund (BCF) fee, and as we found, that holds even when Uber sends an UberX request to a yellow cab. By our math, an identical $100 UberX trip costs the rider about 11% more when a TLC-plated car shows up instead. Taxis are also exempt from the utilization-based pay rules that govern app trips in plated cars. Add the fact that a medallion is freely transferable, and it is easy to see why one trades for over $100,000 while a plate goes for about $28,000. To be plain, including for any regulator reading: nobody owns a TLC plate. It is a city permit. What trades is the stock of a corporation that holds plates, and by our count fewer than 15,000 plates sit in corporations small enough for a driver, or a group of drivers, to realistically buy. That is why we call a plate a modern-day radio, not Medallion 2.0. Before apps, busy black car bases like Carmel, Vital, UTOG, Elite, and Dial 7 had a fixed number of dispatch radios that traded for tens of thousands of dollars. A plate is a dispatch right for Uber and Lyft, which now carry roughly 80% of the city’s trips. If Carmel and Dial 7 had 80% of the market, their radios would trade for a fortune too. Notice where the value of that dispatch right lands though. Uber and Lyft earn their commission on every trip either way. Because the cap limits how many vehicles they can dispatch to, the scarcity value goes to plate holders, most of them drivers, along with the fleets and the city: the parties carrying the regulatory burden, the capital cost and the insurance liability. That is where it belongs. Discussion with Lenny Leff Lenny Leff built a fleet of about 900 TLC-plated cars before COVID, then pivoted to buying, selling, renting and managing plates through MyTLCCar. One of his first post-pandemic plate deals closed at $16,000 for the plate alone. Demand is the other half of the price. Lenny put

  3. Jul 21

    David Do on Uber Lockouts, Driver Pay, TLC Plates, Taxi Medallions & AVs

    In our latest podcast, AutoMarketplace Founder and Publisher Dawood Mian sits down with former New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) Chair David Do for one of the most comprehensive interviews ever conducted on his tenure leading the nation’s largest for-hire transportation regulator. Over the course of fifty minutes, Do reflects on the decisions that defined his time at the TLC: the driver minimum pay standard and Uber and Lyft lockouts, Green Rides, the release of electric vehicle (EV) for-hire vehicle licenses (TLC plates), enforcement, and the landmark Medallion Relief Program (MRP+) that provided nearly half a billion dollars in debt relief to struggling owner-drivers. Rather than revisiting headlines, the conversation examines the reasoning behind those decisions and the tradeoffs involved in regulating a market that serves nearly a million trips a day: the evolution of TLC plates and the decisions around when, and whether, to release new FHV licenses; the relationship between TLC plates and taxi medallions, two asset classes shaped by the same regulator but on very different trajectories; the debate surrounding the city’s EV and wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) mandate (Green Rides); and the challenge of balancing driver earnings against platform economics. The conversation is not purely diplomatic. Do names Minnesota-based lender OSK as the holdout still refusing to join MRP+ and extend debt relief to medallion owners, and he takes direct aim at platform take rates, questioning why Uber and Lyft keep up to half of some fares when it is the driver supplying the vehicle, the insurance, the gas, and the time. His own summary of the job doubles as the thesis of the episode: “I’m particularly proud of the fact that I was not able to make everybody happy...If I made everybody happy, that might have meant that I was not doing my job.” — David Do, Former Chair, NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission Article continues after advertisement In This Episode WATCH ON YOUTUBE · LISTEN ON SPOTIFY 00:00 Intro: welcoming former NYC TLC Chair David Do01:13 Leading DC's Department of For-Hire Vehicles vs. the NYC TLC02:42 "More than a taxi agency": labor, safety, accessibility & tech regulator04:15 Working with the Mayor's Office, DOT, Port Authority & the legislature06:05 Example of balancing act: drivers vs. rental companies vs. insurers08:10 Do: "If I made everybody happy... I was not doing my job"08:49 The Uber & Lyft driver lockouts: what happened09:45 The driver minimum pay standard & NYC's unique utilization metric12:06 How the apps gamed the rule, and the fix that ended lockouts16:16 Getting sued by Uber & Lyft; "Maximize shareholder profit"17:20 The gap: insurance costs aren't in the pay standard18:05 Green Rides: the EV & wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) mandate19:54 13,000 green vehicles, 2M+ EV trips a month, ahead of schedule22:05 The accessibility community's pushback on the EV exemption24:46 EV charging infrastructure: Queens Center lines, LaGuardia & JFK fast chargers30:08 "You're releasing a free taxi medallion": plates vs. medallions31:51 Yellow taxi recovery: farebox from under $0.5B to nearly $1B32:27 MRP+: $470M+ in debt relief for 2,000+ small medallion owners32:55 Calling out Minnesota-based lender OSK, the MRP+ holdout36:16 JFK illegal hustling: 10,000 police hours on an age-old problem40:13 Empower, market concentration & barriers to entry41:54 "Why is Uber taking 50% of the fare?" Take rates & platform economics44:57 Autonomous vehicles: "don't be caught flat-footed like 2015"48:22 Final question: advice to a 25-year-old starting a TLC driving career50:47 Closing thoughts Latest from AutoMarketwire * Waymo And Uber Support Bad, Incumbent-Protecting Laws In DC And NJ (Forbes via Yahoo Finance) * NYTWA members joined @ NYCMayor today to shred @ nyctaxi penalties, fees, and fines (NYTWA / X) * DC Robotaxi Bill Omits Wheelchair Access While Waymo and Uber Clash Over Rules (Tech Times) * Are Waymo robotaxis actually safer than NYC Uber and taxi drivers? (Gothamist) Latest from AutoMarketplace: * Can Lyft Fuel a NYC Yellow Cab Trip Recovery? * Shame on Uber! Shame on Lyft! NYTWA and Krishnan Demand Deactivation Protections * First TLC Commission Meeting Of Mamdani Era Set For Wednesday AutoMarketplace is the largest newsletter and podcast covering NYC’s $16 billion for-hire transportation market — tracking commercial insurance, TLC plates, taxi medallions, and trips. Proprietary indexes: AIX, APX, AYX. AutoMarketplace.com | YouTube | Advertise Get full access to AutoMarketplace at automarketplace.substack.com/subscribe

