The proliferation of ridesharing companies in Chicago has caused the taxi cab industry to suffer massive losses, according to data provided by the city.
“If the city takes no action, there will be a day when Chicago has no cabs, and that day is coming soon,” Meg Lewis of the Cab Driver’s United AFSCME Council said.
In July of 2014, Chicagoans took 2.6 million rides and pumped $32 million in revenue into cab companies and to cab drivers, but now, those numbers are significantly lower.
According to data, only 925,000 cab rides were taken in July 2017, raising just $12.5 million in revenue.
That precipitous decline in revenues and rides has been caused by the successes of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, according to cab drivers.
“(It’s) very bad,” cab driver Mirza Uddin said. “They (always) have a call for an Uber. I never have seen anything like this.”
According to AFSCME union estimates, there are just 6000 cabs left in Chicago, compared to nearly a quarter of a million rideshare drivers.
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“We have seen a drastic decline that began with the city’s implementation of a two-tier regulatory system that unfairly advantages billion-dollar, out of state rideshare corporations at the expense of hard-working Chicago cab drivers,” Lewis said.
Most of the blame is pointed at medallions, which taxi drivers had to buy from the city to operate cabs. Those medallions sometimes cost upwards of six-figures, and more than a thousand of the medallions are now in foreclosure.
The union is asking that the city lower taxes and requirements on cab drivers to help level the playing field with rideshare companies.
