From The Verge: Uber, longtime foe of the taxi industry, has made a deal to integrate New York City’s iconic yellow cabs in its app. The agreement, which is set to go into effect later this spring, means that roughly 14,000 taxis will be able to receive trip requests from Uber customers. (The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.)
As part of the deal, the city’s licensed technology providers, Curb Mobility and Creative Mobile Technologies, will integrate their software with Uber. Yellow cabs, which can be hailed using smartphone apps owned by the two companies, will gain access to Uber’s much larger customer base, which could translate into higher trip volumes and more money for beleaguered cab drivers.
New York City has been a battlefield for Uber’s war with the taxi industry for years. The company’s arrival in the city a decade ago triggered a slow-motion decline of the yellow cab business. Taxi owners argued that Uber flouted regulations but have watched helplessly as riders, and drivers, flock to the platform. Medallion prices in New York and elsewhere plummeted, and lenders who made a living by financing the taxi industry went out of business. Meanwhile, the taxi industry has tried its hand at replicating Uber’s success: Flywheel, Sidecar, GetTaxi, Hailo, and Taxi Magic are some of the apps that tried — and mostly failed — to match Uber’s model.
The impact in New York City was particularly acute. Nearly a thousand drivers have filed for bankruptcy, with at least six drivers dying from suicide. Meanwhile, efforts to regulate Uber and Lyft have resulted in a driver shortage, sending fare prices soaring.
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