  4. May 26

    2026 TLC Plate Cap Explained: Medallions, WAVs, EVs, Plates and Five Predictions

    The NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission officially concluded last week that no new TLC plates should be issued. The wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) exemption remains the only available channel for new New York City for-hire vehicle (FHV) licenses. But the more important story sits underneath the determination. In this 52-minute episode of the AutoMarketplace Podcast, Founder Dawood Mian walks through what the TLC concluded, why the call is right, and the structural taxi medallion-recovery dynamic the report does not name. The episode outlines five forward-looking calls we make for the 2026 to 2027 review window. Article continues advertisement Gross driver earnings rise 10% to 20% over the next twelve months as the cap holds, lockout protections take full effect, and deactivation rules continue to favor supply discipline. This is the upstream condition for everything downstream. Continued recovery in taxi medallion values. Medallion valuation (AYX) is up 10.6% year-over-year, with the approximately 2,660 medallions still in storage as the swing variable that compounds the recovery as more medallions return to service. A hard annual cap on the WAV exemption in next year’s review. 97.2% of new TLC plates flowed through this single exemption last cycle, and the data trajectory makes a structured ceiling the natural regulatory move. A formal reset of the Green Rides 40% 2027 EV and WAV dispatch target. The 2026 FHV License Review report’s hedge language on the diminishing EV cost advantage for TLC drivers and on charging infrastructure is a likely precursor to the mandate’s timeline being extended. Continued upward pressure on TLC vehicle and plate rental rates as supply discipline tightens the market. The episode also walks through the origins of the TLC plate cap and why it exists. The 2018 FHV cap is a modern extension of a nearly 90-year city regulatory tradition, briefly abandoned during the rise of the app giants and now reasserting itself. The plate cap raises driver earnings. Everything else is a consequence of that. The cap held this year. The re-professionalization of the NYC TLC industry, and the re-establishment of city regulatory assets, is only just beginning. Full written analysis, charts, and the illustrative taxi medallion buy-vs-rent table are available in the article here. Also available on YouTube ⬇️ TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:00 — Introduction and the TLC's no-new-plates decision01:09 — The four predictions previewed (plus a fifth on driver earnings)03:10 — Disclosure: fleet operations, Marblegate, indexes, equity-research framing04:14 — What the TLC concluded05:07 — The five factors the TLC weighs07:14 — Factor 1: Trip volume, supply, and attrition08:49 — Factor 2: Driver earnings ($1,100–$1,400 per week)10:10 — Factor 3: Outer-borough service and the Manhattan redistribution10:59 — Factor 4: Electric vehicles, Green Rides, and charging infrastructure14:06 — Factor 5: Traffic congestion and CRZ tolling15:45 — Why all five factors point away from a plate release17:04 — Part 2: Taxi medallion recovery underneath the report18:08 — For-hire supply buckets: TLC plates and 2,660 stored yellow cab medallions20:31 — Why the plate cap exists at all20:59 — Great Depression, wildcat drivers, 1934 strikes, LaGuardia, 1937 Haas Act23:04 — The cap as driver income protection, not fleet protection25:00 — The 2015–2019 collapse: trips +80%, supply +180%, medallions –80%27:11 — The 30–40% renter-driver problem and policy options (e.g., FHV lease cap)27:44 — The 2026 report as the cap's third consecutive defense28:22 — Prediction: A hard annual cap on the WAV exemption in 202730:24 — Prediction: Continued taxi medallion value recovery34:27 — Illustrative taxi medallion buy-versus-rent math walkthrough39:51 — Prediction: TLC vehicle and plate rental rates rise44:30 — Prediction: Green Rides 40% 2027 target gets reset46:45 — BUYER BEWARE re. TLC plates47:20 — Charging infrastructure inadequacy as EV mandate forcing function49:25 — Prediction: Driver earnings rise 10–20% over the 2026–27 window50:25 — The plate cap exists for driver earnings. Everything else is downstream. AutoMarketplace reports on, operates, and invests in New York City’s for-hire transportation (TLC) industry and the wider automotive mobility landscape. AutoMarketplace.com is a market intelligence and fleet management platform for New York City’s for-hire vehicle ecosystem—delivering proprietary indexes (AYX, APX, AIX), real-time analytics, and fleet services across taxi medallions, TLC plates, and commercial insurance. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube. Interested in advertising with us? Click here. Get full access to AutoMarketplace at automarketplace.substack.com/subscribe

