If an item is made artificially scarce, as taxi medallions are and health inspection reports are not, it becomes an asset. The owner will understandably want to maximise its use, and there’s a public good argument to be made as well (sometimes you need a cab at 2AM).
That reminds me of one of my pet peeves about the existing NYC medallion system: all the drivers going off-duty at the same and worst possible time.
They’re used as a way of limiting the number of vehicles on the road. It’s an important distinction. In contrast, taxi operators’ driving licensing aren’t subject to artificial scarcity.
Why not both? If general congestion fees work, they might be able to increase the number of available medallions.
