> "Taxi prices" are the way they are because taxi companies aren't propped up by a Japanese billionaire and his coterie of Gulf oil barons and VC pals whose stated goal is to monopolize the market.
That can't be the whole story. Surely the artificial restriction of supply (taxi medallions, etc) must contribute to a higher cost.
Taxi prices in most jurisdictions are regulated by a public transit regulator (there are some exceptions - Sweden deregulated taxis and every taxi can set its own price, you have to check the price sticker in the window before getting into make sure you're not going to get ripped off), as a tradeoff between affordability and taxi drivers being able to make a living. Medallions are there to keep the number of taxis down so that the taxis that do have medallions have enough riders to keep busy enough to make a living. Adding more medallions wouldn't lower the price, changing the regulated price would.
That can't be the whole story. Surely the artificial restriction of supply (taxi medallions, etc) must contribute to a higher cost.