  5. May 12

    Built for NYC TLC Drivers: Toyota of Bay Ridge Brooklyn’s 7-Year Parts & Labor Warranty

    Toyota owners using their vehicles for NYC for-hire transportation and taxi (“TLC”) work know the service tradeoff well. Franchised dealers often have higher labor rates and move slower, but use OEM parts and factory-certified technicians. Independent shops — many of them excellent and locally owned — are often cheaper and faster, but may not always offer the same parts access or diagnostic equipment. This is a generalization, of course: some dealerships are very TLC-friendly, and some independent shops operate at dealer-level quality. For NYC TLC drivers putting 25,000 to 50,000 miles a year on their vehicles, time is money in the most literal sense. And rising repair costs, still poorly reflected in the city’s driver pay formula, continue to squeeze take-home earnings. It’s worth noting, as it relates to today’s podcast, that AutoMarketplace is not only a media outlet. We also own and help manage fleets, and regularly assist drivers with vehicle repairs and operational issues. We’ve directly approved, facilitated, and paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair invoices over the years. The problems we’ve historically faced with franchised dealers will sound familiar to many drivers and fleets: little appreciation for TLC downtime sensitivity, warranties voided once they see TLC plates, hard to get or make appointments, and premium retail pricing. Over time, as we gained operational experience, we shifted most of our repair work to independent shops across the five boroughs. That’s why when we first encountered Toyota of Bay Ridge Brooklyn’s seven-year, unlimited-mile repair guarantee, or warranty, our assumption was simple: there had to be a catch. Was labor excluded? Were TLC-plated vehicles disqualified? Were claim limits buried in the fine print? Were major wear items carved out? When we sat down with Stacey Baron, the dealership’s general manager, and Ryan Carreon, the service manager, they confirmed the program works as advertised — including for TLC-plated vehicles. “Any customer that comes into the service department, as long as the customer pays, any engine, transmission, water pump, alternator, brakes and rotors are guaranteed for seven years, unlimited miles, and also unlimited claims. If it goes back next year and the year after that and the year after that, as long as within seven years, let us worry for you. ” — Ryan Carreon, Service Manager, Toyota of Bay Ridge Brooklyn A word on the dealership, because scale matters when you’re trusting a service warranty out seven years. Toyota of Bay Ridge Brooklyn— acquired by Titan Motor Group roughly three years ago — runs a 30-bay service operation with 23 technicians and services roughly 100 vehicles per day. About 30 to 40 percent of that daily throughput is already TLC-plated, meaning this isn’t a dealership being introduced to for-hire commercial drivers; it’s one where TLC service is already roughly a third of the workflow, with infrastructure built around handling that volume. Here’s the short version of what the program does and doesn’t cover, based on what Stacey and Ryan walked through during the podcast: * What’s covered: engines, transmissions, brakes and rotors, alternators, AC compressors, water pumps, sensors, suspension hardware — and most parts replacements over $250. * What isn’t: tires, exhaust system, and any single repair invoice under $250. A few notes on the official terms, which the dealership publishes on its website under the name “Quality Assurance Guarantee.” The program is a limited product warranty, not insurance, and is noncancellable and nontransferable — meaning coverage stays with the original purchaser and does not pass with the vehicle on resale. The dealership also flags that the public-facing description is a marketing overview rather than the contract itself, and directs customers to a Toyota of Bay Ridge service advisor for the full written terms. 7-Year / Unlimited-Mile Repair Guarantee The structure itself is simple, and the core thesis can be summarized in one sentence: a warranty written against time rather than mileage creates a form of warranty arbitrage for high-mileage TLC vehicles. That distinction matters. A retail customer may replace brakes once during a warranty period. A TLC driver could go through multiple brake jobs over the same timeframe while remaining fully covered under a time-based structure. For high-utilization vehicles, that changes the economics substantially. We also discuss the dealership’s operational approach to TLC vehicles, including service prioritization, parts sourcing, appointment handling, and the broader economics of dealership servicing versus independent repair shops. We hope you enjoy the full conversation. More importantly, we intend to track how the program performs in practice — particularly on second and third warranty claims, which is where repair programs reveal whether they are genuinely structured for commercial use or primarily designed as marketing tools. If you operate a Toyota with TLC plates — independently or as part of a fleet — this is one of the more meaningfully structured service and warranty programs we’ve seen offered to the NYC for-hire market in years, and the mechanics are worth understanding. Thanks to Stacey and Ryan for their time and for walking through the program in detail. For same-day service, plan to drop off (latest) by 5pm Monday through Friday; the service department itself stays open until 7pm, with additional Saturday hours from 7am to 4pm. You can book your appointment here. Also available on YouTube ⬇️ TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:04 — Walkthrough Toyota of Bay Ridge Brooklyn00:52 — Introductions (Stacey Baron, GM; Ryan Carreon, Service Manager)01:40 — Inside Toyota of Bay Ridge: Facility, Technicians, TLC Customer Base03:43 — Location: All Bridges Lead to Toyota of Bay Ridge08:24 — 7-Year Parts & Labor Warranty, including TLC-plated vehicles09:28 — How Unlimited Claims Work (RAV4 Brakes & Rotors Example)10:37 — Wear-and-Tear Coverage and the Labor Rate Argument12:11 — OEM Parts and Bay Ridge's Parts-Sourcing Advantage13:23 — Eligibility: Older Cars, Cars Bought Elsewhere, Fleets14:16 — How to Book and Identify as TLC for Priority Service16:40 — Exclusions: Tires, Exhaust System, and $250 Minimum Repair20:30 — Why Time-Based Warranties Favor High-Mileage TLC Drivers21:57 — Closing: On-Site Accountability and Final Thoughts AutoMarketplace reports on, operates, and invests in New York City’s for-hire transportation (TLC) industry and the wider automotive mobility landscape. AutoMarketplace.com is a market intelligence and fleet management platform for New York City’s for-hire vehicle ecosystem—delivering proprietary indexes (AYX, APX, AIX), real-time analytics, and fleet services across taxi medallions, TLC plates, and commercial insurance. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube. Interested in advertising with us? Click here. Get full access to AutoMarketplace at automarketplace.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Apr 5

