In a rare auction, the Taxi and Limousine Commission sold 63 medallions reserved for wheelchair accessible taxis yesterday. The sealed bids were opened this morning at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings downtown. After receiving 151 valid bids, the medallions sold for prices ranging from a low of $277,777 to a high of $384,999. The new medallions will bring the number of wheelchair accessible taxis to 144. “We have made tremendous progress in the area of accessible service in the last several years,” TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus said yesterday. “And these additional accessible medallions represent both the furtherance of that progress and the benefits of ownership for successful bidders.” Since 1937, the city has limited the number of medallions sold, which are required for cabs to legally pick up passengers who hail them. Auctions have been few and far between in the 70 years since. The scarcity has driven the price up to dizzying heights — two were sold for $600,000 each this year and in 2006 one medallion brought in $554,148 at an auction.

An additional 87 medallions will be auctioned in Spring 2008.