This post continues our ongoing series on issues facing municipalities in 2020.

Should municipalities be on the hook for the plummeting value of taxi medallions in today’s era of ride sharing?

Over the years, the MuniBlog has provided updates on the state of ride sharing and the potential impact that Uber, Lyft and similar services have on the value of taxi medallions. In 2016, we noted that bankruptcy of a large cab company in San Francisco would surely mean that revenues from taxi medallion sales will also disappear. Recent reports suggest that the City of New York is considering creating a fund to bail out taxi drivers struggling to pay the loans taken out to purchase their medallion(s).

As reported by CBS news, many cab drivers have forfeited their taxis, or declared bankruptcy, thanks in part to the reduced value of their medallions.

Now, the New York Times reports that the Office of the New York State Attorney General has informed the City of New York that it has plans to seek compensation on behalf of taxi drivers harmed by what is claimed to be “fraud by significantly inflating the value of yellow taxi medallions and demanded $810 million from the city to compensate the thousands of cabdrivers who are now saddled with debt.”

Meanwhile, reports in San Francisco last week reference a $155 million lawsuit seeking to hold the City of San Francisco accountable for selling taxi medallions that have plummeted in value. The claim brought by a credit union states that the City allowed the taxi industry to collapse by failing to regulate ride sharing service providers and “walking away from promises it would guarantee the medallions value.”