    Sales Tax Trap: TLC Plates to JFK Hustlers

    Today’s AutoMarketplace podcast episode features Jennifer Koo, Esq. and Joe Calamia, CPA of Armanino’s sales tax practice. We think every NYC TLC or taxi fleet owner, driver who rents out their vehicle, plate or medallion, and base operator in this industry should listen. Jennifer and Joe’s contact details are at the end of this article. Disclaimer: The information shared in this episode and article is for educational purposes only. Although our guests are professionals, nothing discussed constitutes legal, tax, or financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Please consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation. Here is a question many NYC for-hire vehicle (FHV) and taxi rental companies, including individual drivers who rent their own vehicle, TLC plate, or medallion, have never thought to ask (or simply ignore): when you rent a TLC-plated vehicle, yellow cab, taxi medallion, or standalone TLC plate to a driver, is sales tax owed? How much? Is it considered a passenger car rental under New York State law? When we started a TLC rental fleet in 2017, we quickly became obsessed with this question. In New York’s for-hire transportation industry, sales tax touches nearly every transaction: vehicle purchases, auto repairs, rentals, and trips. We knew we needed to charge at least 8.875% sales tax on rentals, but didn’t know if renting a commercially-plated vehicle to a licensed driver constituted a commercial rental or a passenger car rental, which would add more than 10% in additional sales and use related taxes. We didn’t know who to trust for an answer we could actually build a business on. An early accountant told us: as long as you paid sales tax when you bought the vehicles, you’re fine. That never felt like an answer that could survive an audit. In 2020 we hired Sales Tax Defense, now part of Armanino, and essentially submitted ourselves to a voluntary New York sales tax audit. What we found surprised us. We had been overpaying. Vehicles purchased exclusively for rental purposes qualify for an exemption from upfront sales tax, with the tax collected and remitted upon each rental instead. We were entitled to a sizeable refund, but that window closes after three years. Had we waited a few more months, a lot of the money would have been lost permanently. That experience also taught us that invoice structure matters enormously. If you charge $500 per week for a TLC-plated vehicle rental and separate out insurance, maintenance, and regulatory costs, while also making sure your contracts are structured correctly, your taxable base shrinks. Insurance and regulatory fees are generally not taxable under New York law. When you pay for auto repairs, sales tax is usually included in your bill, so you can claim back credit. Bundle everything into one line and you’ve created exposure on amounts never meant to be taxed. Most fleets and individuals bundle. Most don’t know it’s costing them. One area Jennifer and Joe cover in depth on the episode: lease length changes everything. Short-term leases, generally under a year, allow you to collect and remit sales tax on each payment. Long-term leases require remitting the full amount upfront, before you’ve even collected it. And if your short-term lease has renewal options that extend it past a year, New York treats the whole arrangement as long-term from the start. Many operators don’t know this until an auditor explains it to them. There is also a point that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough: sales tax is a personal liability. It isn’t just a corporate obligation. There is always at least one responsible person within a company who is personally on the hook for any sales tax that should have been collected and remitted but wasn’t. The State goes after both the entity and the individual. An LLC does not shield you from this. The episode also covers three other areas every operator in this industry should understand: * First, the question of what sales tax, if any, attaches to a medallion-only or TLC plate-only rental, where the intangible rights doctrine has established precedent but also creates genuine ambiguity; * Second, what sales tax is owed on trips, and why the answer differs across yellow cabs, livery, black car, and app-based platforms (Uber, Lyft) in ways that have real competitive consequences; * And third, what accumulated sales tax liability means for anyone buying TLC plates from a corporation. Most sellers have not properly paid. Most buyers never ask. These are exactly the questions we get into on today’s episode. Sales Tax on Trips On the passenger side, not all for-hire trips carry the same sales tax obligation. Yellow cab trips are exempt from the 8.875% rate. Livery vehicles carry a similar exemption. Uber, Lyft, traditional black car and limousine services pay the full rate. Yellow cabs dispatched via the Uber app? Any sales tax due on a NYC