Uber Will Soon Let You Hail an NYC Taxi Cab Through Its App

The partnership is set to begin in NYC before expanding nationwide.

Calling a taxi in New York City is getting even easier. As the Associated Press reports, Uber will begin allowing users in New York City to book rides with yellow taxis in partnership with two other tech platforms.

Curb, an app for licensed taxis and for-hire vehicles, and Creative Mobile Technologies, a company that operates a taxi app called Arro, will both work with Uber to bring their fleets of NYC taxis to the Uber app. The initiative is set to expand nationwide in the coming months.

"We are excited to kickstart our partnership with Curb and allow Uber users to have immediate access to Curb's taxi-hailing network, which will add tens of thousands of vehicles to the Uber platform in New York City and beyond," said Uber's Director of Business Development Guy Peterson in a statement. "We're looking forward to expanding together as we launch the integration in other key cities across the country."

The partnership comes at a challenging moment for both Uber and taxi companies. Uber has contended with rising prices and a pandemic-related labor shortage, while taxi drivers have struggled for years due to competition from less-regulated ride-sharing apps. The two entities were once fierce rivals, but changing business structures have thawed relations.

Compensation for taxi drivers will follow the for-hire vehicle fares set by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which are higher than meter rates. Drivers will be able to preview the upfront price when a trip is requested, and can subsequently decide whether to accept or decline the request.

Curb's CEO Amos Tamam said he's excited about the expansion of the company, and is looking forward to joining forces with Uber to improve their services. "We've found great success in creating incremental trip demand and revenue for drivers by integrating with several aggregators over the past two years," said Tamam in a statement. "And this partnership builds on that success by delivering even greater opportunities for cab drivers to have access to an ever-widening pool of riders."

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Serena Tara is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.