--- description: The reduction in price coincides with the rapid growth of ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft title: Cost of Running Taxis Declines image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d98f1e6c019b0d/69876b62f887dc30e8e88a5e/525335817.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Uber Is Squeezing Taxi Owners, Too by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2014 3:23 AM CUT  Broadway, New York City Broadway, New York CityGetty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2014 3:23 AM CUT Amid the rapid rise of ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, the cost of running taxis across major U.S. cities has dropped significantly over the past year. The prices of New York City medallions, which represent ownership of and license to operate a taxi, fell by 17% between last spring and this October due to falling demand, the New York _Times_ reported. Medallions prices in Chicago also dropped by 17%, while prices in Boston reportedly went down by about 20%. City-regulated taxi companies have been struggling to keep up with mobile-based cab services like Uber and Lyft, which are generally perceived as cheaper and more convenient by customers. [Read more at the _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/28/upshot/under-pressure-from-uber-taxi-medallion-prices-are-plummeting.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone&%5Fr=1&abt=0002&abg=0 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/"},"headline":"Uber Is Squeezing Taxi Owners, Too","datePublished":"2014-11-28T03:23:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:26:05.327Z","description":"The traditional taxi industry is in the midst of a revolution due to popular ride-sharing apps","url":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/","keywords":["Transportation","Boston","New York City","chicago","Uber","Lyft","taxi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d98f1e6c019b0d/69876b62f887dc30e8e88a5e/525335817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5d98f1e6c019b0d/69876b62f887dc30e8e88a5e/525335817.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"525335817","caption":"525335817","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/","name":"Uber Is Squeezing Taxi Owners, Too"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Uber Doing Damage Control After Bout Of Bad Press","description":"While Uber’s managed to jump around controversial incidents in the past, two reports by Buzzfeed have drug the ridesharing company back into the media spotlight.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PWIRZdYA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-19T20:07:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PWIRZdYA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/","duration":"PT1M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3609114/taxi-medallion-prices-decline-uber-uber-lyft/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```