for-hire trip doesn’t disappear because of who is driving, how they are paid, or what a company calls itself. A private driver paid in cash by a wealthy client may assume the informal arrangement removes sales tax obligation. It doesn’t. A JFK hustler taking $250 in cash from an arriving passenger operates entirely outside the compliance infrastructure, but the sales and use tax obligation on that transaction exists regardless. Empower, recently sued by New York City, argues it is merely a software subscription rather than a licensed dispatch base. That argument may or may not prevail. But if it does, the sales tax obligation on those trips doesn’t disappear. It shifts to individual drivers, maybe even passengers, most of whom have no idea they may be accruing personal liability on every ride they complete. The obligation attaches somewhere. The only question is who ends up holding it. Article continues advertisement Buying TLC Plates This brings us to the TLC plate, or for-hire vehicle (FHV) license, market. First, it is worth understanding how TLC plates are actually held. A TLC plate (FHV license) claimed by an individual driver is not transferable and cannot be sold. What can be arranged is a lease of sorts, where the original licensee grants another party the right to use the plate, effectively a royalty right arrangement. That arrangement brings its own sales tax questions, which Jennifer and Joe address directly in the episode. The more acute liability risk sits with plates held inside corporate structures. Many fleets don’t properly invoice for sales tax, don’t file quarterly returns, and some don’t pay at all. If you are not registered and not filing, New York State’s lookback is not three years. It is six, and technically unlimited if you never filed at all. For anyone looking to purchase TLC plates from a corporation, that history travels with the asset. We get enough outreach from drivers to know that most parties marketing “TLC plates for sale” have not properly paid their sales tax, and buyers rarely ask. Listen to This Episode Sales, use and general tax compliance in New York City’s for-hire industry is not a line item to be optimized away. These taxes fund the state and city budgets. When those obligations are bypassed, whether through accumulated rental liabilities or unlicensed dispatching at every level from JFK arrivals to app-based platforms, such as Empower, someone needs to pay. Sometimes it’s the driver. Sometimes it’s the buyer of a corporate-held TLC plate who didn’t ask the right questions before closing. Sometimes it’s the dispatching base. And sometimes it’s the fleet owner who didn’t know they were owed a refund until it was almost too late to claim it. In today’s episode, Jennifer Koo, Esq. and Joe Calamia, CPA of Armanino Advisory’s sales tax practice join us for what we believe is one of the most substantive public conversation on sales tax in the NYC TLC industry ever recorded. We cover: * The commercial vehicle purchase exemption and its three-year claim window. * The short-term versus long-term lease distinction. * Why your rental renewal options matter more than you think. * Intangible rights question on medallion and TLC plate-only rentals. * How to conduct sales tax due diligence before buying a plate. * What the JFK hustler situation means from a tax liability standpoint. * Audit triggers, the unlimited lookback for non-filers, and what proactive compliance looks like in practice for fleets, bases, and drivers at every level. Jennifer and Joe work with clients of every size, from solo owner-operators to large fleets. Armanino Advisory provides guidance on anything related to taxes, accounting, and financial matters, including income tax returns, sales tax returns, and audit representation. If you’ve been meaning to sort out your sales tax situation and haven’t, this episode is your starting point. You can reach Jennifer at jennifer.koo@armanino.com or 516-750-6583, and Joe at joe.calamia@armanino.com or 516-750-6582. We made the same assumptions most operators make. It almost cost us a meaningful refund we were legally owed, simply because we didn’t know to ask in time. This conversation is for everyone who hasn’t asked yet. Also available on YouTube ⬇️ TABLE OF CONTENTS 0:00 Introduction and episode overview1:18 Meet Jennifer Koo and Joe Calamia of Armanino2:36 How Armanino works with NYC TLC fleets, drivers, and bases3:55 What is sales tax and why it's a personal liability, not just a business one5:16 Use tax explained: what you owe when the vendor doesn't collect5:45 Breaking down NYC's 8.875% sales tax rate6:44 NYC's sales rate vs. national avg. rate vs. European VAT8:40 What's actually exempt from sales tax in New York10:37 Vehicle rentals in the TLC industry: where the sales tax confusion starts11:25 Short-term vs. long-term leases: the rules are not what you'd expect20:20 Renting a TLC vehicle to a driver a passenger car rental?22:48 Invoice structuring

