Uber will include NYC’s yellow taxis on its app
Photo by joiseyshowaa on Flickr
After years of competition, New York City yellow taxis and Uber are joining forces. NYC yellow taxi platform Creative Mobile Technologies (CMT) and Uber on Thursday announced a partnership permitting city taxis to be listed on the popular rideshare app, giving them access to a larger customer base. The combined service is expected to begin in beta this spring and will be made available to riders this summer, according to a press release.
The partnership will benefit cab drivers, many of whom have been severely impacted by both the pandemic and the rise in popularity of ride-sharing apps like Uber. The deal will also benefit taxi riders, who will have cheaper rides and access to a higher number of drivers. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, a shortage in Uber drivers pushed their prices to record high prices last year.
“New York City is back!,” Ron Sherman, chairman of CMT, said. “As businesses bring their employees back, as tourists flock to New York City again and as New Yorkers start going out and replenishing our local economy after a devastating pandemic, yellow taxis and Uber are bringing the best our industries have to offer to help this city get back on its feet.”
Under the deal, the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission will integrate their app Arro, used by 14,000 of the city’s taxis, with Uber. As the WSJ reports, passengers will pay around the same fare for yellow taxi rides as they do for UberX rides. Yellow taxi drivers will have the ability to see projected earnings before taking on a trip and will be able to decline a ride if they deem it unworthy of their time.
Uber and its partners will receive a cut of the fare, and while they declined to specify the exact rate, their average global take rate for rides in the fourth quarter is 20 percent.
According to the WSJ, Uber is betting on traditional taxis to lead the ride-share industry’s next wave of growth. Uber has a goal of listing every taxi in the world on its app by 2025.
Uber has made similar partnerships with taxi companies overseas, but this deal with CMT is the first citywide partnership Uber has made in the United States.
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