Cabs should have never been in a "quota" system in the first place, there was never a compelling external reason for it.  Examples of a better, although still flawed quota system was the old Civil Aeronautics Board that kept airline travel safe via restricting the number of carriers. Taxis never had such a goal.  That the Taxi association could (and would) dump over a $100K into this is telling.  They would have been better served to use that money to buy up future permits.