  7. Mar 12

    NYC’s EV Charging Crunch: Drivers Are Waiting — What Comes Next with Presto Charging’s Ashwin Dias

    To most observers, New York City’s electric vehicle (EV) charging problem is straightforward: too many EVs and not enough chargers. To be specific, among the 115,179 taxis and for-hire vehicles (FHVs) in the city’s fleet, 13,146 are EVs. However, there are only 415 DC “Level 3” fast chargers located across the five boroughs. These chargers must also be shared with 33,537 passenger EVs registered in the five boroughs, though some private owners may have home charging, as well as thousands of commercially used EVs registered to New York City addresses. However, the reality is more complex. In practice, the challenge is not simply the total number of chargers, but where they are located and how they are used. Charging demand tends to cluster around certain neighborhoods and times of day, creating what some describe as a “peak problem.” As a result, infrastructure planning is increasingly focused not only on adding chargers, but placing them in locations where utilization will be highest. What many drivers experience today as long waits at charging stations reflects not only infrastructure constraints but also the early-stage dynamics of a fragmented and rapidly evolving charging ecosystem. In today’s podcast episode, AutoMarketplace’s Dawood Mian speaks with Ashwin Dias, Co-Founder and CEO of Presto Charging. Dias previously spent nearly eight years at Uber, where he helped build and scale several business units and helped lead the company’s global electrification and vehicles program, focusing on helping drivers transition to EVs and lowering barriers to adoption across different markets. Through that work, Dias saw firsthand that one of the most persistent obstacles to electrification was not simply the cost of vehicles, but access to reliable charging. Ride-hail drivers based in densely populated cities, in particular, rely heavily on publicly accessible charging infrastructure, since most do not have access to private garages or home charging. Presto, which raised $15 million in seed funding last year from Union Square Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, and Jetstream, was founded by Dias and J.J. Raynor to address this problem. Advertisement Rather than building charging stations, Presto operates a marketplace and aggregation platform designed to unify a fragmented EV charging ecosystem. For drivers, especially high-mileage for-hire vehicle and taxi drivers who depend heavily on publicly accessible charging, navigating that ecosystem can be inefficient. Today, dozens of charging networks operate across the United States and New York, each with its own apps, pricing systems, and availability data. Presto connects multiple charging networks through a single interface, allowing drivers to locate available chargers, compare prices, and initiate charging sessions without switching between numerous apps. The objective is not only convenience, but efficiency. Utilization sits at the center of charging economics. In theory, a fixed number of chargers could serve a large fleet if demand were evenly distributed throughout the day. In practice, drivers tend to charge during similar windows—between shifts, after long driving sessions, or during slower demand periods—creating predictable spikes. These peaks can produce waiting lines even when total capacity might otherwise be sufficient, particularly in dense cities like New York where high-mileage FHVs rely heavily on fast chargers. Fast charging infrastructure is also expensive. A single Level 3 charger can cost more than $100,000 before installation and electrical upgrades. With such high fixed costs, profitability depends largely on utilization: frequently