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Taxi drivers risk losing the difference between what they can earn working as a taxi driver and what they can earn on ride sharing apps. It's probably a fair drop but hardly all of their income.

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Generally you pay for some kind of permit to be a taxi driver. A quick google suggests in excess of 150KUSD:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/08/05/what-about-taxi...

So they potentially have a lot to lose...

Generally you rent a permit/work for a company that owns them as a taxi driver. If there are taxi drivers buying medallions then they're 1) a small minority and 2)effectively business owners that are making a capital investment. Part of why one gets a return on investments is that they're assuming risk.

It is definitely unfair that a completely new class of competition is allowed which doesn't have to pay this 150k "medallion" fee. Instead of this 20c fee it would be fair to either reimburse the 150k fee to existing owners of taxis or have uber/lyft pay the same fee. Competition should be fair.

Oh and all the regulation should be the same for taxi vs ridesharing like insurance requirements (commercial insurance is much higher which taxis are required to carry) and inspection requirements etc.

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