The yellow taxi is an unmistakable icon of New York City culture, but with tough competition from popular ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft, the classic cab might be in danger of becoming obsolete.

The first gasoline-powered taxi cabs made their appearance on the streets of New York City in 1907, providing an alternative mode of transportation in a city previously dominated by horse-drawn carriages. Although the initial introduction of taxis brought increased reliability and profitability, it didn’t come without its challenges: A lack of regulation and frequent clashes between drivers and fleet operators caused bumps in the road for the taxi industry. But in 1937, the Haas Act definitively outlined who could become a driver through the establishment of a medallion system, which is still used to regulate permits and licenses for taxis and drivers. The 1960s saw the uniformed adoption of the classic yellow look, a hue originally chosen to heighten their visibility on the road and differentiate between legal and unregistered cabs.

Since then, the city’s embrace of taxis has embedded the icon within the identity of the city and how it is portrayed. It doesn’t matter where you see it in the media, from “Catcher in the Rye” to “West Side Story,” a yellow taxi means you’re in New York City. Shows like “Sex and the City” and “Friends” have popularized this association, further weaving the cab into the fabric of New York City’s iconography. The color alone, Dupont M6284, has earned its own connotation, appearing in several works by artist Andy Warhol and his pop-art collection.

Today, New York City has over 13,000 yellow medallion cabs. In direct competition with them, however, are tens of thousands of other cars operating for Lyft, Uber, green taxis in outer city boroughs and even Waymo, an up-and-coming driverless ride-share company. In 2015, just four years after its city-wide debut, Ubers had already outnumbered yellow taxis on city streets. Just two years later, Uber and Lyft completely surpassed yellow taxi rides by 65%: the mark of a major disruption to the taxi industry, which was now facing sizable competition for the first time since its inception. Data from 2023 shows that taxi drivers make up only 10% of New York City’s total driver landscape as Uber and Lyft continue to poach riders across the city. Most recently, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Department of Transportation approving autonomous vehicle testing by Waymo this past summer, industry competitors are gaining more of a foothold than ever.

But taking away would-be riders from taxis isn’t all these ride-share apps are doing to hurt the industry. A lesser known, but nevertheless painful impact is the depreciation of the taxi medallion in recent years. At their peak in 2013, a single medallion cost as much as $1.3 million, a stark contrast to their current value which ranges from $90,000 to $200,000. Originally seen as lucrative investments, the licenses have been experiencing rapid declines in value due to tough competition. This means trouble for medallion owners, along with taxi drivers that have taken out loans to pay for these licenses.

Intertwined amongst other pressures on the taxi industry stands congestion pricing. For New York City’s yellow medallion taxis and green taxis, the toll is 75 cents, and it jumps to $1.50 for ride-share vehicles like Lyft or Uber. These numbers seem small, but for a passenger choosing between a taxi and an Uber, even small differences in price might be the deciding factor. Still, taxis’ slight advantage when it comes to tolls is no match for the larger industry trends that are pushing them, and their cultural tiretrack, out of the game.