used chargers spread infrastructure costs across more charging sessions, while poorly located chargers can sit idle. The challenge, therefore, is not simply adding chargers but placing them where drivers actually need them, near airports, taxi and FHV staging areas, commuter corridors, or dense residential neighborhoods. Investors and other stakeholders must also account for technological change. Charging speeds continue to improve, meaning hardware installed today may have shorter useful lives than traditional infrastructure. Yet much of a site’s long-term value lies in the electrical capacity itself — the grid connections and utility upgrades required to deliver high power — which remain valuable even as charging equipment evolves. And unlike gas stations, charging does not always require large standalone facilities. As Dias notes, “Today, it’s easier to charge an EV in Manhattan than it is to fill it up with gas.” Over time, the ecosystem may evolve into a hybrid model. Fast Level 3 chargers will continue serving drivers who need rapid turnaround during the workday, particularly NYC TLC-licensed vehicles that accumulate hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles per week, while a growing network of Level 2 chargers in neighborhood garages could provide what Dias describes as “near-home charging” overnight. Simply put, New York City does need more chargers. But drivers also need better tools to use the existing network effectively. Visibility into charger availability, smarter routing, and better coordination across charging networks can help reduce congestion and waiting times, ensuring that the infrastructure already in place works as efficiently as possible. This will help EV adoption grow naturally within the TLC fleet, with no mandates necessary. We hope you enjoy the conversation! Ashwin can be reached at a@prestocharging.com. Download the Presto Charging app here. Also available on YouTube ⬇️ TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:00 Introduction00:40 Ashwin Dias’ Background at Uber03:58 Uber’s Electrification Program Explained06:35 Why Ashwin Left Uber to Start Presto07:43 The Fragmented EV Charging Ecosystem10:30 How Presto Works as a Charging Marketplace13:46 NYC’s EV Charging Infrastructure Problem16:17 NYC TLC Drivers vs Personal EV Charging Needs18:40 Why Drivers End Up Waiting for Chargers, NYC-specific problem?23:19 How Marketplaces Can Improve Charging Utilization27:00 The Economics of Building EV Charging Stations29:26 NYC Real Estate Impact on EV Charging Buildout32:00 Live Demo of the Presto Charging App45:00 Is EV Charging a Good Business?48:12 Gas Station, Convenience Store Business Model50:15 Battery Swapping vs Fast Charging52:12 EV Charging Investment and Obsolescence Risk(s)54:00 What Policymakers Can Do to Improve EV Charging Availability57:22 Thoughts on NYC TLC Drivers Adopting EVs01:00:45 Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and the Future of Charging01:05:00 What NYC EV Charging Could Look Like in 10 Years AutoMarketplace reports on and invests in New York City’s for-hire transportation (TLC) industry and the wider automotive mobility landscape. AutoMarketplace.com is a data intelligence and market infrastructure platform for New York City’s for-hire vehicle ecosystem—delivering proprietary indexes (AYX, APX, AIX), real-time analytics, and marketing services across taxi medallions, TLC plates, and commercial insurance. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube. Interested in advertising with us? Click here Get full access to AutoMarketplace at automarketplace.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jan 21

    NYC’s TLC Insurance Crisis, Explained: A 30-Year Car Crash — and a Path Forward with Cira Angeles (L.A. Riverside)

    To the new or outside observer, NYC’s taxi and for-hire vehicle (“TLC”) insurance crisis might be seen as a sudden shock, triggered by the insolvency of American Transit Insurance Company (ATIC). The reality is far more complex and structural. What the City’s TLC insurance industry is experiencing today is the delayed consequence of decades of underpricing, regulatory inaction, and market instability that accumulated until the system could no longer hide or absorb the strain. In this episode, AutoMarketplace’s Dawood Mian speaks with Cira Angeles, CEO of L.A. Riverside Brokerage. Ms. Angeles is one of the most experienced figures in New York City’s for-hire vehicle (FHV) insurance and livery ecosystems. Angeles entered the industry in the mid-1990s, continuing the work her father began in the livery, or community car service, sector, and has since spent nearly thirty years operating as an insurance broker, base operator, fleet owner, and influential industry advocate. Few people possess her institutional knowledge, institutional memory, and firsthand exposure to the NYC TLC insurance marketplace. Drawing on that experience, Angeles explains how TLC insurance evolved from a competitive market with multiple carriers into one increasingly dependent on a shrinking pool of insurers. She details the rise of assigned risk, the repeated pattern of insurers entering the market only to exit a few years later, and the eventual dominance of American Transit as other carriers proved unable to sustain long-term underwriting discipline. A key takeaway is that TLC liability insurance prices have remained largely unchanged for decades, even as vehicle and driver counts, claims severity, fraud exposure, and regulatory complexity increased dramatically. The conversation also examines how the arrival of Uber and Lyft accelerated existing weaknesses in the system. Rapid fleet expansion, younger and less experienced drivers, and aggressive competition for market share and broker fees undermined underwriting standards across the industry. When losses finally emerged, they surfaced years later, at a scale that exposed the absence of adequate reserves, slow regulatory response, and insufficient competition. As Angeles emphasizes, rate increases alone cannot repair a system whose problems are rooted in solvency, fraud control, and delayed policy reform. The episode concludes by looking forward, focusing on what it will take to stabilize the TLC insurance market without dismantling the broader transportation ecosystem that supports hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. From the need for better data and analytics to the risks of premature reliance on autonomous vehicles (AVs), the discussion is grounded, unsentimental, and solutions-oriented. This is not a conversation about blame, but about understanding how the system actually works and what it will take to make it sustainable. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and we thank Cira for her time. Also available on YouTube ⬇️ Table of Contents 00:00 – Cira Angeles’ background & L.A. Riverside origins 02:16 – Entering NYC TLC insurance market, focusing on livery sector04:29 – Livery vs. Black Car industry, explained (10/90 vs. 90/10)06:30 – What TLC Insurance looked like in the 1990s07:09 – Understanding assigned risk insurance (state-mandated/backed program)08:15 – TLC underwriting subcategories — yellow cab medallion, black car, livery11:25 – TLC insurance rates and dynamics through the 1990s and mid-2000s14:20 – TLC insurance rates haven't changed in 25+ years16:10 – Rise of American Transit, decline of competition16:58 – Why Insurers Kept Entering — and Leaving ("Give them three years...")19:30 – How did American Transit survive?24:09 – TLC insurance rates and dynamics preceding rise of Uber/Lyft25:25 – Difference in Livery vs. Black Car insurance rates, Black Car Fund (BCF), Independent Livery Drivers Benefit Fund (ILDBF), rise of cross-class dispatching31:11 – Importance of understanding assigned risk dynamics and pricing 34:36 – How Uber & Lyft changed NYC TLC insurance41:30 – American Transit's historic $670+ million insolvency and the path forward (not just rates)46:45 – Addressing fraud, need for capital, and bureaucracy 49:30 – Would it help if market shrank (e.g., TLC plate / driver attrition)? (Part 1)51:35 – Personal auto liability vs. TLC commercial auto rates in NYC53:00 – Would it help if market shrank (e.g., TLC plate / driver attrition)? (Part 2)1:01:40 – Are new TLC insurance options coming soon?1:08:05 – Risk that American Transit loses better risk drivers to competition (Hereford), makes insolvency worse? 1:11:20 – L.A. Riverside: upcoming March 2026 renewal season, growing base business1:17:40 – Is it a good time for a new TLC insurance company?1:21:22 – Autonomous Vehicles (AVs): threat, distraction, opportunity?1:30:00 – Final Thoughts AutoMarketplace reports on and invests in New York City’s for-hire transportation (TLC) industry and the wider automotive mobility landscape. AutoMarketplace.com is a data intelligence and market infrastructure platform for New York City’s for-hire vehicle ecosystem—delivering proprietary indexes (AYX, APX, AIX), real-time analytics, and marketing services across taxi medallions, TLC plates, and commercial insurance. Check out AutoMarketplace on YouTube. Interested in advertising with us? Click here. Get full access to AutoMarketplace at automarketplace.substack.com/subscribe

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Conversations and commentary on the NYC Taxi & FHV market. automarketplace.substack.com

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    Conversations and commentary on the NYC Taxi & FHV market.
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